{"id":2596,"date":"2014-10-03T10:45:57","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T17:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=2596"},"modified":"2017-01-05T13:03:56","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T18:03:56","slug":"review-stepbrother-dearest-by-penelope-ward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=2596","title":{"rendered":"Review: Stepbrother Dearest by Penelope Ward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Paperback<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cYou make me feel things, Greta. You always have. When I’m around you, whether it’s good or bad…I feel everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a gorgeous story about love and loss, and finding that once-in-a-lifetime kind of connection with somebody. It\u2019s full of feels and took me on a rollercoaster ride showing the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright sexy. And I was mesmerised the whole way through.<\/p>\n

Greta is a normal, happy, 17 year old girl whose life gets turned upside down when the stepbrother she has never met comes to live with her family. Elec is moody, sullen and constantly pissed off, he smokes, is tattooed, pierced and is an arrogant ass. He is also heartstoppingly gorgeous and Greta is instantly smitten by the sexy bad boy. But Elec is dismissive of her, and only acknowledges anybody in the family only to be rude and throw insults (or to steal Greta\u2019s underwear, which was possibly a little creepy, but hilariously played out).<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s face it. My body was an imbecile with poor judgment. How could it want something so badly that hated it right back?\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the more they spend time together, there are subtle shifts in things between them and their antagonistic relationship is simmering with UST. Slowly and quietly they develop a friendship, although always with the chemistry-filled snarky undertone. And while Greta\u2019s attraction to Elec is clear, Elec\u2019s is more hinted at by his actions and the occasional little insight into his psyche.<\/p>\n

Greta: Why are you here?
\nElec: To get a rise out of you.
\nGreta: Why?
\nElec: Because I get off on it.
\nGreta: Why?
\nElec: I can\u2019t answer that question any more than you can tell me why you look at me the way you do even though I\u2019ve treated you like shit.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I loved the way things developed between the two of them. The \u2018forbidden love\u2019 element wasn\u2019t as strong as I was expecting, and honestly, I didn\u2019t think anything about their love was forbidden. What kept them apart wasn\u2019t so much anything to do with their families, it was more Elec\u2019s issues. And when he finally does open up, the feels are intense, and I, like Greta, fell completely under his spell. And from that moment on, the connection between the two of them is cemented into something incredibly special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m not supposed to care. But when it comes to you, what I\u2019m supposed to be feeling has never seemed to matter.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the only girl in the entire world that\u2019s forbidden, and fuck me if that doesn\u2019t make me want you more than anything.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And just when things start to get REALLY interesting (ie. sexy – although surprisingly advanced sexy for 17\/18 year olds!!), Elec has to leave. Leaving them both shattered at the loss of each other and all that might have been between them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be the only one to show you everything and to be the one you’ll always remember for the rest of your life.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s seven years before they see each other again, and while they have both moved on with their lives, from the moment they are together, it is clear that their hearts never fully recovered from all that they felt for each other. But there are still obstacles between them \u2013 more now than there ever were \u2013 so despite all of the emotion and raging lust, they still remain stuck apart. And oh, my poor heart! I felt it all! Everything! I was devastated at the unfairness of it all!<\/p>\n

I was surprised at the direction of the story after this point. It wasn\u2019t the way I was expecting it to go, but I thought it was perfect for them. We got to see the depth of the connection between them, but it was done in a way that was realistic, respectful and it made me fall in love with the characters even more. And if you\u2019re wondering if there is a happy ending\u2026

<\/span>Spoiler <\/div>
\u00a0Of course there is! And it had me squeeing like an idiot!! And there\u2019s even an epilogue \u2013 and it\u2019s beautiful! <\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

The story is told in Greta\u2019s POV, although we also get a glimpse from Elec\u2019s perspective, and I thought the way his side of the story was told was really clever \u2013 although it\u2019s quite repetitive, with the major scenes replayed line for line. But I was able to overlook it because I love getting the boy POV \u2013 particularly with such a secretive and enigmatic hero. Watching Elec fall for Greta only to lose her was heartachingly gorgeous!<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never felt so attached to anyone. She had fully given herself to me. She was mine, and I threw her away \u2026 I don\u2019t think Greta ever realized that I loved her long before that night.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a beautiful read. It was engaging from the very start, and I felt everything right along with Greta and Elec as they experienced first love and loss\u2026 and everything that followed.<\/p>\n

I loved it – 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Check out our Penelope Ward Author Spotlight<\/a>\u00a0for more books!<\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook\u00a0|\u00a0Paperback\u00a0 Review \u201cYou make me feel things, Greta. You always have. When I’m around you, whether it’s good or bad…I feel everything.\u201d\u00a0 This is a gorgeous story about love and loss, and finding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,24,29],"tags":[132,48,76],"class_list":["post-2596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romance","category-second-chance-romance","category-steamy","tag-penelope-ward","tag-review","tag-standalone"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Stepbrother-Dearest.jpg?fit=150%2C226&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-FS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}