Sarah's Reviews > Cali Boy

Ever wonder what happens when you give two horny teenagers a bottomless bank account and a mansion free of parental supervision? ...Sex. The answer is sex.

I loooved the first half of this book! Finn is all damaged and broody and Oliver breaks through his moodiness like sunshine through clouds. Things happened very quickly, suuuper insta-lovey, but I was actually pretty amused by how Finn was immediately helpless to Ollie's charms.

Somewhere in the middle is where things started to fall off a little for me. I know this is a stepbrothers romance but the number of times they called each other "bro" was giving cheesy-low-budget-porno. I wasn't super bothered by it; more bemused than anything, I think. Plus, every time Finn called Oliver "sunshine", it settled some of the cringe stirring in my gut.

But you could make one helluva charcuterie with all the cheese in this book, my god. The concept for the scenes are excellent - it's everything you would expect with this type of trope. But the cheese comes into play because the scenes happen a little too quickly; especially the sex scenes. I think if they were more descriptive and drawn out, it would've given the story a little more depth. There's also quite a few unresolved/confusing plot points (especially with Finn's dad).

BUT, when all's said and done, I still really enjoyed the story overall! I also am really taking into account that this is a debut novel - my criticisms are still present but they don't hold as much weight as they normally would.