This isn’t a story about a love triangle. There is no triangle involved. This isn’t a story about an accidental pregnancy. Although having a baby with her . . . I would. This isn’t a story about lies and deception, even though at times I’ve lied to myself. No, this is my story.A story about sacrifice. A story about a man who fell in love with the wrong girl. A story I wish I never had to tell. … story I wish I never had to tell.
This is a story about the true meaning of the downside of love.
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The way The Upside of Falling ended you immediately get a gut feeling of how The Downside of Love will play out. Meghan Quinn made me second guess a lot of things throughout the journey she took me on. Specifically, the entirety of book one. And I struggled. I didn’t go willingly, but I went and she took me through almost every emotion—screaming and kicking as I resisted.
The Downside of Love wasn’t at all what I suspected, yet it was just as heartbreaking as it’s companion novel.
Even when Meghan manipulated my emotions and threw me off, she proves why she’s such a brilliant writer! This book will shock you in the best way possible. Go in reading it with an open mind and please read the books in order. Bonus: Everyone gets the HEA they deserve!
***4.5 Stars***
~ First things first – this review is going to be extremely non-spoilery and vague. I know you’re thinking”Girl ALL of yours are” and they are, but this one is going to be going a step above the rest and in the spirit of being absolutely transparent with you, it is at the request of the author and as I am on her #reviewcrew I am complying, but outside of that all thoughts and wonky feelings are all my own ~
So since this is going to be a different sort of review for me, I’m just gonna roll with it
1) Do I stand by my initial reaction to the ending of the TUOF? Yes! But I will toss out there that it’s probably NOT for the reason you all think and that reason was why it took me a minute to dive into TDOF after it hit the Kindle.
2) Am I happy with how this one ended? Yes! How things ended and where everyone was at worked for me.
3) Do I love and adore everyone? Yes and no. Simply meaning that overall I don’t hate anyone ~ well, there are a couple of exceptions, but as far as the main characters go, my feelings towards them are on the positive end of the spectrum. I may have mixed feelings due to a certain situation or two, but none have me wanting to gut them with a spoon. So…BONUS!
Now for some verbal vomiting:
Despite my hesitant excitement to dive into this one, I did ultimately enjoy it. It pulled at my heart strings and had me wanting all the good things for everyone in the end because they all truly deserved to have an HEA. I have waffled over rounding up or rounding down my rating (Ya gotta love those 0.5’s) and have decided to round up. The .5 has to do with something that my mind just can’t let go of. It can’t find a logical way to get around it, so it must stand. But I am rounding up because I do believe that the author did a great job at giving us an honest story about all the different facets of love, how it evolves and touches each of us differently.
Note: The Upside of Love MUST be read before diving into The Downside of Love
~ Copy provided by the author via InkSlinger PR & voluntarily reviewed ~
The Blue Line duet are my favorite books by Meghan Quinn ever. The characters just reached down and grabbed my soul and I’ll never feel anything like that again. Every single one has a deep sense of honor, duty and loyalty that is such a rare find these days. As much as I fell in love with the hero in book one, I fell just as in love with the hero in book two. Rory met her one true match and they had a connection that just couldn’t be denied. The Downside of Love gave me those feelings you always search for in a great book – angst, love, passion, sacrifice, loyalty, friendship and trust. I have never looked forward to a book as much as I have this one and couldn’t put it down once I started reading. Just amazing.
The second book to this duet left me flabbergasted, stunned, amazed, and surprised by how this story was spun. My heart has been utterly flipped and my whole world felt like it was turned upside down but in the VERY best of ways!
Meghan Quinn put together a MAGICAL, TWISTED, HEARTBREAKING, EPIC duet that will change your life. Your feelings will be pulled and tears will be shed and the surprises will knock you on your butt. I was so shocked and amazed by the way book 1 ended and then I was even MORE hypnotized by book 2. I honestly can’t believe how much this duet practically changed me. These characters left a dent in my heart and I think I will most likely think about them for YEARS to come. This story was…STUNNING! So many twists and turns you just didn’t see coming. I didn’t realize I needed this duet until I read it. Surprises like the one this duet gave to me doesn’t come often and personally I enjoy the heck out of it. Readers NEED this duet in their life in order to be complete. So if you haven’t read The Upside of Falling yet, RUN don’t walk and pick up BOTH The Upside of Falling and The Downside of Love and be prepared for one LIFE changing read!
The Downside Of Love gets a LIFE CHANGING TEN SOLID EXPLOSIVE STARS!
