Book Review: Derailed and Veer by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Title: Derailed
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy
Pages: 260
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 1479209139
Source: Xpresso Book Tours

 

 

When you’re lost, sometimes the only place you can go is home.

Broken over the death of her fiancé, Molly leaves law school to return to her childhood home in North Carolina. Expecting to lay low until she can figure out what else to do with her life, she finds herself in the arms of her high school sweetheart, the boy who represents everything from the past she tried to leave behind.

Looking for an escape, she instead finds a way back to the girl she almost forgot existed and a future she never dreamed possible.

Purchase Link: Kindle (Free) | Amazon

REVIEW

Molly and Ben has been childhood sweethearts but like every high school relationship, not everything goes as planned. Ben loses Molly. Molly decided to move on and get on with her life. Shocked by a devastating blow, Molly decided to go back to Clayton Falls and things became complicated yet interesting.

My initial reaction to the story was torn between feeling pity towards Molly and irritated with the peeps in Clayton Falls. Kelly with her in your face and you-deserve-better attitude, Tom and Gavin’s mission to “change” Molly’s perspective towards dating, and Ben’s pushy I-still-love-you act. If I was in Molly’s shoes I would go insane on how everyone’s acting. The first few chapters was actually not my favorite parts. Everybody was just pushing Molly and insisting on things that the girl couldn’t handle at the moment. Gavin was definitely not a favorite – came off as a creep actually with his over confidence and bitter attitude. As the story progress though, it got better. I have to admit that it is a cookie cutter love story, something that most can predict but there’s something in the story that made it all work. Derailed was someone’s love story. It was the reality of it all that made it worked. I would have enjoyed a little more drama though.

The development of the characters was there. The story had sense and a great flow. The ending was not abrupt yet it wasn’t short of a read either. There were a few times that I thought the story should end but reading the last pages made sense especially since we got a taste on what is in store for Veer. However, that got me to think that the story seemed enough for Molly and Ben so Veer would probably be a chapter for the other characters. It is interesting to see what the author can deliver next. Derailed was a great summer beach read but I am undecided if the story needed a next chapter though.

Rating: ★★★★

Title: Veer
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy
Pages: 287
ISBN: 1481019716
Source: Xpresso Book Tours

 

 

 

Only when you let go can you learn to live.

Between the death of her mother and pushing through law school without her best friend, it’s been a tough year for Becca. Needing a break from Boston, she moves to a tiny coastal North Carolina town for a relaxing summer. After bumping heads repeatedly with a local cop, she realizes her summer will be anything but quiet.

Three years after a career ending injury ruins his chance to play Major League Baseball, Gavin has a distrust of northerners and lately girls in general. He wants nothing to do with a girl who is only in town for the summer.

When the two give in to their impossible attraction, they realize that they may just have found the key to freeing themselves from the ghosts of their pasts.

Purchase Links: Kindle | Amazon

REVIEW

Well you’ve read my review of Derailed above, now Veer was exactly what I expected – well almost. It is indeed dedicated to the other character but oh man, the main character was the sole person I loathed in Derailed. Now we have Gavin, remember Gavin? The pursuer of Molly who was way over confident and too strong for anybody’s taste. So in Veer, we meet Gavin again but now he has eyes for another chick. A newbie in town as a matter of fact, fresh meat as they say but this girl isn’t just anybody. She’s actually Becca. I may not have mentioned Becca in my review of Derailed but she’s actually Molly’s buddy in college.

Molly decides to take a job in Clayton Falls after losing her mother to cancer. The moment she gets near Clayton Falls, disaster happens and there she meets Gavin. I know typical damsel in distress story but that’s not the point. Gavin and Becca instantly has that connection between them but their moment did have a little friction at the beginning.

If Gavin was a jerk in Derailed, he was a definite a**hole in Veer. I am sorry for the word but seriously, there’s no word more appropriate than that one. He was just all over the place BUT once you get pass halfway through, you’ll see how awesome he really is. He maybe an ass from Derailed to the first few pages of Veer but he’s definitely a boyfriend material underneath that layer of nastiness. I won’t even tell you what he did but I was seething reading those parts. Becca on the other hand is just sweet, smart, attractive and down to earth. Don’t know why he liked Gavin in the first place but those things definitely happens to everyone. There’s really not much development on Becca in Veer but it is nice to know more about this awesome chick.

The most prominent character in Veer asides Gavin is Jake. Another major ass in Derailed, Jake showed a different side of him in this story. He was more mature, sensitive and I think he’s really a great guy once you get to know him. The other character were here and there so there’s not much that  I can share that I haven’t yet but they did complement the sorry as a whole. In the end, everything worked out and I enjoyed the journey of being in Clayton Falls.

Rating: ★★★★