Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Published by Harlequin HQN on 28 January 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Pages: 363
Format: eARC
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The past will always find you
Jos Archer was the girl with the perfect life—until the night it all came crashing down around her. Now, nine months later, she still hasn't begun to pick up the pieces. Even transferring to a new college and living under the watchful eye of her older sister, Renee, isn't enough to help her feel normal again.
And then she meets Dusty Sharp. For reasons Jos can't begin to fathom, the newly reformed campus bad boy seems determined to draw her out of her shell. And if she's not careful, his knowing green eyes and wicked smile will make her feel things she's no longer sure she deserves.
But even as Dusty coaxes Jos to open up about the past, he's hiding secrets of his own. Secrets about the night her old life fell apart. When the truth is finally revealed, will it bring them closer together—or tear them apart for good?
*I received a free ARC of My Sweetest Escape from Harlequin HQN via Netgalley in exhange of an honest review*
My Sweetest Escape is the second book in the My Favorite Mistake series, and sadly, it did not live up to its predecessor My Favorite Mistake. There were too many things I just didn’t ‘get’ in My Sweetest Escape, the main being that Jos is almost nineteen years old, but she moves from her dorm to change universities because her mom, and her sister Renee tell her she has to. Jos used to be the good girl, the one who had straight As, was involved in many clubs and she had a boyfriend who was aiming for the White House. Suddenly, it all changed, and she hasn’t told anyone about why – she stopped going to classes, left all her clubs and her perfect boyfriend, and she partied any time she could.
When she shows up at Renee’s house, the three couples living there, including Taylor and Hunter from the first book, are all curious about her, and it is evident that they are all going to keep an eye on her, for Renee. And she just lets them. My Sweetest Escape takes a long time to let the readers know what happened to Jos, and why she felt the need to change almost everything in her life. But she frankly doesn’t seem all that unhappy, and she is doing well in college even if her grades were down during her first semester of sophomore year. I found Jos quite difficult to connect with, because even if she is the main character, even the readers don’t get to know her very well.
When Jos meets Dusty, it is evident that she is interested in him, and he in her, but they just kind of hang out together at the house, and nothing happens for a very long time. They don’t share any amazing moments, and I still can’t really explain what made them fall for each other. My Sweetest Escape did not sweep me off my feet, and apart from the fact that the beginning is extremely slow-paced I cannot put my finger on exactly why that is. Because the writing is good, the setting is well done, and I absolutely loved the first book in this series.
Jos keeps her secret until very late in My Sweetest Escape, and frankly, that kind of fell flat for me. I understand her sorrow and even her guilt, however the way she completely turned her own life around didn’t really make sense to me. Most of the characters also felt quite one-dimensional to me, and I really wished Jos would just stand up for herself and take her meddling sister to task and tell her to leave her alone. Renee was not supportive in the least, and treated Jos as if she was a little child, and it was pretty hard to see that everyone at the house danced to Renee’s tune.
She finally stopped hugging me, but kept her hand clamped on my shoulder and steered me into the house, as if I was going to make a run for it.
I had to live the day, but I had to love it, too. Just like he’d said.
He caught up to me and I struggled. I wasn’t gong to yell because then I’d wake up the entire street and I didn’t need Stephen King coming out of his house and seeing me and Dusty fighting. I would probably die of embarrassment.
Twitter: talksupeblog
Hmmm maybe there’s too much “narration” or description and not enough dialogue? This is the case for me when I find good books slow paced, I find that I like it better when there’s more character interaction than pondering and such
Sorry this one fell flat overall and didn’t live up to the first.
It makes it really hard when you can’t really connect with the characters. Also, when they made poor choices or ones you don’t understand, it gets really hard to work through. What a great review! Jaclyn @ JC’s Book Haven.
Sounds like Jos is a little dramatic, changing her life like that. It’s a shame that this book didn’t follow up as well as you hoped. Great review though, I’m intrigued by Dusty!
Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace
I’m sorry this one disappointed you, Lexxie. I know how much you loved My Favorite Mistake. It’s interesting that Ms. Cameron was unable to get you to connect with Jos because you clearly like her writing style. Did she take too much time in setting things up and not enough in delivering the ‘meat’ of the story? Anyway, you’ve written an excellent review. And I hope that, if you stick with this series, the next one takes your breath away. 🙂
**BIG HUGS** from me to you!!