Bittersweet

Ocean View #3

by Morgan Elizabeth, Jameson Adams (reader), Kat Riley (reader)

Blurb to come!

Genres: Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Forced Proximity, Small Town Romance, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published August 30, 2022

About the author

Morgan is a born and raised Jersey girl, living there with her two boys, toddler daughter, and mechanic husband. She’s addicted to iced espresso, barbecue chips, and Starburst jellybeans. She usually has headphones on, listening to some spicy audiobook or Taylor Swift. There is rarely an in between.

​

Writing has been her calling for as long as she can remember. There’s a framed ‘page one’ of a book she wrote at seven hanging in her childhood home to prove the point. Her entire life she’s crafted stories in her mind, begging to be released but it wasn’t until recently she finally gave them the reigns.

I’m so grateful you’ve agreed to take this journey with me.

Reviews

[thaís · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
it was a book

[T Rojo · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNf @ 35% it was too repetitive. Turn the music down, stop baking so loud, you’re an entitled rich girl, turn the music down, more loud baking, kiss, random mafia guy. I really liked Walking Red Flag and I’m so sad this one didn’t do it for me.

[Kate G {A Grand Romance} · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bully romance more than grumpy x sunshine. The mmc is an irredeemable dick. The misogyny is everywhere. Very uneven tone. I hated it.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book made me question if I’m even attracted to men because if a guy was this possessive over me or used the phrase ‘my girl’ I would forcibly vomit on him then fake my own death - 2 stars because it could be worse

[bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

what is it with men named ben being misogynistic little bitches

[Anekakhanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, Who made this guy the main love interest? He acts as a perfect mix of a fuckboy, jerk and immature asshole who doesn’t know to respect people and also has no empathy. And daddy? Him? Yuck. That was my last straw. Sorry :(

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a difficult read for me. I pushed through because I enjoy the authors writing but the characters were toxic and the conflict was so repetitive and exhausting. My first two star of 2023!

[Sanyah(Taylor’s Version) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too redundant.

[starlitpages · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

I really don’t want to sound mean or harsh, but this book was hard to get through. there was so much pointless back and forth and it got frustrating and annoying.

[Melissa Kizilkaya]

DNF @ 63%

It's like this whole book was written just to piss me off.

[CassDamm · Rating 2 out of 5]

2🌟

This was so repetitive omfg.

Literally every other page I was reading the same thing. Then it seemed like it would change but nah back in a circle same shit over and over. I almost DNF’d it because of this.
Literally a 400 page book with maybe 125 pages of actual story the rest of repetition and unneeded details.

[mimi 🎀 · Rating 3 out of 5]

she calls him daddy

[rach⭑ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭑

This is my third book by this author and I still haven’t decided if I love her writing yet. The first book i read was okay (3.5 rating), the second one I read was really good (4.5 rating) and unfortunately this one has also fallen into the “it was okay” category for me.

The book has a very strong start in terms of character meet cute, character descriptions, plot development, and relationship development - it was giving slowww burn, which I love.

However, as soon as we hit the 50% mark everything went from 0-100 so quick, I questioned if I had missed a few pages. That’s how quickly all of the above developed.

The romantic relationship between main characters felt rushed and the plot ???????? unrealistic.

Things I did like about this book however;
- grumpy x sunshine trope at its finest
- opposites attract
- daddy kink?🫣
- strong sister relationship
- an amazing side character, would love for her to have a book
- lovely beach front setting
- the hurt/comfort scene will ALWAYS be a hit for me🥹

[Abbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

disgusting awful wtf did i just read i literally liked nothing about this book
- the MMC was absolutely disgustinggggggggggggggg describing him as a walking red flag isnt enough to show how gross this guy is. He is so possesive in a creepy way that its horrible. E.G. HE BREAKS DOWN HER DOOR bc he is trying to "make sure she is safe". Likeeeee im sure the MFC would be safer if he wasnt around. He doesnt respect her at all, when she was sick and she didnt want him to come in guess what he did, BREAKS IN AGAIN. I know that its meant to be a repeating thing in the book that he keeps breaking into doors bc thats how they met but this is just creepy. He has this weird thing of feeling like he needs to protect the MFC which is disgusting as well. She literally tells him "hey you dont need to protect me lol" and hes like "no i do need to protect you bc YOUR MINE" and im like nooooooooooooooooooo. What is it with enemies to lovers trope and making out that the MFC is incapable of doing anything herself. All in all the MMC was a horrible rude guy who doesnt respect anyone and is just a bad human being all round. Alsooo side rant he doesnt understand anyone elses opinions or beliefs, when his younger brother took over the company his opinion of it was "my brother is stuck working a job that he doesnt want to do bc i didnt take the job boohoo im such a bad brother" and im like no, maybe your brother actually wants to do that job as not everyone thinks its a bad thing like you
- the MFC was just boring. I hated the politicians daughter and this whole mafia threat story line it was just confusing and i didnt care about it so it made the book boring. Her reasoning for continuing to talk to the mafia dude is to protect her sister but as a reader i literally dont care about her sister at all so it just made no sense and was just dumb. The thing that made me really hate her though and kinda connects to the MMC as well is that we had the 'stand up to the love intrests family bc apparantly they are going to listen to a random girl they met just 5 minutes ago'. TBH i was on the families side bc to me it did seem like the MMC just ditched the family buisness and i know he isnt entitled to work their but he doesnt need to stop talking to his whole family because of it, i can see why they were upset.
- gross just gross i hate everything about it

[Haley · Rating 1 out of 5]

At 30% I wanted to stop and I told myself if I could make it 50% through and couldn’t bear it anymore I could stop. I made it to 60% and I had to stop. It was so repetitive and I just could finish it

[Alex in Bookland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Powtarzalna fabuła. Ben przez większość książki był bardzo zaborczym dupkiem. Brak komunikacji między bohaterami okropnie mnie denerwowała. Cały wątek z mafią był naciągany i trochę bez sensu. Aaaa no i Ben kazał nazywać siebie Daddy. No thank you, I'm good. 2 gwiazdki za postać Hattie, która była cudowna.

[Alex Palzkill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay…ummmmm??? Idk how to feel 😂

This was NOT what I expected AT ALL going into this book. I was expecting a cute, grumpy x sunshine, rom com vibe and it was NOT that lmao - and I’m still deciding if it was a good or bad thing?

Was it well written? Nah. We’re the characters super toxic? Mhmmm yeh BIG TIME. Did the plot points make sense? No cant say they did. But was it entertaining and SMUTTY AS HELL? Yes. yes it was.

Im not saying the smut alone was what made me like this book a moderate amount…but I’m not NOT saying that……

3 stars…

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5? Enjoyed the smut though

[Heather Mclarry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad, just bad. Incredibly repetitive. Didn’t really get closure on the end of the issue with Lola’s dad/family drama. Had so much potential to be a good book but I just cringed the entire time and will never be recommending this to a single person

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woof. So I dunno how I feel about this. Because I love, but also hate ben. Because being protective without compassion is just being an asshole. It's the kind of shit I would have EATEN up in my early twenties. But the whole "who did this to you" while having a tight grip on her arm. Probably bruising just as bad as the asshole who gave her the first bruises. It's just toxic. And the stupid rules like no one but him are allowed to pierce her? Whut?

I listened to this on audiobook book and it was great and I loved how they had a male and a female narrator from the different perspective and the male narrator was incredible, and the female. But. All the sex scenes were from the female's perspective and the man voice for Ben that the female narrator used was so awkward. And made the sex scenes a lil 😬

[djslibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hey Alexa play “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John ✨

If you know, you know

[dani · Rating 1 out of 5]

the mmc was a complete and total misogynistic asshole. i have more than enough of those in my real life so i don’t and won’t tolerate them even in literary terms. next!

[Darlene I read WAY to many books · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

So I saw a tiktok and was okay I'll try lol. And I enjoyed this one alot.

Lola poor baby Lola she didn't have a life once her mom died she had to be the adult putting her sister and dad first made sure her fathers debts were paid but she told him enough she's done. Now shes finally living her dream she has her own bakery but already trouble from her neighbor he's mad at her for all the noise she made when he's trying to sleep a tattoo artist needs sleep. They clash and both stubborn they have a mini war with music it's alot of sexual tension and well Ben does have a ahole act down. But when trouble comes for his woman all bets are off. He's going to learn what happened and not take no for an answer. Lola I wanted to shake her few times with her whole push away when Ben helped her. She couldn't let go of that I have to do it alone. Like give him a chance!! Ben was a good guy and a great daddy ;)

They both grew and helped one another with there past and family drama.

