BEGIN AGAIN

BEGIN AGAIN                                  MONA KASTEN

He makes the rules. She breaks them all.

A new start. It's the only thing keeping Allie Harper going, when she packs up her life and moves across the country to Woodshill, Oregon. She's about to start college, desperate to leave the ghosts of her past behind her. Even if that means never talking to her parents again.

Now the hard part - finding an apartment before classes start. Just when it seems she'll have to live out of her car, Allie visits one more place. It's beautiful. With one exception: can she stand being roommates with campus bad boy Kaden White? Sure, Kaden is sexy with his tattoos and careless attitude, but he's also an arrogant jerk. With nowhere else to go, Allie moves in.

The first thing Kaden does is make a set of rules. Either Allie obeys, or she's out:

1. Don't talk about your girl problems.
2. Keep your mouth shut if I bring someone home.
3. We will NEVER hook up.

Easy enough, thinks Allie. Who would want to get involved with a brute like Kaden? But the more she gets to know him, the more she sees beyond his gruff facade. He, too, is harboring some painful secrets. For Kaden and Allie, it gets harder and harder to ignore the sparks between them. And the lines between the rules start to blur-

Begin Again is a beautiful romance that shows us just how possible it is to start over. To find freedom in heartbreak and love in the most unlikely places.


MY REVIEW:

     Attraction can be a cruel thing when you know it can’t be good for either of you. And in this case, it was downright torture for Allie Harper and Kaden White.

     Both came from troubled backgrounds that now trickled into their present lives.  Causing havoc in their romantic lives.  Making them act and say the craziest things at times.

     Kaden needs to feel in total control at all times and had to keep all females at bay and his brash behavior was usually his way of accomplishing that.  That was until he met, Allie.  You see he never entertained having a girl roommate because he had fallen in love and been burned so all girls were evil.

     But Allie was as brash and foul mouth as he was and that gave him pause and well he was desperate to find a roommate as she was to find a place to live.  So, match made in heaven.  Allie had moved from Nebraska, to get away from her rich controlling parents and ended up with a conceded controlling roommate, instead.  Was okay with it anything to be able to get on the road to becoming a teacher.  She wanted that and freedom so badly she could taste it.

     Part way through not only does Kaden start to confuse and blur the lines for her with mixed signals, but her mother tracks her down like a dog.  Messes with her head and makes her more insecure that when she got there.  She tries to withdraw but Dawn and Scott her new and only friends ever try and help but it’s Kaden that pulls her through.

     Yet, when he falls on hard times he turns his back on her making her question herself and them as friends and more. 

     This story was so fast and complex.  Like an onion being peeled back quickly.  The story was interesting with the subject matters and how they were handled.  But also, how the couples and friends handled them all together.  I give this 5 ++++ stars.  Provided by netgalley.com.  Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com.