Holly‘s review of All of You by Christina Lee
Avery has just met her hot upstairs neighbor. He’s irresistible. Tattooed. And a virgin.
Nursing student Avery Michaels wants nothing to do with dating—she’s perfectly happy single. Privy to too many of her mother’s bad decisions and even worse taste in boyfriends, all Avery can handle is a string of uncomplicated hookups whenever the mood strikes.
When she meets smoking hot tattoo artist Bennett, she wants him—for just one night. But he won’t accept a no-strings-attached arrangement. He lives by a straight-laced code of values based on his own troubled upbringing.
Bennett sees something special in Avery and he wants more from her. Way more. As Avery wrestles with her emotions for Bennett, danger and tragedy force them to open up to each other. And Avery must face the terrifying realization that she wants more from him, too.
So she needs to make a choice—let Bennett go or finally let him in.
I’m not going to lie, the virgin hero is totally the reason I requested this for review. I love that he was the inexperienced one. There’s something very sexy about a man who chooses to wait..or maybe it was just this particular man?
Avery meets Bennett at a party and decides to take him home with her. It isn’t often she’s the one pursuing a man, but there’s something about him that draws her in. Only Bennett isn’t interested in being take for a ride – or getting ridden, as the case may be – by someone who only wants casual sex.
Bennett and Avery have both let their past shape their actions in the present. For Avery, that means being in charge of every aspect of her life, including who she takes to her bed. Bennett has gone the opposite direction. He wants sex to mean something and plans to wait until he falls in love before sharing that part of himself.
When they move into the same building, the attraction they feel for one another becomes hard to deny. Especially after Bennett saves Avery from a would-be intruder and she ends up sleeping – just sleeping – in his bed. They form an odd friendship, but both wants more from the other. For Avery it’s a physical relationship without emotional ties. For Bennett, it’s a commitment. The one thing Avery can’t give. Or can she? More importantly, is she willing to try?
This was a strong, emotionally compelling read. I was fully invested in both Avery and Bennett. I wanted her to open her eyes and see him for the outstanding person he was. To stop letting her past define her. Only I understood why she chose to close herself off, and so I couldn’t be angry at her for closing herself off. In a way, Bennett was just as closed off. He opened himself up a bit more than Avery, but he still kept part of himself back. Again, I understood why, and I was really anxious for these two to work things out and get together already.
Definitely an emotional roller coaster ride. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
4.25 out of 5
This book is available from InterMix. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
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