Ok. I have to admit I was beyond mad at the being of this book not wanting what I thought was going to happen to come true. Despite being mad at the book I kept reading and I went from being mad to not being able to stop reading. Then when I couldn’t read, because I was at work, I kept trying to figure out in my head what was going to happen **I even read other reviews for hints which did NOT help**. So, when I got home today I started reading again and then cried my eyes out at the end. I was soooooooo happy with the ending though and I hated that the book ended. I wanted to keep reading. This book took me through soo many emotions I don’t even know what to do with myself and I’m praying the next one, if there is a next one, comes out like tomorrow. Meghan Quinn is an amazing writer and I would recommend her books to everyone, because you will fall in love, hate, and fall in love again with her characters and never get the expected ending you knew was coming.
I was drawn to Meghan Quinn’s books because I love romantic comedies. Hers have always hit all of my notes with their sexy romances punctuated by outrageous humor and clever banter. But there was always an emotional component to her stories that never failed to take me by surprise with the depth of feeling they evoked in me. Up to this point, in my mind, I’ve thought of Meghan Quinn as a romcom author, and perhaps it was a bit unfair on my part to pigeon-hole her this way. But in my defense, her unique brand of comedy is just so original and hilarious, it’s what stuck out in my mind and one of the things I looked forward to most when I sat down to read one of her books. However, having now finished reading the Blue Line Duet in its entirety, that romcom author label no longer works in my mind given what Quinn has delivered in this extraordinarily moving, multi-faceted and complex love story. Far beyond what I anticipated it would be and way more than what I even hoped it would be, I can truthfully say I was unprepared for the rush of emotion and just how caught up in this story I was. I’ve said time and time again in my reviews of Quinn’s previous works, that she always took me by surprise with the emotion in her romcoms, even when I knew it was coming. But the surprise she gave me this time around wasn’t just in the complete and utter battering to the feels I sustained, it was in the form of a shift in mindset in how I view her work and her as an author. I was already a fan of her writing, and I already had mad respect for her talent as an author, but now I’m a fan who is wholly impressed by the breadth of her capabilities, thrilled with the tremendous growth as an author she displayed here and so incredibly excited for what the future will bring from her.
Given that The Downside of Love follows The Upside of Falling as the second half of the Blue Line Duet, I’m going to be purposefully vague in this review. I do not want to give a word of this story away, because, frankly, anything—ANYTHING—I say about the story itself is a spoiler, and this is one story that needs to be gone into blind, without anyone else coloring a reader’s expectations or perceptions, for it to have the impact the author intends it to have on the reader. So, I’ll start by saying that I was riveted in place, unable to put this book down—literally. I was on a trip to Disney World with my family when The Downside of Love finally landed on my Kindle, and I found myself almost grateful for the knee injury that I am currently nursing (which requires surgery, mind you) so that I could stay behind in my cool room, knee propped up on a pillow and blessedly alone, to immerse myself in this gloriously moving journey to love. I needed that solitude to experience everything this book made me feel, and oh boy, did I feel. My emotions definitely got the best of me while reading The Downside of Love, and I rode the roller coaster of them, sometimes railing at what I was reading, always reeling with them and shocked to my core with how deeply I felt them and how invested in this story I was. I felt every conceivable emotion and then some, and I’m specifically not saying exactly what it was that I felt because that, too, is a spoiler. But suffice it to say that Ms. Quinn definitely intends to run her readers through the veritable wringer with the entire Blue Line Duet, and she did a bang-up job accomplishing that, totally nailing it.
There was so much—so many layers—to this story, and Quinn tackled them all with such skill, developing the entire story so richly and so completely for the reader. I’ll admit that I was absolutely devastated at the end of The Upside of Falling and not fully onboard at the start of The Downside of Love, but let me tell you, I was over that devastation quickly, and I was all in and totally immersed in the story, rooting hard for these characters. I fell so hard for them and this love story, and while it didn’t go as I initially thought it would, it absolutely concluded the way it was meant to be. I finished this story not only sated and happy and fulfilled, but it also left me ravenous for more of these characters and this world because there is more to be told. (Right, Ms. Quinn?!)
If you don’t ever take a single one of my recommendations, I implore you to consider taking this one. To say that this love story is special is the understatement of the year. Do not miss out on what is undoubtedly one of the great love stories to be published this year. Without hesitation, the Blue Line Duet will be on my list of top favorites for the year—heck, it might even be THE top favorite of the year. I urge those readers who like their love stories angsty, a little difficult and hard-fought to read the Blue Line Duet as soon as humanly possible because this is that one-of-a-kind, not-to-be-missed, must-read romantic saga that you’ve been waiting—hungering—for.
