cassire's review against another edition
5.0
I am obsessed with this book. Olivia and Nate are one of my favorite couples. I love Edinburgh.
christmas42's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
amberfrost's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
moistwaffle's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
jennharmon's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.5
4.5⭐️ Olivia and Nate are best friends but can their friendship survive them being lovers? Nate lost his first love to cancer and Olivia lost her mom to cancer. Nate is afraid of commitment as he is afraid of loss and Olivia wants someone to love her with everything that they have to give. These two are so cute that you champion for them the entire world at through the book. So far this one is my favorite in the series. Lots of heart in this one with all of our favorite characters from the other books.
lynseyisreading's review against another edition
5.0
She's only gone and done it again!
I have very few auto-buy authors, and really only one in the Contemporary Romance genre, and that's this lovely lady, Samantha Young. I fell deeply and irrevocably in love with her writing with On Dublin Street, and she hasn't let me down since. She writes my kind of men, my kind of heroines —both strong and fragile—and manages to create such amazingly vivid, like-you're-in-the-room-with-them scenes. Whether that's a gorgeously warm and fuzzy "all friends together" scene, or a sizzling and intimate sex scene, I'm there. Living it. Experiencing it. I laugh when they laugh, and she ALWAYS manages to make me cry when they cry. Or even when they don't. Even when they're stoically trying to keep their shit together, I'm still blubbing heartily on their behalf. Because the writing is just that good!
The characters this time were Oliva (Liv) the daughter of Jo's pseudo-father Jim, whom we met in Down London Road. She came off as quite funny and sassy in the brief glimpse of her we got then. And she is. But as Young likes to show us, there's always more to the characters and their behaviour than meets they eye. Case in point, Liv is not nearly as outgoing when it comes to men. The complete opposite, in fact. Due to her mother's illness and several other factors, the years when sexual experimentation is normally going on all passed her by. She's now mid-twenties and almost paralysed by fear of the opposite sex, which is driven by her inexperience. Catch 22, anyone?
It doesn't help that she's half way in love with her best friend. Nate, one of Cam's buddies, the known player, has become her purely platonic BFF. How on earth did that happen? Well, we find out in flashbacks early on and it's very sweet and slightly geekalicious. I loved it! But he makes it look so easy all the time. If he wants a woman, all he has to do is go and flash those killer dimples at some poor, unsuspecting lass and it's all over. But again, like with Liv, there's more to that, too. The reason he behaves that way broke my heart into itty bitty pieces.
As much as I loved everything about Nate (and I really did) and I know people will likely concentrate on him in their reviews, I have to give my limelight over to Liv. She was such a fantastic character. Slightly overweight (in her opinion), insecure in some areas but a total contrast in others. A bit of a... I don't want to say tomboy, because that's not really it, but she plays well with the boys, if you know what I mean? Not too girlie; likes video games and silly "boy movies". She was just a fantastic layer cake of entertainment from start to finish, and when she finally started to realize what she was worth and what she deserved, I was SO proud of her!
For me, Before Jamaica Lane was another storming success. One I look forward to reading again and again in years to come. If you haven't read anything by this author yet, well, lucky you! You get to go back and start with On Dublin Street and experience it all for the first time! And there's nothing quite like a first time... Amirite?
5 Stars! ★★★★
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I have very few auto-buy authors, and really only one in the Contemporary Romance genre, and that's this lovely lady, Samantha Young. I fell deeply and irrevocably in love with her writing with On Dublin Street, and she hasn't let me down since. She writes my kind of men, my kind of heroines —both strong and fragile—and manages to create such amazingly vivid, like-you're-in-the-room-with-them scenes. Whether that's a gorgeously warm and fuzzy "all friends together" scene, or a sizzling and intimate sex scene, I'm there. Living it. Experiencing it. I laugh when they laugh, and she ALWAYS manages to make me cry when they cry. Or even when they don't. Even when they're stoically trying to keep their shit together, I'm still blubbing heartily on their behalf. Because the writing is just that good!
