4.5 Smooches!
Synopsis
The next dark and sexy romantic suspense novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Unteachable.
It only took one moment of weakness for Laney Keating’s world to fall apart. One stupid gesture for a hopeless crush. Then the rumors began. Slut, they called her. Queer. Psycho. Mentally ill, messed up, so messed up even her own mother decided she wasn’t worth sticking around for.
If Laney could erase that whole year, she would. College is her chance to start with a clean slate.
She’s not looking for new friends, but they find her: charming, handsome Armin, the only guy patient enough to work through her thorny defenses—and fiery, filterless Blythe, the bad girl and partner in crime who has thorns of her own.
But Laney knows nothing good ever lasts. When a ghost from her past resurfaces—the bully who broke her down completely—she decides it’s time to live up to her own legend. And Armin and Blythe are going to help.
Which was the plan all along.
Because the rumors are true. Every single one. And Laney is going to show them just how true.
She’s going to show them all.
Review
God, what can I say about this book? This is a really hard one to review because I loved it, I hated it, it made me think, it made me crazy.
“April is the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot said, and that’s because it kills.”
Ahh! I feel like I had a bit of an advantage because before I started Black Iris, I looked at the reviews. The reviews are kind of all over the place and people were saying the timeline was confusing and that it wasn’t like Unteachable. So I went in with the mindset that I needed to pay close attention to the timeline. I knew that I needed to read every word and focus closely on this one. I tried not to expect Unteachable. After all, just because an author writes an epically awesome student teacher romance, doesn’t mean that all of her books are going to be exactly the same. I altered my frame of mind about this book and I really think that it made all the difference. Because I really enjoyed Black Iris. I think that Leah Raeder made sure that this book was not your traditional NA romance.
“Maybe I’m a little bitter. And maybe this isn’t your typical college romance novel.”
This is more of a romantic suspense, a book where the revenge is 99% of the theme.
“I bottle my hate until it ferments into poison, and then I get high off the fumes.”
This book is incredibly dark. The subject matter heavy and intense. I guess you could say it is a love triangle of sorts; with a plot that is demented and twisty. The timeline did definitely skip around. The whole book I was questioning exactly what the hell was going on but I couldn’t stop. I had to know. Every page revealed another secret or truth, if you will, that made me stop and think, contemplate why this was happening and where in the hell this was all going.
“Don’t do it, Laney. You’re better than this.”
I felt like a my own little romance private investigator. I kept making guesses and trying to figure out how the whole crazy and screwed up story would play out. In the end, I never guessed and I am usually a pro at figuring out what is going to happen. Leah kept me on my toes until the very very end.
Another problem traditional romance readers might have with Black Iris is that the characters have no redeeming qualities and I am not joking when I say this. These people do awful things time and time again and get away with it. Even in the end, there really isn’t a moral or value that these young people learn. What I got out of it is that hate breeds hate mostly and that most people are both equal parts good and bad and given certain circumstances anyone could be REALLY bad.
What can I say really? This was just crazy and I probably enjoyed it a little too much. I don’t know what that says about me because it was really effed up! LIKE REALLY! Of course, Leah’s writing was impeccable, all prosaic and flowery just like I expected and the story is definitely one that will keep you interested. I am giving this one 4.5 stars.
“Scars tell a story. My whole life was written on my body. How are you supposed to leave the past behind when you carry it with you in your skin.?”
~Amie
P.S. and I love that damn cover, hard!
