ARC REVIEW ➤ THE BEST YEARS (THE AMHERST SINNERS #1) BY ELENA MONROE
TITLE: The Best Years
SERIES: The Amherst Sinners #1
AUTHOR: Elena Monroe
GENRE: New Adult
PUBLICATION: May 21st 2019
Synopsis
SAINT
College. My one chance to escape. And I ran as far and fast as I could.
Straight into the arms of something more dangerous.
Oliver.
He thinks I’m a good girl. But he doesn’t know what I’m running from.
He thinks I should stay away from him. But I can’t.
I like his cruel words. And his intoxicating smile.
He’s a temptation I can’t resist.
Am I a sinner or saint?
SINNER
College. Second year.
There are bad decisions at every turn.
Including the new freshman, Layla.
Temptations I can’t fight. Shackles I can’t escape.
I’m only comfortable with the cruelty that slips from my lips.
Her innocent charm isn’t going to polish away my bad reputation.
This wasn’t going to end well.
We all have secrets. What’s your sin?
College. My one chance to escape. And I ran as far and fast as I could.
Straight into the arms of something more dangerous.
Oliver.
He thinks I’m a good girl. But he doesn’t know what I’m running from.
He thinks I should stay away from him. But I can’t.
I like his cruel words. And his intoxicating smile.
He’s a temptation I can’t resist.
Am I a sinner or saint?
SINNER
College. Second year.
There are bad decisions at every turn.
Including the new freshman, Layla.
Temptations I can’t fight. Shackles I can’t escape.
I’m only comfortable with the cruelty that slips from my lips.
Her innocent charm isn’t going to polish away my bad reputation.
This wasn’t going to end well.
We all have secrets. What’s your sin?
My Review
SECOND REVIEW
SECOND REVIEW
'THE BEST YEARS'
Is the first book in 'Elena Monroe's' debut full length New Adult novel. In this we meet Oliver and Layla. Two complete opposites. Various ‘POV's
This copy was a vast improvement over the last one I read, other than a few more tweaks or a beta reader this book would've been a 5 star read.
ie: I don't think his stint in rehab had to be included because it was open/ended it wasn’t reincorporated in the book again.
And some sentences were repeated which became repetitive.
Other than the above this debut novel was an enjoyable read.
Over summer break instead of enjoying himself like his mates Oliver was dropped off at the nearest rehab to detox due to an overdose, he'd been dipping into hard narcotics since his senior year of high school. It was his best friend that basically saved his life.
Layla has up rooted herself from the town she grew up in and moved 1,293 miles away to a whole new beginning. A place where she could reinvent herself and no one knew of her past and the secret she'd buried down deep. Not even her best friend B knew. Even though B has followed her.
Our bad boy Oliver with the tattoos that mar practically his whole body was a hard one to get a grasp on, he took me a while to warm up to but once I did I couldn't get enough of him. You do get to understand what makes him tick and why he is the way he is.
If it wasn’t for B and her pushy tendencies, I don’t think Layla would be who she is today, she forced her to go out more instead of hiding in her head. I loved the secondary characters which made an appearance and can’t wait to see if we see them more in future books.
This time around I enjoyed this one so much better, the angst and drama is what made this book, and I can’t wait to see where this author leads us to next. These two were perfectly imperfect together but perfect for each other. A slow burn that got its hooks into me as I progressed further into the book. I’m glad I gave this a second chance.
FIRST REVIEW:
As an ARC/Beta reader I know we're given unedited versions that we have to work with putting aside errors and giving constructive feedback without focusing on the errors. But this arc copy was really messy, the messiest arc I've ever been offered which took away from enjoying this story more. It really needed to be polished up before handing over to bloggers/readers. Some sentences were repeated throughout, chapters weren't numbered or formatted so it just ran as a never ending pile of words. Words were missing, and in some cases the storyline jumped from one scene to the next which left huge gaps, added pov's where they didn't need to be incorporated didn't make an ounce of sense, I don't know what more to say.
Sooooo at this stage I'm not going to rate this, I'm going to buy the polished product on release day and do a re-read because take away all the above I did enjoy this story, I liked the characters to a certain degree. Oliver's character was the shining light in this book, I loved his so called bad boy ways, Layla on the other hand was hard to connect with, she was always the victim that needed to grow a backbone instead of welding her inexperience and mistakes like a shield, because it became repetitive and annoying after a while.
I loved the angst which is why I chase these kind of reads, and so with some fine tuning I know this book would become everything this author could ever wish for because she's got the backbones of a really good storyline, a few tweaks and it could become an outstanding book.
FIRST REVIEW:
As an ARC/Beta reader I know we're given unedited versions that we have to work with putting aside errors and giving constructive feedback without focusing on the errors. But this arc copy was really messy, the messiest arc I've ever been offered which took away from enjoying this story more. It really needed to be polished up before handing over to bloggers/readers. Some sentences were repeated throughout, chapters weren't numbered or formatted so it just ran as a never ending pile of words. Words were missing, and in some cases the storyline jumped from one scene to the next which left huge gaps, added pov's where they didn't need to be incorporated didn't make an ounce of sense, I don't know what more to say.
Sooooo at this stage I'm not going to rate this, I'm going to buy the polished product on release day and do a re-read because take away all the above I did enjoy this story, I liked the characters to a certain degree. Oliver's character was the shining light in this book, I loved his so called bad boy ways, Layla on the other hand was hard to connect with, she was always the victim that needed to grow a backbone instead of welding her inexperience and mistakes like a shield, because it became repetitive and annoying after a while.
I loved the angst which is why I chase these kind of reads, and so with some fine tuning I know this book would become everything this author could ever wish for because she's got the backbones of a really good storyline, a few tweaks and it could become an outstanding book.
About the Author
Elena Monroe grew up in Florida scribbling down stories from a very young age. These stories were really just wavy lines filling the paper, but she knew each word, each emotion, each character's name, and there was no tricking her into forgetting what each line signified. Just like her unconventional way of writing as a toddler Elena is setting her own rules and just telling stories.
Much like her debut novel, The Best Years, life certainly imitated art. Transplanting from the South to the East Coast, Elena currently lives in Connecticut with her soon to be husband, reformed bad boy.
Find her on her social media through Twitter at @elenamonroe, Instagram at @elenamonroewrites, Facebook at @elenamonroewrites, and more!
Much like her debut novel, The Best Years, life certainly imitated art. Transplanting from the South to the East Coast, Elena currently lives in Connecticut with her soon to be husband, reformed bad boy.
Find her on her social media through Twitter at @elenamonroe, Instagram at @elenamonroewrites, Facebook at @elenamonroewrites, and more!
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