Lovin' los libros

Take Me Now (Take Me Now #1) 
    by: Faith Sullivan

Publication Date: July 16, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Group: New Adult
Source: e-copy provided by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 158 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 3/5 stars

I helped Faith reveal this cover about a month or so ago and once I read the blurb I knew I wanted to read it. I liked the idea of the forbidden office romance and I definitely wanted to see how it would play out!

I enjoyed the storyline in this book and I think it has real potential as a series. However, I felt it was lacking a bit in the development area: both plot and character-wise. As for plot development, I felt certain key situations were rushed when it would have been more beneficial to see them drawn out. As for character development, I didn't feel like I got a good enough grasp on Ivy and Eric. Eric, especially is such a complex character, and I felt like I needed a little bit more depth in order to understand him.

Ivy has just started her new internship at the Gazette, and is now working under her childhood best friend Ryan's evil stepsister, Lauren. Lauren is your rich, stuck up, manipulating diva who will stoop to any lengths necessary to get what she wants. And Lauren wants Eric Young- a good-looking landscaper who was pushed into the spotlight a couple of years ago due to the loss of someone close to him. Lauren is seriously an awful character. As I said, she is manipulative and she is absolutely horrible to Ivy. She is used to getting what she wants and when she notices Eric and Ivy together, she will do whatever it takes to drive a wedge between them. I have to say that I felt Lauren's character was the most consistent in the book. While the other characters seemed to go back and forth in their personalities, Lauren was Lauren. She was evil and didn't try to be anything else.

Let's talk about Ryan for a minute. He has been best friend's with Ivy since they were kids. I could tell right away that Ryan's feelings for her weren't platonic. However, when he finally admits to it, I was confused. Did he like her for real or did he like her because he noticed how hot she was after accidentally seeing her naked one afternoon? To make matters worse, Ryan's character does a complete 180 and does something insanely unforgiveable. And I was so mad at Ivy for acting so blasé about it! I was really hoping Ryan would be this good, sweet character who Ivy could lean on in times of trouble.

I did feel Ivy and Eric's relationship was too rushed. Again, I think this is where we really needed more development because we go from Ivy being in love with someone else one minute to all of a sudden she is having feelings for Eric. Eric is still grieving over someone he lost in the past and keeps saying it's too soon to get involved with someone, but then in a matter of no time he is envisioning spending his life with Ivy. We readers didn't see Ivy and Eric form that attachment to one another- to watch them interact and get to know one another.

Again, Lauren wants nothing more than to sink her claws into Eric and will try to lead Ivy to believe they have more going on between them then they really do. This becomes a big source of Ivy and Eric's problems in the beginning. Ivy thinks Eric has something going on with Lauren and Eric thinks Ivy has something going on with Will. Due to the misconceptions they both have, the pair really does struggle to confront the other and talk about it. There is one scene in particular where Ivy believes Eric to be with Lauren and she makes a big deal of letting him go because she won't be the woman that takes another's man. I felt it was a bit overdramatic, considering they really hadn't even been together in a romantic way yet. However, making this decision absolutely crushes Ivy. Again, I think the Eric-Lauren-Ivy triangle could have used a bit more depth to make that seem more realistic. I also think had that scene occurred later on in the story it would have worked a bit better than where it was actually placed.

Ivy has been in love with Will since childhood. After being sent to run an errand by Lauren, she crosses paths with him again. I didn't like Will at all. He is super wishy-washy. One minute he's fixated upon Ivy and the next he didn't even give her another thought. Ivy likes the way he makes her feel when he is paying attention to her, but she downplays the times he's treated her like crap. Unfortunately, I know several girls like that- it's so easy to forget the negative, when the positive is so worthwhile. But, after she meets Eric, she rather quickly decides her feelings for Will weren't anything like she feels with Eric. It just felt like one minute she was obsessing over wanting Will and the next she wants to be with Eric.

Eric's character is a bit more complex. As I said, he lost someone very important to him and he is not ready for a relationship at the beginning of the novel. But after meeting Ivy, he is attracted to her and all of a sudden wants to be with her. But Eric has some deeply rooted issues concerning his loss that he hasn't worked out and it really comes to bite his and Ivy's relationship in the bum. After seeing Ivy wearing some clothes she shouldn't be, he overreacts and kicks her out of his house. No warning- no explanation- nothing. He doesn't even attempt to call Ivy afterwards to even talk to her about what happened. This goes to show that Eric really isn't in a place to move forward with his life. He is still hurting from the past and you can't just slap a Band-Aid on it and continue on.

One line in particular he said really aggravated me:

"Yet she couldn't give me the space to deal with issues I haven't resolved."

He hasn't made any effort to open up to her about his past or really talk about how affected by it he still is. So for him to say this and put the blame on her is really unfair. Ivy doesn't give him the space he needs and ends up making a phone call to him that immediately ruins any chance of them sitting down and discussing their issues.

The ending is a bit of a whopper. Ivy dumps a pretty big bomb on Eric and again- all of a sudden he's apologizing and he's sorry for acting the way he did and he thought by ignoring her, he was doing her a favor. But now, he's ready to start this new journey with her.... I feel that Eric still has a long ways to go before he can truly settle down and become happy with Ivy. He needs to deal with overcoming the grief of his past and learning how to move forward and it's not something that can occur overnight.

Again, I really liked the storyline, I just wish we would have seen some more development with Ivy and Eric's relationship and Eric and Ivy dealing with his past. Oh, and I really hope Lauren, Ryan, and even Will get theirs! For the things they did, I want some retribution! I do plan on continuing the series as I am really looking forward to seeing how Ivy and Eric will tackle this new challenge that has been thrown their way.