L. A. Casey

Until Harry by L.A. Casey
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:

When she was just ten years old, Lane knew with a bone deep certainty that she loved her best friend, Kale. Kale protected Lane at school when she needed it, he talked with her about everything important in life, and he chased away the monsters that liked to hide in Lane’s closet. Yes, Lane was certain she loved Kale.

Fast forward a lot of years . . . . . .

Living in New York all alone isn’t an easy road, but for her show more own security and sanity, Lane has spent the last handful of years doing just that. She has a quiet little apartment, a good job as an editor, and just a few close friends to keep her company when the loneliness begins to overwhelm her. Other than her beloved Uncle Harry, Lane’s family no longer speaks to her, and Kale is nothing but a very painful and often crippling memory. For a girl who was once Velcroed to her family and home, being separated is a special kind of misery that was brought on out of necessity rather than desire.

Rewind a lot of years . . . . .

At ten years old, Lane was sure her relationship with her family would never be anything other than loving and supportive. Additionally, she never saw a time when her relationship with Kale would go sideways and leave her devastated. But, at ten years old, circumstances and the world had yet to bite Lane squarely and viciously on the ass. As the years rolled by, Lane’s feelings for Kale grew stronger than ever and Kale’s feelings seemed to cool. He dated other girls, he partied with her brothers, but he never reciprocated in the feelings department. Until the night he got drunk, banged his best friend, said everything Lane had been waiting years to hear, and then dramatically and loudly regretted the whole experience the next morning. Yeah, that’s good for the ego!! As if that weren’t enough, over the course of the next few years, Kale gets in deep with one girl in particular, Lane begins to act out in response, and several terribly upsetting (and somewhat terrifying) events unfold that leave Lane feeling like an emotional wasteland. In the wake of everything and with the help and support of just her Uncle Harry, Lane packs her bags and heads to the States. Never did she imagine she would be back home but fate and the universe have a way of righting the wrongs of the past. Even if that righting is born out of even more tragedy.

The Bottom Line: Until Harry is my first L.A. Casey read and I can assure you, I’ll be coming back for more. This read has so many things that I truly love in my contemporary romance novels. There is the movement back and forth between the present and the past, there is a troubled and damn-near broken sexy man, there is a wonderfully endearing character, there is loads of drama mixed with some moments of pure joy, and most importantly, there is a character the author was absolutely able to change my stubborn mind about. Finally, there is the fact that Casey made me cry. I hate crying and I actually don’t do it all that often but at about the 75% point of this read, I just couldn’t hold it in anymore. From this point right on through to the end, I cried like a b*tch and loved every single minute of it. From start to finish this is a tightly written read that has a lot of weaving going on: the past and the present, the characters, and the various plot lines that all connect and come together at some point in the read. The pace is quick so you aren’t mired down in the drama and the end is totally worth all the tears.

P.S. I absolutely refused to call the sexy, hot, damn-near broken man, Kale. I just couldn’t wrap my brain around calling someone that sexy by a name that also refers to a stinky, gross vegetable. In my head, he was Kade  show less

I have mixed feelings about this book.
There was a long description at the start which set the scene of earth's history of destroying the planet, then her family history and interactions and tragedy. This seemed very long, I wondered if it could have been done as a prologue and been less descriptive, it covers issues that come up later but I got bored and almost stopped reading the book.
As it's the first book in the series, I made allowances as sometimes the first book sets the scene for the show more rest of the series.
The story then moves to the heroine's interaction with an alien species called the Maji.
I liked that the heroine was strong and not afraid to stand up to them although she was scared but at times it seemed childish.
Her insubordination to the shipmaster is the provides some humour and highlights the cultural differences.
The heroine's whole life has been littered with distrustful interactions with other humans so she constantly reverts back to this with Kol, it got on my nerves a bit but at the same time it is what she has grown up with.
There is a lot of potential in this series. There is a mating bond which ensures fidelity so no cheating.
There are also some funny moments due to the difference in human/alien culture and language. Some were very clever. show less

4.5 stars

Holy hell. I knew this book was going to have some feels to it but good Lord I wasn't prepared for this many. This book far exceeded my expectations.

The author does a phenomenal job with creating characters that come alive on the page. I loved the entire family and wanted to know them all better.

Unrequited love is brutal. It is even worse when there is more to it than that and keeping that love a secret hurts everyone involved. Kale and Lane made my heart ache.

My biggest complaint show more about this book was that the ending felt rushed. Everything was building up to this moment between them and then it was crammed into the last 10% of the book. I wanted a balance between the past and the present.

Still a great book. If you are looking for a book to the at your heart then I recommend this one. show less

Her Lifeline is the supposed romance between Ward and Erin. Ward is the best friend of Erin's older brother. She has a huge crush on him as a young girl. They are separated in the wake of a tragedy and are brought together years later by another tragic event.

I have to say that I did not enjoy this book. First of all, the story takes place in Scotland and the author uses a Scottish dialect in the writing. This was awkward to read. Secondly, this book was just down right sad and heavy all the show more way through. Some of the serious subjects included are sudden tragic death, alcoholism, and abuse both physical and sexual. The romance between Ward and Erin just doesn't seem genuine. Even with their past taken into account, they move too fast and there is an uncomfortable sex scene that just seems so sudden and out of place in the story. I felt it was just thrown into the book because the author felt it was needed, but I really didn't think it was necessary to the story to even include such a scene. To top it off, if the book wasn't sad enough to begin with, the author throws in one more sad twist at the end that really takes the cake. Reversing that twist might have saved the book for me.

I really loved Until Harry by this author which was the reason I was excited to read this book. I was so disappointed. show less