An unforgettable, epic journey to a grand, once-in-a-lifetime, soul-deep love, the Blue Line Duet is a story that every contemporary romance reader needs to read. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time to come, one I will never hesitate to recommend and will probably do so often, and one that I will certainly reread. As with The Upside of Falling, if I could, I would give The Downside of Love by Meghan Quinn more than just the five smooches I’m giving it. This exquisitely gorgeous and memorable story, the impeccable writing and the fabulously talented Meghan Quinn deserve all the stars for what she’s given her readers in the Blue Line Duet.
~Danielle Palumbo, Red Cheeks Reads
5 Love Isn’t Always What You Think It’ll Be Stars!!!
So this one is going to be short and sweet….why you ask? Because there’s so much that goes on this second book of this amazing Duet by Ms. Quinn and I don’t want to give any spoilers as they would ruin your reading experience.
This book picks up where we left off in The Upside of Love and things aren’t good for our H/h. Emotions are at an all time high with each questioning what they want out of life. Nevertheless there’s friendship, love and heat that draws us into their lives. Along with this, there’s also heartbreak and truths that are revealed that had my heart weeping because no one and I mean no one should be the recipient of the vitriol that comes out of a person’s mouth. How one person can be that hateful and unfeeling astounds me!!
What it all comes down to is that this book isn’t your typical romance which I find completely refreshing. I love when it’s not what I was expecting as I’m experiencing an author spreading their wings, taking a chance that readers won’t like it, but stands by what they’ve written and that to me is worth everything and ensures that this author is one that I’ll automatically one-click and folks Ms. Quinn is all of these things and so much more. So take the chance read this Duet and get ready for a wild ride!!
Go buy The Downside of Love now! But, also buy The Upside of Falling too! Because you will need to read the first book, well first.
The Downside of Love is the 2nd book in the Blue Line Duet Series. It’s a Triple LOVE, Love, LOVE for me!
Going in to reading The Downside of Love I went in with trepidation. Just from the blurb I knew that this was going to be a roller coaster book of emotions. The ending of The Upside of Love was to be continued. Fortunately, the wait wasn’t long. The Downside of Love went in a direction I didn’t think of after reading The Upside of Love.
I loved the direction it went but, I was so torn because I loved Colby Brooks but, I also love Stryder Sheppard. I was so confused and I can’t imagine how Rory Oaks felt. One of these men was bound to get hurt. Neither of these men grew up in loving homes. Rory is a nurturer. I can see her heart going out to these men.
The Downside of love was MEGA good. I should have known that Meghan Quinn would do the right thing for the ending. I love who Rory ended up with and I loved that Ryan showed up at the end. I give The Downside of Love 5 Mega stars.
“The downside of love is heartache and uncertainty, but the upside of falling is finding an everlasting love that will carry you through a lifetime of happiness.”
First and foremost, you CANNOT read The Downside of Love without having read The Upside of Falling. If you haven’t read that, stop right now and go read it. This review could be a potential spoiler and you would be lost if you started here.
This book. This story. It’s everything. It ripped me apart only to put me back together better than before. I’m not even sure how to review it without giving anything away but I’m going to try to be vague and only talk about my feels because of that.
I will say that I had a feeling this story was going in the direction that it did and I couldn’t have been happier with the way it turned out. My heart bled for everyone while soaring at the same time. I felt even more connected to everyone than I did in the previous book.
The Downside of Love is emotional, beautiful and raw. I cannot express to you how much I think this Duet belongs in everyone’s life. I can’t recommend it enough. Well done, Meghan Quinn. You made me feel and you delivered my all time favorite work from you. I will be screaming about this Duet to everyone.
5 star review of The Downside of Love (Blue Line #2) by Meghan Quinn
When I finished The Upside of Falling I was left with a massive book hangover particularly since it ended on a cliff hanger and all I wanted was to read The Downside of Love immediately.
Have you ever wanted to dive in to a book and yet you were afraid it wasn’t going to be what you expected? That was how I felt when I started this book. I was left shattered at the end of The Upside Of Falling, so to say I was anxious with this book is an understatement.
The writing was brilliant, the characters strong and honestly I would say that this duet is one of my top reads of 2018. Meghan Quinn has produced her best works to date with these two books.
The Downside Of Love is an emotional read full of love and sacrifice, of doing what is right. A story of friendship and loyalty and one that had me from the start. It’s a journey of self discovery, at times painful and one that will impact you long after you finish reading it.
I am extremely grateful that Meghan Quinn decided to move forward with these stories, I highly recommend you one click.
