It Was Always You

Ridgewater High Romance, Book 3

By: Judy Corry

Narrated by: Amy Melissa Bentley, Brandon Utah

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

What's the first rule when pretending to date your brother's best friend? Don't let feelings get involved.  

Sixteen-year-old Lexi Stevens has never been kissed - never even been asked on a date. So when she humiliates herself in front of her crush and her brother's best friend offers to be her fake boyfriend for the week to make him jealous, she doesn't know if it's the stupidest idea ever or a dream come true.  

When Noah Taylor gets kicked out of his house by his abusive stepdad, the last thing he needs is for anyone at school to find out - not even his best friend. But when his new "girlfriend" discovers him sleeping in his car and offers to let him sleep in her closet, he starts to wonder if he's found someone he can confide in after all.  

Pretty soon, Noah and Lexi are putting on a big show in front of the whole school while sneaking around behind her overprotective father's back. It isn't long before feelings develop and it becomes harder and harder to discern between what's fake and what's real.

©2018 Judy Corry (P)2019 Tantor

Infuriating and antiquated ideas

The romance is adorable and I liked Lexi and Noah. Though, not much character development. I’m guessing this book is written for the Christian/religious community, which explains why I have a lot of issues with this story.

Narrators did well on their own character voices, but not so good on others. The male narrator made Lexi sound like an 80’s valley girl, but I enjoyed his male voices. The female narrator made Lexi’s dad sound like Ron Swanson...that may be more of a good thing since it had me laughing.

This book infuriated me. I’m an adult who likes to escape in cutesy ya romance during stressful times. It’s my glass of wine. This book had me wanting to grab a whole bottle. First off, purity rings are gross. Lexi has proven over and over how great of a daughter, sister, woman and person she is. She does everything right. The moment she kisses a boy. Only kisses a boy, she loses her dads trust. What her father did is consider emotional abuse, and her father seems a bit narcissistic. All her hard work is thrown out the window over a kiss. Her dad only cares about his daughter’s virginity/vagina. He sees it has her only worth and puts her in a higher standard than Easton. Double standards much.

This book is a fine example of toxic masculinity. “Boys only want one thing” and “real men don’t cry”. PLEASE!

I was disappointed that the author didn’t take the opportunity to help educate her young readers on safe sex. Maybe all these teens wouldn’t be having babies if the parents in their lives actually took the time to educate their teens on safe sex and alternatives of sex (ex: masturbation and oral sex).

Sweet & wholesome with surprising depth

Best book in this series by a landslide! I really appreciate the character development of Noah from book one to this- seeing his growth is refreshing and inspiring. This book has a frustratingly slow pace at times but I am reading this as an adult- so it may be just that I am impatient because I am not the target audience and the story line felt meandering or redundant at times. Still love that it was a clean romance and quite sweet without being too corny.

Really Good Book

I’m not really one for Romance. But this might get me into more romance books, it’s really engaging and tells a somewhat relatable high school experience

Wow

Couldn’t stop listening once I started! It was a great storyline and book. For a new author to listen to!

Best book

This book is AMAZING! Gave me chills multiple times. Makes you feel as if your standing in the room with them. Absolutely phenomenal

Jock falls for Nerd I loved it!

I don’t usually care for the “Jock and Nerd fall in love” stories just because I cringe pretty easily at embarrassing moments and character traits. I’m not gonna lie tho this book really pulled at my heart strings and it made me laugh out loud a good amount of times. I loved this book and this series is awesome I’m binging every chance I get :))

Not for me

I know this isn’t real life or anything but this story just frustrated me so much. I was sad for Lexi at how her classmates treated her and the fact that no one really stuck up for her really made me mad. Noah did step in by saying they were dating but he never shut Raven or anyone down for the things they said. And don’t even get me started on the dad. I mean how can you punish one daughter for the actions of the other?? He actually held college over her head if she dated because of what her sister did. That’s usually what causes kids to rebel, when you treat them like that. Honestly I’m just glad I didn’t pay for this book. And also, the ad that brought this book to my attention was not quoted properly, so what was said in the ad is not what was said in the book.

It was alright

Very PG I feel it needed more spice to it but overall it was a cute story.

Amazing

I was so taken aback when I first started listening to this story never have heard of the author until she was recomendé on my insta and have fallen in love with the story of the two was literally on my heels the whole time finished the whole thing in one day

Cute story

I liked this story. the female narrator was a good match I thought for her character. The male's voice, while speaking on Lexi's behalf, was really annoying and didn't seem to match her personality at all. That would be my only complaint. He did however, do a great job matching his own character.

I wanted more!

Loved the overall story and the build up. But I would have liked more at the end, it felt a bit unfinished, a bit rushed. I wanted a bit more.

disappointing ending. bit too abrupt

disappointing ending. bit too abrupt
good premise for story but wrapped up too quickly for me