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olovesbooks's review
5.0
I loved Chiara and Allistair.
This is a quick read and is student/teacher with an 8 year age gap.
They have a little fling while Allistair is visiting Italy. They keep it strictly to enjoying their time together, but they both catch feelings. Chiara leaves without saying goodbye. A couple months later their paths cross again. Chiara goes to school in the US and one of her teachers is none other than Allistair.
I loved everything about this book honestly. It was fast paced and it was written very well.
This is a quick read and is student/teacher with an 8 year age gap.
They have a little fling while Allistair is visiting Italy. They keep it strictly to enjoying their time together, but they both catch feelings. Chiara leaves without saying goodbye. A couple months later their paths cross again. Chiara goes to school in the US and one of her teachers is none other than Allistair.
I loved everything about this book honestly. It was fast paced and it was written very well.
bargainbookquest's review against another edition
4.0
4*
I'm not a huge age gap girl but I had to give this one a shot because I love Michelle's work (the ones I read before are *chef's kiss*. This was a very easy and fast read and I basically devoured it.
Alistair and Chiara are just amazing and I am intrigued by so many things when it comes to their back stories now. As for Chiara, there is a mention at the end about having a story for Max and I really wanna read that one, too.
I definitely recommend this one. Well done.
I'm not a huge age gap girl but I had to give this one a shot because I love Michelle's work (the ones I read before are *chef's kiss*. This was a very easy and fast read and I basically devoured it.
Alistair and Chiara are just amazing and I am intrigued by so many things when it comes to their back stories now. As for Chiara, there is a mention at the end about having a story for Max and I really wanna read that one, too.
I definitely recommend this one. Well done.
bettylovesbooksgalore's review against another edition
5.0
Blurry: Alistair and Chiara’s story
Wow. There was so much packed into this book.
This is the story of Alistair and Chiara and their relationship journey.
There were so many characters I loved in this book and a couple I definitely wanted to slap.
I love Michelle Hercules way of writing. I can’t wait to see if there is a book for Max.
Wow. There was so much packed into this book.
This is the story of Alistair and Chiara and their relationship journey.
There were so many characters I loved in this book and a couple I definitely wanted to slap.
I love Michelle Hercules way of writing. I can’t wait to see if there is a book for Max.
mirrorchaser's review
1.0
We are about to get into this. This is SMUT so if you know me in real life... no you don't. I don't remember how this ended up on my TBR, I know I should have stopped reading it, I've repented, but I just have a lot to say about it and who else am I going to tell?
First things first, this author clearly doesn't know how to write rising action. Or exposition... or a climax? Actually, can someone send [a:Michelle Hercules|17153031|Michelle Hercules|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1506338976p2/17153031.jpg] a plot diagram? In her defense, most readers clearly don't enjoy this book for it's (non-existent) plot. No, no. They enjoy it for it's very existent smut. Don't worry, I'm not giving this book a bad rating because I am too much of a prude to read smut. I'm giving it a bad rating because smut is the only thing this book has going for it and even that is really quite awful.
So the "exposition" introduces us to Chiara, a spoiled rich Italian girl who has mommy issues and whose crush is marrying her evil cousin. She ditches their wedding and comes across a stranded American motorist, Alistair, picks him up to take him back to the wedding as her guest and immediately has sex with him. They spend a *magical* weekend together fornicating, both decide that they have fallen in love, but then they return to their separate worlds never to speak again... or do they? You know they do.
The insane insta-love (literally, within like twenty minutes of knowing each other and less than one chapter) could be in character for Chiara because SURPRISE! She's barely EIGHTEEN. Alistair, however, is a grown man. A soon-to-be-divorcee. And, get this, a HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER. So, Michelle, you seriously expect me to believe that a grown man who teaches high schoolers daily doesn't recognize that the girl he is having MAD sex with is about the age of his students? And I'm not supposed to think this is weird or predatory at all because "he didn't know" and "the gap is only eight years." Yeah, yeah, yeah, those are fine if he isn't a TEACHER. And this isn't like, college which is still a power imbalance but is less creepy.
Actual footage of Alistair while Creep by Radiohead plays in the background:
Of course the conflict is that she is his student. Super predictable but at this point, I'm actually kind of looking forward to watching him wrestle with it, ala Ezra in [b:Pretty Little Liars|162085|Pretty Little Liars (Pretty Little Liars, #1)|Sara Shepard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377830522l/162085._SY75_.jpg|2191061]. Well, he doesn't. He tries to "stay away from her" for about one calendar day before he decides that it's totally worth it to jump her because they are just that in love.
I guess I missed out by not having sex during my teen years because apparently it's like, way super easy to finish when you're barely legal. That, or homeboy has a magic finger/penis combo. I like to think that my husband and I have pretty decent sex but yet, still takes more than a brush of a finger or two strokes for me to completely finish. Seriously, Chiara doesn't even need both. I really think someone should recommend that this main character see a doctor about her spontaneous orgasm disorder.
I know that seems dramatic but I SWEAR, about 80% through there is a scene where he literally TOUCHES her and an orgasm "rips through [her] body." I know boys your age usually have trouble finding the bean but that's seriously so ridiculous that it's not even sexy. And if a book doesn't have plot, and a book doesn't have sexy... what is it? Just words??
I also find it funny that Alistair's parents apparently have no concern over the fact that their son is sleeping with one of his high school students, which seems sus to me. Are they part of some ring? How much older is his dad than his mom? This is important context imo.
