Title: Bad Romeo
Author: Leisa Rayven
Series: Starcrossed #1
Publication Date: January 2015
Synopsis: "When Cassie Taylor met Ethan Holt at acting school, sparks flew. She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy about campus. But one fated casting choice for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet change it all. Like the characters they were playing, Cassie and Ethan's romance seemed destined. Until he broke her heart and betrayed her trust. Now the A-list heartthrob is back in her life and turning her world around. One touch at a time.
Cast as romantic leads once again, they're forced to confront raw memories of the heartbreaking lows and pulse-pounding highs of their secret college affair.
But they also discover that people who rub each other the wrong way often make the best sparks."
My thoughts: I honestly don't mind the occasional (or frequent) jump into what is generally known as "chic lit", and the new genre of New Adult is intriguing, but also confusing, to me. I don't mind a trashy novel here and there - readers can happily suspend belief of certain things happening for a decent couple of hours of gentle (sometimes steamy) entertainment, after all. And some of the trashy novels I have read have left me feeling happier than quite a few of the more 'high brow' literature pieces (let's not get into the fact that often literature is there to make you think, rather than feel good, right now).
However, I have to say I was a little disappointed with this one. Okay, very disappointed. Aside from a few sweet moments and the odd steamy make-out session, the storyline and characters of Bad Romeo kind of put me off. It felt like a big jumble of stereotypes and misplaced affections rolled into one, and that made it feel like it was setting young women (as this is classified as New Adult) up for long periods of lusting after someone that was just emotionally unavailable to them.
The acting scenes were certainly interesting and held me intrigued for some time, but I found myself feeling like I had read this before. And then I realised that I was getting a very similar tone from this book as I had from Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James - just, obviously, without as much sex.
The story ends quite nicely (if a bit ambiguously) in the end, and I still got an inkling of that happy-romance feel, but I feel like this book just wasn't for me - I have read many other chic lit/romance/erotica-type books and felt like they had a better, more interesting storyline with more believable characters. A low score from me on this one, unfortunately.
You would like this book if: If you enjoy books that make you feel a bit frustrated, but leave you with a fairly sweet ending.
Rating: 5/10
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