ARC Review: Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young

 

Samantha Young continues to be one of my favourite Contemporary Romance authors. With BEFORE JAMAICA LANE, she solidifies her place on my keeper shelf. ~ Under the Covers

If you’re a mega fan of this series like I am, I highly suggest you read Castle Hill before this book because there are some scenes that overlap one another and they can ruin the events of Castle Hill if you aren’t familiar with them already. That being said, I’ll go straight into my thoughts about this wonderful book.

First off, I just want to say that Olivia is a fantastic heroine. Lively, fun, and full of passion, she is a girl that I would love to be friends with. Young spends a lot of time building up her character and personality, allowing that to shine through on its own. Later, we learn more about Olivia’s insecurities about herself. As a woman who doesn’t feel comfortable in her own skin, she constantly puts herself down by thinking that she is pudgy. Though she likes to wear sexy lingerie, she often doesn’t feel sexy on her own.

Nate Sawyer is there to help her with that. As one of her best friends, he can’t stand to see Olivia unhappy about her body image and confidence, so in order to fix that, he gives her “lessons” on how to be more confident in herself. It’s a fun concept, but what really makes it work is the chemistry between Olivia and Nate. This idea could go wrong in so many ways or seem unspecial, but the flirty tone that Young laces this book with definitely makes it super fun to read.

Young continues to build on her characters as she updates readers with events on past couples. As I mentioned earlier, I cannot stress the importance of reading Castle Hill before this. I think it will only enrich the reading experience.

As you can expect, there are some insanely hot sex scenes that will blow you away. Nate is a pretty decent dirty-talker as well so that’s always a bonus. I thought that the second half of the book was a little weaker than the first half as the author delves deeper into the conflict and the demons that haunt Nate’s pasts. For this, I really thought it was necessary to get a few POVs from Nate that we didn’t get in this book. I think it would’ve given better insight into his character and help readers understand where he is coming from and why he did some of the things he did. Unfortunately, I don’t think reading about Olivia’s frustrations and her side was enough. That’s really my only complaint about this book. The rest of it was wonderfully written, very upbeat and easy to read. Samantha Young continues to be one of my favourite Contemporary Romance authors. With BEFORE JAMAICA LANE, she solidifies her place on my keeper shelf.

[about-author author=”Samantha Young”]

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