Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Loving Cassie by Jacinta Howard

1 review

now_booking's review

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emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

3.5 Stars. Wow! What a ride it has been reading the evolution of the band, The Prototype, and seeing the members get their HEAs. The first book, Happiness In Jersey, will always be my favourite but getting into this series, I definitely didn’t expect the heartbreaking yet redemptive love stories that these books deliver. They are authentic and filled with new adult relationship drama, but also drama and pain and brokenness and the need for love and healing that would be relatable to anyone. These books are so eminently human (including the non-PC colloquialisms for intellectual disabilities, so beware of you might be offended) and not in any way watered down or adapted from the experiences and expression of being a college student in a southwestern university in America.

In this book, the premise is that keyboardist, Bam, meets his bandmate’s older sister, Cassie, when she comes to town for a visit and he’s instantly consumed by her. The only issue they’re both sorta kinda in “it’s complicated” situationships and both come with a lot of extra baggage that makes trust and stability hard to come by.

This book has a lot of potential triggers from abortion to miscarriage to cutting and anxiety, to suicide... a lot is going on here. In addition, like with the last couple of books before this, there’s some juvenile fighting with the purported “other man”/“other woman” and basic youthfulness in dealing with issues around trust. I still feel like some of the characters could have benefitted from seeking professional help.
But irrespective of all that, this series is so worth checking out. The books are standalones especially books 3 and 4 which go back in time a bit to rehash some of the scenes in previous books. The rehashing was at times a little boring especially because I binged the entire series and so it felt repetitive to live through the same event multiple times although in fairness, the repetition gave a new protagonist’s perspective of similar events. That said, I highly recommend reading this in order to get the full context and to avoid spoilers and to fully understand and enjoy the characters in the books. If you’re a fan of new adult romance or even a huge music fan, this book will be right up your alley. Even if you’re not but you want a gorgeous, angsty, romance, I highly recommend this entire series. Soooo good overall!
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