No ow/om drama, no cheating, slight secondary character, drama, sexy times, no virgins


Recommend-yes
Cover-⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat level-🌶🌶🌶

Slowburn
Push away from both
Violence
Mentions of addiction
No condom
Blackmail
Daddy kink
Hea
Epilogue

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to bail on this one at the 25% mark. The male lead, Ben, is the worst kind of misogynist and it makes me sad that a woman actually dreamed this character up. Enemies to lovers ain't gonna cut it for me this time. It would have to be a woman-punches-man-in-the-face-as-he-deserves to lovers for me to continue reading. Loved the tattoo shop/bakery next door concept but I just can't do it.

[Imy · Rating 1 out of 5]

i’m sorry i didn’t like anything about this book

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars 🌟 🤩 You know I melt for a daddy.

Was it a repetitive mess of I want you wait no I don't? Yes.

Am I a slut who usually values chemistry and spice over plot 🤔? Also yes.

[wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Misogyny at its hottest

[no one · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of those rare books I’ve read where I absolutely hated every bit of it. Found no redeeming qualities to speak of. I was hopeful about this book and giving this author a try, but by the end of this read I was damn near ready to pull my hair out.

So, here’s my warning. I am annoyed af and this is going to be a mean rant. I have NOTHING against the author, wish her all the best, but I have to get it off my chest because I have no one else to talk to it about and it’s eating at me. This is probably going to be obnoxiously long btw.

I don’t even know where to fucking start. Maybe with the fact that I don’t know which character I hated the most between Lola and Ben. Let’s start with a little list for each of them. Just a few basic things, as most of the problems I had with the book I’m going to get into separately.

Lola:
- She’d argue with a goddamn lamppost. Swear to god. 9.8/10 times that Ben said something to Lola, Lola had to argue her ass off. Just, stfu. PLEASE. I am TIRED of hearing you talk.
- “I’m new Lola. I’m re-inventing myself.” Into who? A woman, in this day and age, who doesn’t keep the fucking door locked literally ever-even though the fucking mob is after you for money-and kisses guys that were talking shit about you needing a man two seconds prior? Who has the survival skills of a fucking toothbrush? I’m making this into another paragraph later in the review just because this is one of the things that irritated me the most, but Lola was so stupid sometimes that I was screaming at my phone hoping she could hear me telling her what a dumbass she was. After just a short while, I couldn’t even feel bad about what she’d been through because she reminded me about everything she’d ever been through just about every chapter and it got old and her dumbassery really just took the front seat.
- Honestly, there’s not much else to her personality. The majority of the book was made up of her repetitive talk about re-inventing herself, while arguing and fighting back and forth with Ben.

Now on to Ben:
- I can not STAND a mmc or mfc who is an adult, who has the mindset of a child. Ben hated Lola simply because he thought she had everything handed to her due to her being the daughter of a mayor, and even though he was repeatedly told things about Lola that proved he didn’t know her story like he idiotically thought, he still judged her as being a girl with a silver-spoon in her mouth and someone who has never had to deal with real life struggles. So dumb. The only struggle he’s ever faced is building up his shop, but he had the support of his mom at least. AND he even had a family business going to be handed down to him. Sure, he would’ve had to struggle to bring it back to being profitable or whatever, but still.
- A quote directly from Ben: “A pair of pretty eyes and a fat ass can get a woman anywhere with me.” This is his thought after he breaks into-technecally, he just opens the back door to the bakery because it’s unlocked, but still-Lola’s new bakery that is next door to his tattoo shop/upstairs apartment and sees Lola for the first time. So, am I shocked that the rest of the book was full of him saying misogynistic shit? Not really. Still annoyed though.
- “You’re mine.” “She’s mine.” “Mine.” We get it. You said it two seconds ago, and you’ll probably say it in another two seconds, but I’m telling you - we heard you the first 17 times. Please, stop the caveman shit.



Them as a couple? Don’t understand it. I kid you not, the SAME arguments they were having at the beginning are the same stupid fucking arguments they were having with less than 10% of the book left.

It’s so repetitive. With the loud noise/music issues causing them to fight, him “breaking into” her place, her going to yell at him or him coming to fuss at her about her crappy music and unlocked doors - it was the same shit over and over the entire book just about.

