Lovin' los libros

Welcome to my stop on the Wish For You blog tour hosted by AToMR Tours!

Today I am excited to share my review and a giveaway with you all!

Wish For You is the first book I've read in the Boys of the South series as well as by Valentine. I had been curious about this series for awhile now, as I know a lot of other bloggers who really enjoy it. I had no idea this book would be such an emotional rollercoaster, so my emotions were not at all prepared for the absolute heartache I felt for both of the main characters, Wyatt and Lacey.

I'm glad we got dual POV, as I think it helped me understand the characters better, but it also made me quite angry with both of them at times. Especially with Wyatt. Wyatt is a Marine who has returned from Afghanistan bearing the crushing weight of guilt and shame over something he believes to be his fault. He suffers from PTSD and instead of handling it the correct way, he chooses the self-destructive path that will only hurt him much worse. He drinks and uses to numb the pain of what happened, as well as how he lost the girl he is desperately in love with. I admit, I have a real problem with MC's having sex with other people in books. I know that's kind of ridiculous, as they aren't together or in a relationship, but it just bothers me. I tried not to let it bother me here, as I know Wyatt is doing it to numb the pain and that is realistic. I hate to say that he is weak, but he really is here. He is at his lowest and doesn't know of another way to cope and that really made my heart hurt for him as well. He thinks he can make Lacey realize that what they have is more than friendship by dating other people, but all it does his crush her even more.

Oh, Lacey. The last thing she wants is to push Wyatt away, but upon overhearing a conversation she shouldn't have, the seeds of doubt as to whether or not she's good for him are planted and cannot easily be undone. She tells him they can only be friends, which shatters her. He handles it badly, further spiraling down the path of no return. Lacey is a sweet character, who suffers from panic attacks, though we don't find out the cause until much later in the book. And I never saw that one coming. My heart hurt for her, and as irritated as I was with Wyatt, he was one of the few people that could calm her down and I respected him for putting her needs above his own.

These two have a very tumultuous relationship as I said before. They would make a good couple, if they would just start using their words and stop hurting one another! So much could have been avoided had they both not been so vague with one another!

Even though I have not read the previous Boys of the South books, I did enjoy the characters that showed up in this novel: Rae and Beau especially. I am very interested in Beau's book! Both were good friends to Wyatt and Lacey and both of them needed those additional friendships.

I did find myself feeling a bit confused while reading however. Some of the pacing felt a bit off for me, especially towards the last 1/4 of the book, making me wonder if I had missed something and actually had me backtracking to make sure I didn't. Despite that, I felt Valentine did a very good job of evoking my emotions and really making me empathize and feel for her characters.

Lacey and Wyatt both have their share of obstacles to overcome and will have to face the reality that they will lose the other if they continue following the road they are on. Watching them finally realize this truth and that they need the other in their life is definitely a happy moment. Overall, I enjoyed this, but I did get hung up on Wyatt's lifestyle choices, as it just felt wrong to me for him to use women for sex when he only wanted to be with Lacey. I will definitely be on the lookout for Beau's story next!