{"id":2777,"date":"2014-11-14T05:31:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T13:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=2777"},"modified":"2017-03-02T20:30:40","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T01:30:40","slug":"arc-review-broken-juliet-starcrossed-2-by-leisa-rayven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=2777","title":{"rendered":"ARC Review: Broken Juliet (Starcrossed, #2) by Leisa Rayven"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle\u00a0Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

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\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/b><\/p>\n
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Review<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cDespite<\/em> all the things I would have changed about our journey, I\u2019d never want a different destination. It\u2019s always been you.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OMG, what an epic romance!!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The follow on from the incredible Bad Romeo<\/a>, this book was my most anticipated release for this year. I have been desperate for it ever since Bad Romeo<\/i> left me hanging with that nasty cliffhanger, and dying for more. But I have also been really nervous about it. It\u2019s not often that the follow up to a book that blew you away meets up to your expectations, but Leisa Rayven has nailed it with this one, so you’ll have to excuse my excessive gushing!<\/p>\n

This book is not so much a sequel, as it is a direct continuation of Ethan and Cassie\u2019s story. One where we finally get the full history of their tumultuous love affair, and watch them deal with the repercussions of their reunion three years after Ethan broke Cassie\u2019s heart and left her shattered (for the second time). And I can honestly say that this book gave me everything that I wanted \u2013 the details of their time together in the past (the good and the bad), and every moment of their reconnection in the present. It\u2019s truly beautiful and really funny in places, but it\u2019s not all sunshine and rainbows. In fact it\u2019s a really hard journey for them, full of angst and heartache but OMG, it\u2019s all completely worth it!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to go into too much detail about their story, because if you\u2019ve read Bad Romeo<\/i> you\u2019ll know it, and if you haven\u2019t, check out the details in my review, and then then go and read the book\u2026 NOW!<\/p>\n

Towards the end of the last book, Ethan really opened up and we started to see a very different man from the moody, closed off one that he had been for most of the book. And I am very happy to say that that continues in this one. Ethan is one very determined man-in-love. Fully accepting of all of the pain he has put Cassie through, and desperate to make up for his mistakes of the past as he fights hard to win her back.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoyfriend sounds so fucking lame. I\u2019m nearly twenty-seven years old. I\u2019m not a boy anymore. I want to be your man. Your lover. Your\u2026damn it, I don\u2019t know. Your Ethan. Whatever the fuck you want to call me, that\u2019s what I want to be. My end game is to simply know that I\u2019m yours and you\u2019re mine.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love their reversal in roles from the first book. Ethan is now the one throwing himself at Cassie, opening his heart and begging for a chance, but this time it\u2019s Cassie pushing him away, wanting him but desperate to protect herself from being hurt. But it\u2019s not done in an annoying way. Leisa does a wonderful job with Cassie. She\u2019s such an amazing character \u2013 smart, sassy and strong yet still vulnerable and completely relatable. Seeing what she goes through in the past with Ethan, I could absolutely sympathise with her, and I could feel her confusion as her heart and mind battled.<\/p>\n

He was my first true friend. My first love. First lover. The master of more pleasure than I knew existed, and the architect of more heartache than I thought I could endure \u2026
\nI want him. Can\u2019t want him. Need him. Hate needing him.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I know some readers had issues with Ethan in the last book, and I have to admit that I felt it for the first time in this one. I started to get angry with him and his \u2018I\u2019m no good for you\u2019 whininess back when he was a moody, emo 21 year old, but his pain is just so real! The book is told from Cassie\u2019s POV (with some small insights into Ethan\u2019s perspective), but we still get to see so much of him. Each encounter, each meaningful glance, gentle touch or narrowing of the eyes conveys so much, and when he lets it all out, it\u2019s actually painful to read!<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think I don\u2019t love you? \u2026 If I didn\u2019t, do you think I\u2019d be in hell right now? You think I like feeling like this? Like pushing you away isn\u2019t ripping out parts of me? Fuck, Cassie, I know the right thing to do is to leave you alone. But when I think about doing that, it\u2026\u201d He grips his chest. \u201cIt fucking <\/i>hurts. And I\u2019m so <\/i>sick of hurting. I thought you could make it better, but you only made it worse \u2026 You want me to say it? Yes, I love you. But you have no idea how many times I\u2019ve wished I didn\u2019t.\u201d
\n\u2026
\n\u201cTell me how to stop loving you, Cassie. Please. I have no fucking clue.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

