An excellent NA read. Great writing and characters dealing with ugly family truths and learning to be true to themselves rather than what others may think. This is a good one.

Small town gossip and judgmental ways have a way of hurting people to the core. That's exactly what Shelby is dealing with when she returns to Aidan Falls for summer break after her breakup with the town golden boy Rex. When town bad boy Micah Wyatt starts going after her she knows it will only lead to more gossip and trouble but his honesty and charming way is hard to resist and she's not sure she wants to.

I definitely recommend this one. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Sexy NA romance with loveable characters, lots of drama, and great steamy moments. It only took me a few hours to read this, but I was entertained the whole time!

Opening Sentence: When the group on the dock finally saw us lying out on the lake’s shore, the attacks began, just like I told Evie they would.

The Review:

Shelby is heading home from college for the summer and she is not looking forward to it. She grew up in the small town of Aiden Falls and she was always a topic for gossip. Her mother got pregnant with her when she was 16 years old and it was never revealed who her father was, but Shelby was okay with that. I mean she always wondered who her father was but she had such a wonderful mother it never mattered much who her loser father was. But her past is not the reason she is dreading heading home for the summer; her recent breakup with her boyfriend is.

Shelby was a little nerdy in high school and never dated much, but the summer after graduation brought many changes to Shelby. She managed to catch the eye of the town superstar, Rex. He was the high school quarterback and is now playing well in college. There aren’t many people from Aiden Falls that have much success, so pretty much everyone in the town worships Rex. But it turns out Rex isn’t such a great guy, Shelby caught him cheating on her and she called him out on it. To say their breakup was messy is a total understatement and now she will have to deal with all the hometown gossip floating around about her.

To top things off, the girl that Rex ran to after his messy breakup with Shelby just recently cheated on him with the hot new guy, Micah Wyatt. Micah has a bad boy reputation and he likes to hookup with pretty much anyone that is willing. It seems he has his sights on Shelby as his next conquest and she isn’t sure she will be able to resist his charm, even if it means more gossip about her. Falling for the bad boy is never a good idea, but even though Shelby seems like a good girl she might crave being bad more then she lets on.

Shelby is a sweet girl that is very indecisive at times. For the most part she was a great character but there were a few things that really frustrated me about her. First, I want to address the whole relationship she had with Rex. I get that she was really inexperienced when she started dating him, but the way she handled everything just felt a little awkward to me. I never saw the appeal of Rex, so I didn’t understand why she let Rex and all his townies treat her the way she did. I get she didn’t want to cause conflict but it got frustrating by how much she let other people predict her actions. Then with Micah she was so flighty. One moment she is pushing him away and the next moment she can’t seem to get enough of him. I realize that in many ways this was a coming of age story for Shelby, but I felt like she should have been more mature then she was. But on the flip side of things, I did love her relationship with her mother and how devoted they were to each other. I also loved how much Shelby grew throughout the story and she did eventually become someone I could respect. Overall, I struggled with her character, but ultimately I ended up liking her.

Micah was hands down my favorite thing about this book. He is a sexy man and there is no denying that he is a bad boy that you can’t help but fall in love with. Yes, he is a player and way too cocky for his own good, but he is also a really good guy. He is always up front and honest about who he is and what he wants from a relationship, which is a rare quality to find. Also, as you get to know him you find out that he really has a good heart. Even though he has a rough past he has tried to move on with his life and be a better person. His relationship with Shelby is pretty funny most of the time and full of great sexual tension. Micah is a charmer and I can honestly see why it would be hard to resist him. Overall, he was a great love interest and I pretty much fell for him instantly.

Honeytrap is a fun and sexy contemporary romance that most new adult fans will love. I can honestly say that I read this entire book in one sitting, so it’s a quick read that keeps you entertained. I thought that the love story was developed perfectly and not rushed in anyway. I will admit that there was a lot of unnecessary drama in the book, but nothing that bothered me too bad. There was also some great humor laced throughout the story, but it also had some emotional moments as well. Overall, I thought that it was a really well rounded story that hit most of the elements I love in new adult books. This is the first book I have read by Green, but I think that she is a great storyteller and I am looking forward to reading other works by her in the future. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a great romance filled with sexy times and fun humor!

Notable Scene:

As I ran my gaze from his nametag and up to his face, I couldn’t stop myself from taking in the smile he was aiming at me. Suggestive, slow, and cocked to one side . . . And it didn’t stop at his mouth, either. His light eyes—gray or green or maybe a little of both—seemed to melt the room, too.

I didn’t know how long I watched that smile, but little by little, I noticed the rest of him: tall, but not quite as tall as Rex. Broad shoulders under a blue shop uniform, sleeves rolled over his muscled forearms. Skin, tanned and grease-smirked. Hair, dark blond, long enough to be held back in a short ponytail at the nape of his neck.

But that smile, and those clear eyes under wickedly long brows . . . I could see why he had girls wrapped around his finger. The way he ran his gaze up and down me made me feel like he was taking off my clothes piece by piece—undoing the knot at the back of my halter, easing the material down over my skin until I was just in my bikini top. Traveling lower, working off my jeans shorts and sliding them over my hips until my temperature flared and . . .

FTC Advisory: Intermix/Penguin provided me with a copy of Honeytrap. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )