Step Brother Dearest by Penelope Ward

 

 

Review of Stepbrother Dearest by Penelope Ward

 

Holy Hell Batman! 5+ Incredible Stars!!!!

 

Synopsis:

You’re not supposed to want the one who torments you.

When my stepbrother, Elec, came to live with us my senior year, I wasn’t prepared for how much of a jerk he’d be.

I hated that he took it out on me because he didn’t want to be here.
I hated that he brought girls from our high school back to his room.
But what I hated the most was the unwanted way my body reacted to him.

At first, I thought all he had going for him were his rock-hard tattooed abs and chiseled face. Then, things started changing between us, and it all came to a head one night.

Just as quickly as he’d come into my life, he was gone back to California.

It had been years since I’d seen Elec.

When tragedy struck our family, I’d have to face him again.

And holy hell, the teenager who made me crazy was now a man that drove me insane.

I had a feeling my heart was about to get broken again.

_________________________

Man oh man.. where do I start with this book....

I was seeing all the teasers for this book before it came out and I knew I just had to have it on release day.  The minute I started, I was sucked in and finished it in one night (stayed up well past my bedtime to finish it). Stepbrother Dearest made me laugh, made me want to hurt someone, made me smile...it took me through every emotion possible......

 

We meet Greta at 17.  She is about to meet her stepbrother who will be living with them for a year while his mother is "away". She immediatly has an attraction to Elec but quickly realizes how much of a pain in the but he is.  He constantly picks on her and runs her self esteem into the ground.

 

"Physically, he was my dream and in every other way, my nightmare."

 

Meet Elec. In the beginning I had a love hate relationship with him.  He was funny and would get me laughing but then he would say something so rude to Greta and I'd hate him all over again. Elec doesn't have a very good relationship with his father.. we find out the reasoning through out the book and it is shocking! Elec decided that he would torment his step sister in order to get back and Elec. Little did he know that he would develop feelings for her.

 

"Nothing says I'm sorry like a dick and a smile" - Ah, Elec cracked me up..

 

 Right when Elec and Greta's feelings become strong, Elec returns to his mother and it isn't until tragedy strikes seven years later that Elec and Greta meet again.

 

"Through death there was life. Through hate there was love."

 

I don't want to get too far into this book because I don't want to give anything away.  There wasn't just one thing I loved about this book.  Stepbrother Dearest as a whole is phenomenal. It takes you on a crazy journey and I didn't want that journey to end.

 

I couldn't put this book down and you won't either.  There is so much passion, heartache, and love.

Stepbrother Dearest does not disappoint. And this basically sums it up:

 

"In the same way that you can easily switch the letters of a word around to see another hidden meaning, such is life.  A life can be defined by its hardships or its blessings.  It's all a matter of how you look at it. So, while this book was once setting up to be a tragic tale, it turned into a love story, an imperfect but unconventionally epic romance"