Ethan Walters has no time for distractions like romance. Not if he's going to have the brilliant medical career he's always dreamed of. But when he's given a trip to a theme park resort as a college graduation present, he can't exactly say no. Even if Samantha—the one girl with the power to dismantle his goals—is tagging along.
Samantha Diederik has managed to avoid her high society mother’s manipulations since the woman moved to Europe. Now she’s back and pressuring Sam to move to New York with her. With that battle on the horizon, Sam proceeds to go on vacation with her brother and his roommate. She’s crushed on Ethan for years. They've only met online, but their hours-long conversations are the highlight of her week. Now she has a chance to find out if the cyber magic she's felt with him will translate to real life.
And wow, does it ever—with sparks flying! Now all she has to do is find a way to fight off her mother's machinations while convincing Ethan she won’t destroy his dreams.
My Take:
Okay, this is going to be a mixed review and I'm not quite sure where to start. So, first, I LOVE that these two have been talking to each other through video chat for years before they meet. They've become friends and really already fallen in love without knowing if the chemistry is there. They both suspect it will be, but they already like each other for who they are not the sparks that fly when they touch. I love this because it lets the story move quickly (I think it's like 3-4 days tops in the story) and it's okay because it's backed up by years.
The characters are great. They are well rounded, lovable, and imperfect. Sam and Ethan both have one major flaw that could possibly hold them back and that flaw is believable. Sam's mother is toxic. So much so that early on we learn about behaviors Sam used when she was younger to feel like she was in control. I won't spoil it, but when I read it (It isn't a major part of the story and I kind of wish it had come up again, maybe with Ethan) I thought, wow this is going to be real. Everyone knows Sam should walk away from her mom, but Sam keeps saying, "but she's my mom." It made me love her even more for wanting to try. Then there's Ethan. He's going to med school and he knows how hard that can be on a relationship. His motive for not putting a girl through that is admirable if stupid. See, another adorable trait in a character.
You put all of this together and you get a wonderful little story that was a quick read. The only part that I'm still not sure about was the whole Ross Hughes thing. I'm not saying I didn't like the nod to Harry Potter, which this obviously is, I'm just saying I might have found it distracting from the actual romance. Not a bad thing, I just kept focusing more on the connections between Ross and Harry instead of Sam and Ethan.
I give Kings Crossed Lovers a solid 4 with a Clean rating.
1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure
Movie Ratings in relation to my review:
Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no sex on or off "screen"
PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, sex is all closed door
PG-13--some language (swear words not related to sex), more talk about sex, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but sex is closed door.
PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on screen sex
R--swearing (F bomb, on “screen” sex, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the sex and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always
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