Prime example of how idiotic Lola was: She gets cornered in her bakery and then threatened and sort of harmed by a guy from the mob that is hassling her for money that her dad owes, and Ben breaks it up, then he tells her she’s going to stay with him because of it. He’s pushy and annoying, but it was honestly the most sensible thing. Her staying by herself in a pretty unsecure apartment vs her staying with someone else? Pretty evident what she should do. But does she think about it logically? No. Like a child, she has to get mad at him and cause an argument. Oh, after telling Ben to kiss her and make her forget what just happened. Tf? Kissing him is the last thing you should be doing right now. How about you go buy a gun or something to protect yourself? Idiot. But yeah, they argue, and the argument is stupid, they both say dumb shit, but at the root of it is she doesn’t want to stay with him and would rather risk her life without staying with him or letting him stay with her. Like, I get it in a way, she shouldn’t have to depend on him to save her, but the girl isn’t doing anything to save herself. She’s basically got a death wish.

Then, after months of them messing around, and after Ben brought her to meet his family and everything, not to mention his non-stop “you’re mine. mine. mine. mine.” bullshit, she get’s almost kidnapped and ends up in the hospital, then after they leave the hospital she tries to go back upstairs to her apartment to stay by herself. Ben isn’t having it and she argues with him soooooo fucking long for no damn reasonnnnnn!! She causes about a 15 page argument where they just repeat themselves over and over. He’s trying to convince her he doesn’t hate her, saying he’s basically been obsessed with her since the beginning, blah blah, and all she can say is shit like, “No. You hate me. You don’t even like me.” This is at like 90%. 90! My god, the amount of times I cussed them both out while reading this repetitive and dumb as shit argument that spanned 15-ish pages was unreal. I was so over it. Scratch that, I was over it like 70% ago. I should've DNF'ed it and I have no clue why I didn't. I digress.

At this point my ranting is going to be random, and pretty much already was, because I’m just jotting down random things coming to mind in no particular order…

Hattie? Probably the only likable character.

Oh, the mob aspect. Wtf was that? That was so dumb. All of it. I don’t even want to get into it, other than asking why? Why does every book nowadays have to include a random mob/mafia tie into it? And it was done so poorly in this book. Laughable, really.

The dad? Wish he would’ve been offed. Annoying af. Hated him. And the fact that he spent the whole book being an absolute greedy, slimy motherfucker, using Lola’s mom’s death as a way to guilt Lola into paying his debts, and nothing happened to him? Like, the book ends shortly after Lola nearly got kidnapped/killed, and Ben yells at her dad some and then her dad leaves the hospital and the last that is mentioned about her father is during Lola’s inner monologue not long after all that where she says, “I finally had my come to Jesus talk with dad and Lilah and how his shit will no longer be my responsibility, how it’s also not Lilah’s." How is that the end of that? How does that wrap up 15+ years of all the guilt-tripping and treating Lola like trash, and the gambling? How is this time different? He’s not listened to her saying the exact same shit in the past, has repeatedly guilted her by using her mom’s death by saying, “She would want you to help me.” or whatever it was he said, but he just suddenly is cured of his assholeness and just, like, quits gambling? Nah. That makes no sense whatsoever. And how is he still the mayor? The fact that he was never outted for all the crooked shit he did/was doing and he just wasn’t mentioned again baffled me. I honestly thought he’d be killed or prisoned. Don’t get it.

I don’t understand how Lola survived 30 years against everything including the freaking mob, but the second she moves next to Ben she has to be saved 20 times. Major eye roll.

The daddy thing? Kinda odd. Not daddy kink in general, just the way it was gone about in the book. Didn’t seem right. Like, it was basically just Ben calling himself Daddy a bunch lol. Idk, it just didn’t seem to flow with the character dynamic so it just came across as try hard I guess. Just a personal take. I, for one, enjoy reading books with this kink, but something about the way it was portrayed with these characters made me wish it wasn’t a thing in this book. Maybe the author’s first time trying to incorporate it into her writing? Honestly unsure since this is the first book I’ve read by them I think. Who knows.

“Sweet girl,” or “My girl,” was kinda cutesy the first time…maybe even the second. But the 47th time? Over it. Between Ben calling her that and “Mine.” every damn sentence, I was sooooo over it. Yet, somehow, Lola hears this a million times but she’ll just randomly get shocked he calls her these things as if she hasn’t heard it 15 hundred times already. At this point I’m wondering if the author has amnesia or Lola does, because there’s so much in this book that is repetitive and sometimes completely contradicting to something said just a few pages ago. For example, she texts her dad and doesn’t get a response, but then she says that he responded around midnight, then later she says she never heard back from him, so I was lost sometimes thinking I’m mixing shit up.

