Anti-Stepbrother

⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱*Caden is hot though*⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱

“I broke for someone who couldn’t break.”

⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱*Caden is hot though*⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱

“I broke for someone who couldn’t break.”

I’d always had Kevin on a pedestal, and for the first time, he looked less than. He now stood against a guy who seemed more male in almost every way—except being a smooth-talker with the ladies. But no. I shook those thoughts away. They didn’t make sense. Kevin was… I frowned, guilt flaring up inside of me. No matter my hurt at seeing Kevin kissing another girl, he was family, right?

“Sooo, are you going to keep hating me at family stuff? We have summer coming up soon. Things will be awkward if we’re both home and you want to kill me.”
“I never wanted to kill you. More like maim, rip out your guts, castrate you.” I lifted a shoulder. “You couldn’t hurt if you were buried. But if your guts had been pulled out and then put back in with some really bad stitching? Yeah. That would’ve been perfect.”

Caden was a great friend, and I knew he had fun with me, but he didn’t have feelings for me. I didn’t think… Caden wasn’t going to date me. He dated girls who were out of my league. He might kiss me, hold me, have sex with me—yes to all those—but date me and have real feelings for me?
It wasn’t going to happen, and I wasn’t about to make Caden into another Kevin. I wouldn’t let my daydreams and fantasies go off to Fairy Neverland this time. Nope. I wasn’t going to get carried away.
I already missed him.

I wasn’t the sun. I was just reprieve in the darkness.

I looked at him and knew my emotions were shining through. If he’d glanced back at me, he would’ve seen everything I felt.

“You carried me to bed. Almost the same thing.”
Suddenly, the joking was gone, and his eyes burned. I could feel his heat from across the room, and my body reacted, instantly warming even before he said a word.
“Nothing’s the same as sliding inside,” he murmured after a moment. “The feel of being in there, feeling that clench around you, knowing you can push as deep as you want, as hard or gently as you want. Nope. I’ve gotta step off the joke train for a moment here. Nothing is remotely the same as that feeling.”
Fuck. My pulse spiked.
He tossed me a look. “Maybe I’ll cop a feel the next time.”
I pretended to groan. “One more notch on my badass peg. You better cop a feel next time.”

Spoilers Below! I’m new at writing reviews on here. I don’t know how to put pictures or book quotes in so bear with me. I was really hoping from the high reviews with this book, I would be able to enjoy it, but NOPE. Also, I really don’t like giving bad reviews and I don’t want to deter people from reading this book as this is just my judgment for it.

Let’s start with the heroine Summer. The last three books I read had heroines I loved so I may be a little harsh in regards to this h.

Spoilers Below! I’m new at writing reviews on here. I don’t know how to put pictures or book quotes in so bear with me. I was really hoping from the high reviews with this book, I would be able to enjoy it, but NOPE. Also, I really don’t like giving bad reviews and I don’t want to deter people from reading this book as this is just my judgment for it.

Let’s start with the heroine Summer. The last three books I read had heroines I loved so I may be a little harsh in regards to this h. I don’t even know where to start with Summer. I’ve been annoyed by heroines before, but I never really disliked them where I’d rather read about everything else but her. But this h had me seething where if she was in front of me I would throw this book at her head. First, I’m going to start with her dad, her mom passed away from cancer and when her mom was in the hospital before she passed her dad fell in love with the nurse Sheila Matthews (the step mom). This part in the book really got to me “The night after my mom was buried, he was at the Matthew's house.” It was stated that it was a huge scandal, but that’s just a no no to me. I don’t want to read about that even though it was her dad.

There’s a term I learned in this community called TSTL which means Too Stupid To Live and boy oh boy does this fit the h perfectly. Not only was she annoying, but she was awkward, idiotic, a pushover, and had low self-esteem. I would get second hand embarrassment and cringe whenever she opened her mouth. I think the author was trying to make her the weird, but sassy/cool girl…no she was just cringe worthy. She was a D-O-O-R-M-A-T when it came to her stepbrother Kevin. He treated her like crap ever since he found out his mom was marrying her dad. He pretty much manipulated and took advantage of her whenever he had a chance. When it came to the hero Caden, she didn’t know how to act around him. She would “get butterflies” or “have that sensation below”, but when it hit her that she was in love with her. She did the most responsible thing that people do. She avoided him for two weeks because you know drama/angst. She kept on pushing Caden away. Towards the end of the book, there was a part where Caden had to get away and calm down due to something that Summer did. Here is a something that Summer thought… “Caden had left me, like my mom did.” Is dis bitch for real???? Your mom died of CANCER, I’m sure it wasn’t her choice to leave you. I get it was something about her and not grieving her mom, but I couldn’t handle her anymore. I pretty much skimmed the rest of the book. One a positive note, the h isn’t a virgin she’s had sex exactly two times in her life before Caden.

Now onto the hero Caden and I’m giving ¾ a star due to him. I read reviews on this book that he wasn’t a manwhore. Ok there’s a catch with this. He was a manwhore before something traumatic happened a year or so ago. He told Summer before he used to be. “I don’t drink, party, and get laid. I used to. For an entire fucking year, and almost all four years of high school, that’s all I did….Then there’s me and Marcus. I partied, did sports, got laid…” so yes he was a manwhore up until not too long ago. But I couldn’t tell from reading if he just had random one night stands, but not in manwhore quantity. There’s a part in the book where Caden gets mad and tells Summer he’s going to get drunk and have sex (which he doesn’t). I thought he was joking at first, but the next day he tells her “…I took you to Diego’s last night. You made me laugh when I normally would’ve stayed angry and screwed some girl I didn’t give a shit about.” So I’m confused and don’t know what to think about that…. He does have every female at the university fawn all over him and they all try to hit on him. But I don’t know for sure if he was with anyone after meeting the h, it’s very open. I did like the H a lot better than the h even though he was always brooding. Towards the end, he finally puts his foot down when it comes to Summer. So I admit I do like alpha males up to a point not OTT, but I want to feel the possessiveness the H has for the h. I didn’t get that with Caden at all, we only get a few chapters with his POV, but I didn’t get a sense of possessive/caveman tendencies when it came to h. I want to see the H worship the h. His friendship with Diego and loyalty to his brothers Marcus and Colton are some of the things I absolutely adored when reading this book. I kind of wanted the last quarter of the book to focus on the trauma between Caden and his brother and how h helps fit into it, but it was more angst and drama.

Usually I love reading about minor characters and how they add to the story. For the life of me I could not stand them. The only ones I enjoyed reading about were Diego and Colton and even the frat brothers so that’s why I’m giving ½ star for them.

I know that angsty books are a popular thing nowadays. I get it. People want that feeling in the pit in the stomach heart tugging sensation. I admit sometimes I do too, but not throughout the whole book. Maybe I’ll read this book again and rate it better depending on my mood, but right now this book wasn’t for me. As for safety, like I stated above the heroine has her stepbrother she deals with, but doesn’t sleep with him and there aren’t any OM after she meets the H. For the H, a lot of OW try to flirt with him, there is a part where this beautiful busty blond is flirting with him and rubbing her breasts against his chest (he doesn’t try to push her off and stop it) and she gives him her number on his arm. He doesn’t’ call her (mind you the H and h are only just friends at this time), but it can be trigger for some. Again, I don’t want to deter people away from this book, but it wasn’t for me.