The characters this time were Oliva (Liv) the daughter of Jo's pseudo-father Jim, whom we met in Down London Road. She came off as quite funny and sassy in the brief glimpse of her we got then. And she is. But as Young likes to show us, there's always more to the characters and their behaviour than meets they eye. Case in point, Liv is not nearly as outgoing when it comes to men. The complete opposite, in fact. Due to her mother's illness and several other factors, the years when sexual experimentation is normally going on all passed her by. She's now mid-twenties and almost paralysed by fear of the opposite sex, which is driven by her inexperience. Catch 22, anyone?
It doesn't help that she's half way in love with her best friend. Nate, one of Cam's buddies, the known player, has become her purely platonic BFF. How on earth did that happen? Well, we find out in flashbacks early on and it's very sweet and slightly geekalicious. I loved it! But he makes it look so easy all the time. If he wants a woman, all he has to do is go and flash those killer dimples at some poor, unsuspecting lass and it's all over. But again, like with Liv, there's more to that, too. The reason he behaves that way broke my heart into itty bitty pieces.
As much as I loved everything about Nate (and I really did) and I know people will likely concentrate on him in their reviews, I have to give my limelight over to Liv. She was such a fantastic character. Slightly overweight (in her opinion), insecure in some areas but a total contrast in others. A bit of a... I don't want to say tomboy, because that's not really it, but she plays well with the boys, if you know what I mean? Not too girlie; likes video games and silly "boy movies". She was just a fantastic layer cake of entertainment from start to finish, and when she finally started to realize what she was worth and what she deserved, I was SO proud of her!
For me, Before Jamaica Lane was another storming success. One I look forward to reading again and again in years to come. If you haven't read anything by this author yet, well, lucky you! You get to go back and start with On Dublin Street and experience it all for the first time! And there's nothing quite like a first time... Amirite?
5 Stars! ★★★★
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
geo_ix's review against another edition
4.0
What would you rather? To love, and have your heart broken, or to never love at all?
Liv is looking for love. Not just any love, she wants the big love. The type of love where you're everything to a person. There's a problem though, due to not living a normal childhood, she's inexperienced in most things boys, and because of that, she's lost all confidence.
Nate is a play boy scarred by losing his only love as a teen. Since then he hasn't settled down and only taken part in one night stands. When Liv asks him to help teach her the ways of seduction and then wants lessons in sex, it's already spelling heartbreak.
This story was incredibly sad at times, funny in other moments and then I also felt nostalgic seeing the past two books couples (and Els and Adam but I still haven't read their novella, but I will).
Many things happen with the other couples so we still continue to see trials and happy moments in our favourite couples lives, and we also see more of Hannah and Marco, and we see the beginning of Cole's transition into a man. I'm so happy I started this series, for some reason I always put them on my kindle and never keep reading.... The next book I purchased a paperback copy of however so I'll get around to reading it, unfortunately for me I seem to never read them. Whoops!
Liv is looking for love. Not just any love, she wants the big love. The type of love where you're everything to a person. There's a problem though, due to not living a normal childhood, she's inexperienced in most things boys, and because of that, she's lost all confidence.
Nate is a play boy scarred by losing his only love as a teen. Since then he hasn't settled down and only taken part in one night stands. When Liv asks him to help teach her the ways of seduction and then wants lessons in sex, it's already spelling heartbreak.
This story was incredibly sad at times, funny in other moments and then I also felt nostalgic seeing the past two books couples (and Els and Adam but I still haven't read their novella, but I will).
Many things happen with the other couples so we still continue to see trials and happy moments in our favourite couples lives, and we also see more of Hannah and Marco, and we see the beginning of Cole's transition into a man. I'm so happy I started this series, for some reason I always put them on my kindle and never keep reading.... The next book I purchased a paperback copy of however so I'll get around to reading it, unfortunately for me I seem to never read them. Whoops!