Rogue or Just Plain Asshole?

Published:  July 29th, 2014

Rogue (Real #4)

By: Katy Evans

Gallery Books

ISBN-13:  978146755618

The fourth story in the new adult series that began with the New York Times bestseller Real, featuring Brooke's best friend, Melanie, and the ROGUE she can't resist.

Greyson King...

My boyfriend.  My friend.  My protector.  He's the reason I wake up every morning with a smile on my face, and the reason I fall asleep limp, worn out, and aching for his warm arms around me.  When we make love, he says my name like it means something.  Like I mean something.

He lied.

His name is Greyson King, but his alias is Zero.  There's no trace of him, he has zero past, and now I know that with him, I will have zero future.  He may leave no trace of him anywhere, but his imprint is in me, in my very soul -- and I hate that a mere look at him commands the beat of my heart.  The temperature of my body.

I've looked love my entire life.  I've waited for the butterflies, the rainbows...

Instead, I'm in a free fall of emotions and there's no one here to catch me but the one man I should be running away from.  The one man I thought was my prince charming.  Except this prince charming went rogue.  Greyson will stop at nothing to make me be with him.  He'll let no one stand in our way, will allow no one to threaten me, and maybe this is what scares me most of all...

What will my rogue do to keep me?

Review

       Thank me later for my edits to the original Goodreads synopsis, which is a run-on sentence if I ever saw one!  Jesus Christ, they're called line breaks and commas people.  Yes Virginia, there is a wonderful and magical thing called grammar & sentence structure.  That bitching and moaning aside, I read this one thinking that maybe it could be better than Real, which I read and pretty much completely disliked.  I didn't mind Melanie too much, so I figured I'd give her book a shot.  After all, less Brooke and Remy is a good thing right?  There was a story to this one, with some legitimate angst to it.  Greyson King is the heir and enforcer to The Underground, which is basically a mafia that collects on debts that people incur gambling and recovers money loaned out that hasn't been repaid.  Melanie is a bit of an airhead/free spirit, who has grown disillusioned with one-night-stands and wants to find her own Prince Charming.  She wants a love that's passionate and all-consuming, like her friend Brooke's.  They collide one night when he helps save her Mustang convertible from the rain and they have a sexy night together.  But with Greyson having a hidden connection to Melanie that changes everything and some serious intimacy issues, can they make a relationship work or will it burn out?

       The grammar, sentence structure, and overall writing "style" is completely atrocious in this book.  The effusive metaphors and hyperbole used by both characters are laughable and stupid.  NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT!!!  Not to mention the fact that Greyson and Melanie can't have a single conversation that doesn't delineate into filthy, sex-talk.  Which yeah, I can see that in the bedroom, and sometimes out of it, but not ALL THE TIME.  Not to mention, he supposedly thinks she's cute and amazing beyond belief, but the way that he talks to her about what to expect from him is superbly shitty.  This guy is the epitome of being an asshole.  He basically tells her that he's toxic and is going to use her.  Who thinks that's romantic or sexy???!!!  Not me personally, so that really annoyed me after awhile.  Basically I liked some of the humore and there were a couple of sweet moments, but everyone acted juvenile with each other and talked like the older, even more sex-obsessed "Dawson's Creek" teens -- just with a filthier vocabulary and some sexual experience.  Prime example of the dialogue that made me crinkle my nose in disgust:

     "For me this is a fantasy.  You're the fantasy.  For you, this will be a mistake.  A long, pleasurable mistake."  I watch her eyes darken, and I've never been a man to mince words.  "I'm going to be everything you never wanted," I warn on a gruff breath, "nothing that you need."  I slide my other hand further up her thigh.  "Sometimes my work will take me away, and I won't call, and I'll piss you off."  I graze my longest finger over the V covering her sex.  "I'll be selfish, I'll take everything I want, whenever I want it.  I'm not the man of your dreams, Melanie.  I'm your worst nightmare."

     And it just goes on like that, with them continuously talking like this: "You look delectable, Melanie, you taste delectable.  Who is that you're panting for?"  Seriously, what the actual fuck?  I guess this isn't the author for me, considering I want an actual plot in my reading material (and the debt collection side of things was extremely thin, as was the mob life in general) and some dialogue other than dirty talk.  After awhile it got really repetitive and boring.  There was a sex scene every other page and practically all they did was have sex, or do stupid shit/have dumb conversations when they were apart.  And Melanie's man-hater friend Pandora was just the worst stereotype ever.  No one I know, no matter how bitter (and God was she a SHREW) they are in their own life, would be that rude and hurtful to someone who's supposed to be one of their closest friends.  If a friend has made a questionable choice and you have qualms, you voice them and let it be if they insist on ignoring you.  We can't live other people's lives for them, we can just be there to support our friends - approving or not.  Their scenes were painful for me to read.  All in all, a waste of my time and I totally give up on this author.  Not my cup of tea, at all.  Not to say I won't read more New Adult, because I know there's better stuff out there than this (i.e. Cora Carmack, Colleen Hoover, Jessica Park, etc.).

VERDICT:  1.5/5  Stars

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**