Lovin' los libros

Welcome to my stop on the Good Intentions tour hosted by AToMR tours!

To see other stops on the tour for reviews, guest posts, and excerpts click here.

 

 

 

 

My Review:

 

You know those soap operas that you feel guilty to admitting to watch? I feel much the same way about the Welcome to Paradise series. It is reminiscent of a mini soap opera with so much angst and drama, it literally makes your head spin. And I freaking love it! I can't get enough of this series!

 

Good Intentions takes up right where Good Vibrations leaves off- Mallory is getting ready to attend her boyfriend, Evan's (well his parents') 4th of July party. The only problem? Evan's mother hates Mallory with a passion. She belittles her and treats her as if she's nothing more than a common street whore. Yeah, great lady.

 

The first book in the series was filled with drama, tension, and angst. Mallory and Evan both have so many insecurities when it comes to relationships that they were constantly back and forth. At one point I almost wanted them to give up because they were being ridiculous! We weren't even 25 pages into this book before the shit hit the fan with Evan and Mallory! Both are so hot-headed and brash- they don't sit down and hash things out like they should. Mallory flies off the handle without knowing all of the facts and makes assumptions that she shouldn't be making. In fact, I felt bad for Evan as she really just bombards him with her insecurities and jealousy. I understand Mallory has been cheated on before and clearly has some self-confidence issues, but come on girl! Give the guy a chance to explain before you go all crazy on him!

 

With that all being said and after that particular incident, I really love how this book shows the evolution of both Mallory and Evan. Yes, they still have their insecurities, but they are slowly learning to trust in one another and not let their petty jealousy come between them. This was a huge development. Evan held onto a dark secret in the first book that is now out in the open and I felt really bad for him. We finally learn why him and Noah hate each other so much.

 

Let's talk about Noah for a minute. Wow, talk about doing a complete 180? We saw a very different side to Noah in this book and I didn't care for him at all. There was one scene in particular that seemed a bit out of character for him, so I was a little befuddled over it. Regardless, he was in the wrong and I had no problem saying good riddance to him.

 

Our awesome side characters are back! I really loved Zach (Evan's best friend) even more in this book, because he was the ying to Evan's yang. Really- Zach was the voice of reason and I loved how he would talk sense into Evan. Sunny, Kate, and Murphy all make appearances and we are also introduced to some new characters- Evan's dad, however, was the biggest surprise to me. You expect him to be a douche since his wife is a complete manipulative bitch, but he was actually a good guy, who cared about his family and didn't want to lose his job. He had Evan's back on more than one occasion and I really respected him for that.

 

As the summer comes to a close and Mallory and Evan are about to part ways, the two spend their last few weeks together doing all the touristy, cheesy things- as well as having lots of sex. And I mean, LOTS of it. And they were quite creative about it too, ahem. There is one scene involving a car... while not so believable, it was definitely hot! I won't lie, I did feel the overabundance of sex did take away a bit from the plot.

 

Mallory and Evan do not have an easy road ahead of them by any means. While they are working on building a strong foundation built on trust, both of them are anxious as to what the future holds. Mallory is on her way back to school in Colorado, and Evan is slotted to start working for the family company in New York City with his sister, Kate. Evan is afraid Mallory will forget about him and embrace college life- partying, meeting other guys, etc. and Mallory is afraid Evan will slide back into his former lifestyle of a playboy amidst the glamour of NYC. The two face their greatest challenge- distance- and watching them work to make things work is definitely interesting. There are so many forces at work against them- Evan's mother, Mallory's new friend... will their relationship survive? I can't wait to find out in Book 3!