Reviewer: Holly and Rowena Hero by Samantha Young
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: February 3rd 2015
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 416
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The emotional and unforgettable new romance from the New York Times bestselling author of the On Dublin Street series.
Alexa Holland’s father was her hero—until her shocking discovery that her mother and she weren’t his only family. Ever since, Alexa has worked to turn her life in a different direction and forge her own identity outside of his terrible secrets. But when she meets a man who’s as damaged by her father’s mistakes as she is, Alexa must help him.
Caine Carraway wants nothing to do with Alexa’s efforts at redemption, but it’s not so easy to push her away. Determined to make her hate him, he brings her to the edge of her patience and waits for her to walk away. But his actions only draw them together and, despite the odds, they begin an intense and explosive affair.
Only Caine knows he can never be the white knight that Alexa has always longed for. And when they’re on the precipice of danger, he finds he’ll do anything to protect either one of them from being hurt again....
Rowena: Remember when you made me read those two chapters from Hero and it wasn’t coming out for months and I was so mad at you because we had such a long wait?
Well, we finally read the book so what did you think?
Holly: I do remember. I wanted the story so bad! Too bad I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would.
Young has written a couple of my favorite books, but she’s also written a couple I didn’t care for. This falls into the latter category.
Rowena: I wouldn’t say that I hated the book or that it’s even a book that I didn’t care for, I was just sorely disappointed in Caine. Like, a lot.
He drove me absolutely crazy in the ENTIRE book. A lot of the crap that he put Lexi through made me want to punch him in the nose, trip him so he falls on his face and then throw the people’s elbow on his dumb ass. I get being mad at the guy who put your family through hell but to treat Lexi the way that he did for things she didn’t have any knowledge of or part in, made it really hard to like him.
Holly: Caine drove me insane, too. I understand he was hurt at a young age by the people who should have protected him, but I thought he punished Lexi for too long as well.
Rowena: It’s weird because I love Samantha Young’s books but her characters do a lot of stuff that piss me off. In this book, it was Caine. When they’re at that ball and he gets SO jealous and the humiliation Lexi was already feeling with her grandparents and then for Caine to treat her the way that he did? OMG, I wanted to kick him in the balls. I saw red.
Holly: I agree. I love Young, too, but sometimes her characters drive me mad. Like On Dublin Street. Everyone loved that book, but both Joss and Braden drove me crazy.
Rowena: I liked Joss and Braden but they did get on my hot damn nerves in their book. Especially Joss. OMG, she drove me up the wall
Holly: That scene at the party with her grandfather made me so mad. Caine’s ridiculous actions afterword made me want to smack him. There were a couple other times he made her feel small that bothered me, too.
Rowena: I’ve got to say that I was highly disappointed in Lexi’s grandfather. The way that he felt he had to hide his relationship with Lexi to protect her from the family? That didn’t sit right with me. So he was fine with hurting Lexi as long as he protected those bunch of assholes? Ugh.
Holly: I was disappointed in her grandfather, too. I get wanting to protect Lexi from those in his family who were jerks, but it was clear he was more interested in protecting himself and his family from scandal than protecting her feelings.
Even more, I thought Lexi let him treat her poorly for too long. She should have stood up for herself or walked away long before she did. I admired her resolve to right the wrongs done by her family to Caine in the beginning, but the longer she stayed with him while he heaped verbal and emotional abuse on her, the more respect I lost.
Rowena: Lexi probably did stay too long but for some reason, I never got mad at her. I liked her. I understood what she was trying to do and respected it but while I was reading the book, I was more focused on being pissed off at Caine than I was that Lexi stuck around for the abuse for so long. I can see it now but then? Not so much.
Holly: I was frustrated by Lexi the frist time through, but when I re-read the book in order to discuss it with you, she drove me batty. I wanted to like her, but..no.
Rowena: Was it because she stuck around so long for the abuse that you didn’t like about Lexi?
Holly: I think my problem with Lexi had more to do with her constant determination to not let a man walk all over her like her mother, all while she was doing what she swore she wouldn’t. She let Caine get away with far too much for far too long.
Rowena: Ha, you’re right. She did swear she wasn’t going to be like her Mom all the while she was …being just like her Mom.
Holly: What did you think of the mystery/suspense plot?
Rowena: As for the mystery/suspense plot, I had to take a minute to remember what that was so that should tell you a little about what I thought about it. It was okay but not why I kept reading the book. I kept reading the book trying to see when Caine and Lexi were going to get their crap together.
Holly: The mystery/suspense plot was kind of silly, IMO. I don’t know why it was included. It kind of seemed to come out of nowhere and didn’t really serve a purpose. other than providing additional conflict. I mean, it’s not like it got them together, you know?
Rowena: The mystery-suspense part of the story wasn’t needed because you’re right, it didn’t really serve a purpose or move the story along but I wasn’t mad that it was included. If anything, it just made me more mad at the Grandpa.
Holly: I liked the resolution with Lexi’s dad, though. I thought that was pretty realistic considering the circumstances.
I didn’t dislike all of it. When Caine wasn’t pushing Lexi away they had great chemistry and I liked watching them open up to each other. I also really liked Caine’s neighbor and his best friend. It just wasn’t enough to save the story for me.
I’m going to give it a 2.75 out of 5.
Rowena: Like you, I didn’t dislike all of the book. It was an interesting read. One that kept me going even when I was rip roaring pissed off at Caine, Lexi’s Grandpa but I did enjoy the scenes between Caine and Lexi when Caine wasn’t been an asshole and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Caine’s best friend and neighbor. They were great additions to the story.
Overall, this book wasn’t the most perfect of reads but it wasn’t the worst either. I think that people will love this book but I was a bit let down by Caine and that sucked.
Grade: 3 out of 5
Holly’s Grade: 2.75 out of 5
Rowena’s Grade: 3 out of 5
“A lot of the crap that he put Lexi through made me want to punch him in the nose, trip him so he falls on his face and then throw the people’s elbow on his dumb ass. ”
Just tell us what you really feel 😛
LOL, I just couldn’t even deal with how mad Caine made me throughout the book. He was all kinds of sexy but still managed to be an ass too.
Don’t hold back now – tell Willa everything 😀 It sounds like a bad Harlequin romance from where I am sitting.
I think his sexiness was severely reduced by his asshat behavior.