Basically, everything from the beginning to the end of this book was a train wreck and I'm mad that I read it.
First things first, this author clearly doesn't know how to write rising action. Or exposition... or a climax? Actually, can someone send [a:Michelle Hercules|17153031|Michelle Hercules|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1506338976p2/17153031.jpg] a plot diagram? In her defense, most readers clearly don't enjoy this book for it's (non-existent) plot. No, no. They enjoy it for it's very existent smut. Don't worry, I'm not giving this book a bad rating because I am too much of a prude to read smut. I'm giving it a bad rating because smut is the only thing this book has going for it and even that is really quite awful.
So the "exposition" introduces us to Chiara, a spoiled rich Italian girl who has mommy issues and whose crush is marrying her evil cousin. She ditches their wedding and comes across a stranded American motorist, Alistair, picks him up to take him back to the wedding as her guest and immediately has sex with him. They spend a *magical* weekend together fornicating, both decide that they have fallen in love, but then they return to their separate worlds never to speak again... or do they? You know they do.
The insane insta-love (literally, within like twenty minutes of knowing each other and less than one chapter) could be in character for Chiara because SURPRISE! She's barely EIGHTEEN. Alistair, however, is a grown man. A soon-to-be-divorcee. And, get this, a HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER. So, Michelle, you seriously expect me to believe that a grown man who teaches high schoolers daily doesn't recognize that the girl he is having MAD sex with is about the age of his students? And I'm not supposed to think this is weird or predatory at all because "he didn't know" and "the gap is only eight years." Yeah, yeah, yeah, those are fine if he isn't a TEACHER. And this isn't like, college which is still a power imbalance but is less creepy.
Actual footage of Alistair while Creep by Radiohead plays in the background:
Of course the conflict is that she is his student. Super predictable but at this point, I'm actually kind of looking forward to watching him wrestle with it, ala Ezra in [b:Pretty Little Liars|162085|Pretty Little Liars (Pretty Little Liars, #1)|Sara Shepard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377830522l/162085._SY75_.jpg|2191061]. Well, he doesn't. He tries to "stay away from her" for about one calendar day before he decides that it's totally worth it to jump her because they are just that in love.
I guess I missed out by not having sex during my teen years because apparently it's like, way super easy to finish when you're barely legal. That, or homeboy has a magic finger/penis combo. I like to think that my husband and I have pretty decent sex but yet, still takes more than a brush of a finger or two strokes for me to completely finish. Seriously, Chiara doesn't even need both. I really think someone should recommend that this main character see a doctor about her spontaneous orgasm disorder.
I know that seems dramatic but I SWEAR, about 80% through there is a scene where he literally TOUCHES her and an orgasm "rips through [her] body." I know boys your age usually have trouble finding the bean but that's seriously so ridiculous that it's not even sexy. And if a book doesn't have plot, and a book doesn't have sexy... what is it? Just words??
I also find it funny that Alistair's parents apparently have no concern over the fact that their son is sleeping with one of his high school students, which seems sus to me. Are they part of some ring? How much older is his dad than his mom? This is important context imo.
Basically, everything from the beginning to the end of this book was a train wreck and I'm mad that I read it.
bargainbookquest's review
4.0
4*
I'm not a huge age gap girl but I had to give this one a shot because I love Michelle's work (the ones I read before are *chef's kiss*. This was a very easy and fast read and I basically devoured it.
Alistair and Chiara are just amazing and I am intrigued by so many things when it comes to their back stories now. As for Chiara, there is a mention at the end about having a story for Max and I really wanna read that one, too.
I definitely recommend this one. Well done.
I'm not a huge age gap girl but I had to give this one a shot because I love Michelle's work (the ones I read before are *chef's kiss*. This was a very easy and fast read and I basically devoured it.
Alistair and Chiara are just amazing and I am intrigued by so many things when it comes to their back stories now. As for Chiara, there is a mention at the end about having a story for Max and I really wanna read that one, too.
I definitely recommend this one. Well done.
steviehamlington's review
5.0
Such a good read!
Couldn’t stop it once I started it. I love student teacher romances and this one is definitely up there with one of the best I have read.
Couldn’t stop it once I started it. I love student teacher romances and this one is definitely up there with one of the best I have read.
beautylachey19's review
4.0
I loved this so much. This is my 3rd book that I have read by Michelle and this one did not disappoint. Especially because student teacher romances are my favorite trope ever!!
I really loved the chemistry between Alistair and Chiara. I l really enjoyed seeing the insta-love trope in this book as well.
It would be nice to see Michelle Hercules make a story where the main characters don’t always have to have a fucked up family dynamic. I’ve been seeing a recurring theme in her work where the mothers and daughters especially hate each other. It would be nice to see where the mother and daughter are best friends instead and the parents always aren’t complete crap to their kids. Other than that I still thoroughly enjoyed this book!
I really loved the chemistry between Alistair and Chiara. I l really enjoyed seeing the insta-love trope in this book as well.
It would be nice to see Michelle Hercules make a story where the main characters don’t always have to have a fucked up family dynamic. I’ve been seeing a recurring theme in her work where the mothers and daughters especially hate each other. It would be nice to see where the mother and daughter are best friends instead and the parents always aren’t complete crap to their kids. Other than that I still thoroughly enjoyed this book!