Anyways, back to Ben, he was way over the top with the “I am man. I must protect my woman.” thing. And the switch from him not being able to stand Lola to “she’s mine and has been since the beginning” was so out of the blue. The relationship building was absolute shit in this book. Made no sense, like most other things.

Something else I don’t understand? Ben’s constant breaking into Lola’s bakery/apartment isn’t seen by her as him being psycho? The only thing I could think of during these moments was about a DV situation, and how having a man break down my door when I didn't want them to come in would scare the absolute shit out of me. He literally breaks her door down at one point to get to her and she is cool with it in the end because he was just worried about her. I could understand if he wasn’t hearing from her and was geniniuely worried she was like laying in there dying, but she was talking to him through the door basically just being an annoying brat about not wanting to stay with him. Breaking the door down was a bit much.

And possibly the most laughable bit is at the end where Lola confronts Ben’s dad about their family business and how Ben’s dad should be supportive of Ben and shouldn’t give him a hard time about not wanting to go into the family business, and gives this long speech and at the end Ben’s dad is basically like, “You know what? You’re right.” Even though his wife has been telling him the same shit for years. Seriously? It just took a random girl you’ve met twice to convince you to not be an asshole? Riiiight. But, the same thing basically happened between Ben and Lola’s dad. Don’t understand. Logic on zero.

Okay, I think that’s enough. I’m tired of ranting now and ready to put this book behind me. Save yourself the time of reading this if you don't want to read 400 pages of the same arguments and the same things happening over and over until the end.

[Ale the feral reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️
3.5🌶️

Tropes: grumpy x sunshine, neighbors, “daddy,” touch her & you’ll die, dual perspectives

She is smut heavy and I’m here for it. This is about a cutesy girl named Lola who opens up a bakery next to a tattoo shop owned by broody, opposite-of-cutesy Ben. The two neighbors are instantly at each other’s throats (both metaphorically and sexually). They are jackasses to each other which obviously means they are meant to be (well that’s what the book says anyway… seems more to me like they need therapy and medication but who am I to understand true love). Basically this book is like watching an episode of Glee cause like it feels like sexually charged, angsty plot whiplash with a sprinkle of narrative (especially the episode containing Kurt singing his version of Rose’s Turn like that’s legit Lola). Basically, I was very entertained, annoyed, and hot & bothered.

I like the story but the author tends to be redundant. Like just one of these statements would’ve painted the picture. This keeps happening where essentially the same thing is said over and over but reworded and it gets agg sometimes cause I already know what is being said and I just want the story to move forward. This was one of the reasons I knocked off a star. I was high reading half of this and I’d read and be like wait am I just reading the same thing over and over?? But no, it’s just inner monologue beating a dead horse of a topic into oblivion.

Anyways, it was fun and fresh. The dck piercing and daddy talk was a little surprise. Idk if I can get behind a dck piercing yet… I pass out when I get a Pap smear like when that little tool be scratching my uterus so I think a dck piercing would also make me pass tf out. Anyways, I’d suggest if you wanna get angry and turned on at the same time.

[Gabrielle Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I Liked:
- the spice 🌶
- Lola’s feisty personality. Her bickering with Ben is the best part of the entire book. She fights him on everything.
- the stakes. This book has the perfect amount of danger for this storyline. Not too much and not too little. A heroine who is at risk of being attacked by a bookie because she’s forced to pay off her dad’s gambling debts? Sign me up.
- Hattie

What I Didn’t Like:
- Ben’s outdated beliefs toward women being weak. Ring ring… hello? Yeah, it’s the 1950s. They want their misogyny back.
- the nicknames. “Sweet girl” is said way too often in my opinion. When it comes to nicknames, less is more. It doesn’t need to be sprinkled into every sentence. And Ben’s obsession with being called “daddy” made me want to die. That may possibly be because of my own personal daddy issues… but it didn’t work for me. I’m not sorry.

This book also has some seriously good tropes so I have to give it 4/5 stars. Any book with the “who did this to you” trope is a banger.

Other tropes include:
- mafia
- one bed 🌶
- neighbors