*sob*<\/p>\n

But again, their past is intermingled really well with their present, where Ethan is a completely different man, madly and openly in love with his girl, and fighting hard to get her back. It\u2019s balanced really well so that the angst never becomes too much because you know where it\u2019s all leading.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean it doesn\u2019t hurt though! OMG, these two go through so much! Their early relationship is hard work, and somewhat toxic, but their chemistry is electric. They can\u2019t keep away from each other, and that\u2019s what makes it all so intense! And through it all the love between them is always there, and their passion for each other is absolutely incredible and leaps off the page.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our relationship was only based only on sex, do you think we\u2019d have gone through all the shit we have? Sex is easy. It\u2019s an itch that needs to be scratched, and as much as I love having sex with you, what I want from you isn\u2019t easy. It\u2019s messy and complicated, and it\u2019s filled with so much fucking passion, I don\u2019t have a clue how to cope with it all. But I find a way, because I love you. And love is hard, but it\u2019s worth it. <\/i>You\u2019re worth it.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is also the continuation of the playfulness of them together. Even with all that they go through, they still have a good time together, and I laughed so many times at their interactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I enjoyed it. A lot. You were, without a doubt, the best I\u2019ve ever had. But thinking about it right now isn\u2019t going to end well for me. So please, for the love of inconvenient boners everywhere, let it go.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI did tell you to go fuck yourself\u201d<\/em>
\n \u201cYeah, but you didn\u2019t mean it.\u201d<\/em>
\n \u201cYeah, I did.\u201d<\/em>
\n He frown. \u201cReally? Wow. I totally misread that moment.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This one is a lot smuttier than Bad Romeo<\/i>. While the first book is all about the build-up, and UST, this one is the culmination of all of that, there is sweet sex, angry sex, hot, up-against-the-wall sex, and steamy and ultra-intense love making. And it is all so freaking HOT!!!! Sex is such a huge part of their relationship and expresses the connection between them, so it ties into the story really well, adding to that sense that they belong together. They can feel it and I, as a reader, could feel it. They truly are soul-mates who share an incredible bond, and no matter what they go through, nothing is going to change that.<\/p>\n

This book gave me everything that I wanted for Ethan and Cassie. There is no epilogue, but I honestly don\u2019t feel like the story needs one. It ends beautifully, and I thought it was perfect for them. Liesa Rayven is continuing on in this series with Ethan\u2019s sister, Elissa, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll see more of Ethan and Cassie in that one. Plus I\u2019m excited to see more of Elissa, we don\u2019t know a whole lot about her personally, but she\u2019s a wonderful character!<\/p>\n

And a quick shout out to Cassie\u2019s roommate Ruby who is rude, feisty and hilarious, and their classmate Jack with his crude sarcasm that made me laugh so many times! He adds so much lightness to the story, every time he appeared was absolute gold<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, guys,\u201d I say as we stop in front of them. \u201cHave a good summer?\u201d
\n\u201cI had an awesome summer,\u201d Jack says with his trademark smirk. \u201cI got together with the ex-girlfriend I dumped more than a year ago because I\u2019m a miserable fuck who never stopped pining for her. Oh, wait, that was you, Holt, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am so in love with Leisa Rayven\u2019s writing! I laughed, I cried, and I felt everything that Ethan and Cassie were feeling right along with them! This is such an amazing love story, and even though it hurt at times, I finished the book deliriously happy with a huge smile on my face<\/p>\n

I loved it \u2013 5 huge stars.<\/p>\n

An Advanced Reader Copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Starcrossed\u00a0series
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\"Bad<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"Broken<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"Wicked\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bad Romeo (#1) <\/strong>(Ethan & Cassie)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0Kindle\u00a0Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Broken Juliet (#2) <\/strong>(Ethan & Cassie)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0Kindle\u00a0Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Wicked Heart (#3) <\/strong>(Liam & Elissa)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Buy: \u00a0Kindle\u00a0Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Bad Romeo Christmas: A Starcrossed Anthology (#4)<\/strong> (Ethan & Cassie, Liam & Elissa, Josh & Angel)
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle\u00a0Ebook\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback Review \u201cDespite all the things I would have changed about our journey, I\u2019d never want a different destination. It\u2019s always been you.\u201d OMG, what an epic romance!!!! The follow on from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[297,52,173,50,49,9,24,29],"tags":[59,155,48,156],"class_list":["post-2777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-angsty","category-drama","category-epic-romance","category-favourite","category-feeeeeeels","category-romance","category-second-chance-romance","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-leisa-rayven","tag-review","tag-starcrossed"],"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\/Broken-Juliet-1.jpg?fit=150%2C224&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-IN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777","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=2777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}