Highly Recommended
The Downside of Love is a rare and phenomenal romance with a true portrayal of the human heart. Meghan Quinn pens an excellent and emotional read. I thought I knew what I wanted, I thought I new what I needed. But Quinn throws us a delicious curve ball and shows us what is really meant to be.
This is going to be a short and sweet review because anything I say about the story has a potential to be a spoiler for those who are itching to read it. I will say this though, Quinn has written an original and unforgettable novel. She writes a raw love story that anyone can relate to yet, so many know nothing about. Most romances are clear, cut, simple. Not this one… But you will want it and fall in love anyway.
Make sure to read this duet IN ORDER. I cannot stress that enough! And don’t cheat and flip to the last few chapters because it will ruin the emotion and vulnerability of the story. Also, this book (and the first) will consume you. Friends and I who have been reading together have not been able to stop talking or thinking about it for days. It’s that GOOD. I highly recommend it.Meghan Quinn
** spoiler alert ** “And instead of sitting back and admiring you from afar, I’m going to let it be known every time you knock me to my knees with your beauty, every time you take my breath away with your smile, and every time you steal my attention when you’re in the same room as me.”
This is one of those books that even though I wish I could go back and read it again for the first time, I still get ALL those feels when I read it the second time.
Quinn knocked this book out of the park because as much as I loved Rory and Colby together, Rory is Stryder are legit couple goals!
Well, I have no idea how Meghan Quinn succeeded in getting me to do a complete 180 with my feelings from book 1 to book 2, but she did. I struggled with the end of book 1, it completely broke me, and without giving away any of the plot, I can’t tell you why? What I will say is that we get to spend even more time with the same group of super cool, super sexy characters as they continue with their drama, navigating their relationships and the guilt that comes with that. A fitting and perfect end to this duet, I loved it.
…and here I thought book #1 of The Blue Line took me on a roller coaster with my emotions! Good gravy…this book damn near destroyed me! Meghan Quinn loves to give your emotions a workout. I. LOVED. EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE. This book hit me straight in my feels and had me laughing, crying, mad, and swooning all at the same time. Read this book & series!! You NEED this in your life.
Honestly I wasn’t a fan of this series I had to know how it ended. I really like Strider better I think he had more personality and was a better person than Colby.
Rory was a sweet girl who wants to help everyone she’s a giver. When Strider is in desperate need of saving she was right there to help. I liked the idea of this story more than the story itself maybe because it just felt like it was a repeat of book one with Rory.
This was just as good as book one, if not more so. I absolutely loved this duet. I’m giving it 5 out of 5 stars. This review is for an ARC, and reflects my honest opinion.
I was so happy I got the ARC earlier than anticipated, because as soon as I finished the first book, I NEEDED to know what happened next. Without being spoilery, let’s just say this picked up where the other one left off kind of, but with a twist…and quite a bit of the past thrown in. And I loved every minute of it! I did cry some while reading, but maybe not as much as I did in the first book.
I loved seeing more of some of my favorite characters: Rory, Ryan, Stryder, etc. The characters felt so real in these books, which was amazing as a reader. Readers always want to be sucked into the story, and that definitely happened with me. I pretty much never wanted to put the book down; it was that good.
I highly recommend this beautiful duet if you like deeper/more dramatic romances. It’ll give you a ton of feels, and maybe break your heart a little too…before putting a huge smile on your face.
I don’t know if I have truly had a book consume me as much as this one did. It has grabbed on to a piece of my heart and won’t let go. It was heartbreaking. Romantic. Sweet. Sexy. The love between these characters was just so real and powerful. It’s that all-encompassing, soul capturing love that everyone hopes to find. And while it didn’t end up how I had thought it would, it couldn’t have been any more perfect.
Thank you Meghan for writing this story and sharing it with us all. Such a special and wonderful story that I won’t ever forget. The Downside of Love will easily be my #1 read of the year.
After the first book, had hopes that this one would end well for Colby. Did not like the heroine at all. She couldn’t have a relationship with Colby because they would not be together all the time, but with Stryder she was fine with that situation. Obviously she loved him more than Colby.
O man did Meghan Quinn do it with this book. It is as utterly amazing. She gutted me with the first book and then slowly fixed he wound with this book. I thought I was not gonna be ok with this book being about him but o was I wrong. I slowly feel in love with the characters . Meghan knows how to write where you feel every emotion the characters are feeling . This duet was one of the best ones I have ever read . You can not go wrong with this book.
There isn’t one single book written by this author that has disappointed me. I love the works if this author.