After enjoying the first book in this series, Make it Count, I decided to immediately check the second book. Now, I know that in the first book, Max was written as the 'villain', the jerk who slept with his best-friend's girlfriend. I heard that some readers dislike him because he was also seen as obnoxious.
Interestingly, I NEVER for once thought Max like that. Probably because I got the glimpse of his 'hard' life during those phone calls with his Dad. I thought he was misunderstood -- that his father had something to do with his attitude. So I was quite excited with this book.
Well, I absolutely LOVED this ... even slightly better than book #1. I think what I loved the most was the contradictions of Max and Lea as characters. See, Max is the jock, who is taught by his Dad to never show weakness; who is taught "eye for an eye" concept and never back down from a fight. BUT, Max befriends scarred cat, makes his cat (Wayne) homemade treats, AND makes his own cookies!! While Lea, the limp girl who is scarred after a car accident, who is smaller in frame compared to Max, who is easily seen as weak ... well, she has black belt in martial arts and totally kicks Max's ass.
I though this makes the two of them really awesome on their own!! I loved that Lea pushes Max to acknowledge his self-worth, that it was okay to play smart (rather than play tough). And Max, well, he also helps Lea to trust others, that it's okay sometimes to let go of her own control. I loved their banters, it was just so easy to fall in love with the two of them.
Now, I admit that the story got a little bit too mushy for me in the middle. And YES, there was predictable storyline, but this is romance. Sometimes romance might have some clichés. But when it's done right, and it's written well, I'm okay with the familiar territory.
I'm happy to see the secondary characters as well -- Alec and Kat, Cam, and of course Danica. Man, I loved that girl!! I think she rocks every scene. I also loved Max's brothers --- and quite happy to know they will have their own stories in different series.
I do have a more technical complain... did the author has a new editor? Because really, I noticed few mistakes here, including typos and missing word and wrong names. And I'm not even an English native. I mean, really, from a HarperCollins imprint I'm expecting smoother editing...
All in all, a satisfying read for me. I'm so happy that Cam's book is already out when I finish reading this so I can continue with his story.
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