I knew I was going to love this book before I read it. I did some serious speed reading when I was getting through Pucking Wild and its accompanying novella, because I was anticipating this story so much. And I did not disappoint myself. I loved this novel just as much as I was hoping I would.
The poly relationship in this story felt exactly right to me. Three is the magic number in my opinion, any more than that just feels like a little bit too much, but I am not going to rain on the love parade that consists of anyone in a poly relationship involving more than three persons. We have our female main character, Poppy, and the two men she finds herself equally attracted to and can’t decide between. On the one hand, she has an honest and open relationship blossoming with a man that she has known for a few years, but who has only now confessed his feelings towards her. He is direct with her, telling her exactly how he feels and what he wants from her. But then she finds incredible passion between herself and the team’s potential public relations nightmare, a man who seems to have never had a serious, loving relationship with a woman, a real playboy. By all rights they should abhor the other, but there really is a fine line between love and hate. After these two have what was meant to be a one night stand they can’t deny that there is something chemical drawing them towards each other. You really get the best of both worlds in this story.
I have to go on a rant about the side plot, that being all the drama between Poppy and her family. The way Poppy was treated by her entire family made me so furious. Her younger sister was bratty and a bit narcissistic. Her mother was prude, withholding, demanding, and controlling. Her father just didn’t seem very aware or observant regarding anything that was going on with his family, he was fully focused on his political career. Why have four children if you aren’t going to know their likes and dislikes, or pay attention to any of them? The brother, who didn’t make much of an impact at the beginning, turned out to be a huge jerk too. He was a bully who loved to run his mouth, but at least someone shut it for him in the end. The only sibling who didn’t seem like they were mistreating Poppy was the oldest sister, who was only mentioned briefly in the beginning. If she managed to stay out of all this drama, then good for her. It seems like she accomplished what Poppy should have done years ago and ignored her overbearing, manipulative, snotty, Kennedy-esque wannabee of a family.
I can’t recall from memory all the times I have gasped aloud or shouted in surprise or glee over something that I had read in a book. You could say that not a lot shocks me, or that the moments are so few and far between that they are lost to time and memory. But I did gasp at a huge plot twist that happened towards the end, I screamed when I read it. However, after this one line no more mention was made of it, and it was kind of a big deal. Think relationship ending, perspective altering twist. Even though there were several other more pressing matters occurring at the same time that may have needed immediate attention, I was surprised that no one brought this one confession up after the other matters were taken care of. That one line is really going to bother me. I am hoping that the novella that we were promised will include a chapter that covers what went on here.
Speaking of that third novella, it was supposed to come after this book. It is listed in the indexes of both Pucking Ever After Volumes One and Two, which says to me that the author was committed to writing it. But it has not been released and I cannot find any information hinting at a release date. Pucking Strong does have a release date, August, and I already pre-ordered it, but there has been no word on whether or not the third novella is coming out before, after, or not at all. Maybe the author decided not to write a novella starring these particular characters? Maybe she was in a scramble to get this latest installment out and had to put Pucking Strong Volume Three on hold? I do hope that I get to read that novella one day, and I really hope that the one cliffhanger I was personally left on is addressed. Until the news drops on that, I just have to wait until September to read about the boys in Pucking Strong. I fear that I may have gone a little overboard with this blog, but I do tend to do that when I really enjoy a book. Next week, I have a thriller that I want to tell you about.
Nonfiction and Nonsense 