Sunday, March 24, 2013

Review: If I Were You by Lisa Renee Jones

My Review: 



          There are good authors, there are great author, and then there are brilliant authors.  Lisa Renee Jones is a brilliant author that knows just how to draw a reader in on the first page of her book and keep a hold of them long after the book is over.  If I Were You is by far the best book I have read so far this year and I have read a lot of books.  I read books about love and romance and books that are erotic but there is nothing out there quite like this book.  This isn't just a book about dominant male men and sex this books is all full of suspense and leaves you guessing even after the book is over.  There are very few authors that can keep you glued to a chair for eight hours straight but this has author has done that to me.  I started reading If I Were You today at about 1 pm by 9 pm I was done the only time I got up was to use the bathroom and once to get something to eat that hasn't even happened to me before.  I am still having withdrawals from the book and I finished the book four hours ago and yet the cliffhanger at the end of the book still has me wondering what will happen next to Sara and has me still wondering about Rebecca and her journals.

          This book has been on my to read list since I bought it a few months back but I was asked to do a feature of this author and a review so I picked it up and started reading it expecting to find what so many books have in common simple characters and sex.  Don't get me wrong this book has some incredibly hot scenes in it and there's nothing wrong with a book that is primarily about sex, but this book was so much more than that.  At the beginning of the book is a journal entry from that moment on I was hooked it seemed to me that the journal entry was being written by that person at that very moment to my surprise it wasn't being written then but being read my the main character in this book Sara McMillan a high school English teacher and the journal was left by her next door neighbor Ella the night before who wants the journal back so she and her boyfriend can read it.  The reader learns that Ella got the journal from a storage unit auction after getting hooked on the TV show Storage Wars and that the locker is full of paintings and other personal items.  Ella ends up running off the elope with her new boyfriend and leaves Sara with the key to the storage unit telling her she can take everything that is in it and sell its contents and keep the profit.  When Sara goes to the unit she discovers three additional journals, a locked box, and a storage full of paintings and other personal items discovering that the owner of the unit one Rebecca Mason and discovers a locked box after an employee from the storage place tells her there are always secrets kept in dresser drawers one question the book did leave me with is who was this mysterious and creepy storage worker?  He just gave me this sense that he was either looking for something or has some secret he is hiding I wonder if he'll come up again in one of the other books.

          During her search through Rebecca's storage unit she also looks for clues in her personal papers to see if she can discover anything that might lead her to Rebecca since she wants to return her items to her since what she's read from the journal is so personal and she doesn't feel right keeping it or selling this woman's personal belongings.  In her search she finds that Rebecca works at an art gallery there is San Francisco but every time she calls the workers keep telling her that Rebecca is on a personal leave and has not returned.  Sara starts to grow impatient so she finds out that in a few days there is an art showing for a local artist by the name of Ricardo Alvarez so she goes to the showing with the intent of finding out what happened to Rebecca and where she can be found.  Two things happen that night she meets the owner of the gallery Mark Compton and is offered a job since she ends up selling a painting and studied art in college and she also meets Chris Merit the handsome artist that Sara happened to study in college and is a huge fan of.  Mark and Chris are complete different types of men Mark is a dark dominant type and Chris appears to have a much softer sign but with all things looks can be deceiving.  As the story goes on Sara seems to lose herself in Rebecca.  Sara and Rebecca have so many things in common that it's scary.  They both love art and Sara feels like she's living in Rebecca's life filling in for her and working out of her office.  They both fall for the same type of men that want control and power over their women and want to dominate more than anything else.  It was very interesting to see Sara mold and grow into her own person through Rebecca's journal entries and find her own footing in the art world; Sara wants so much to have a career in art and she's finally got her shot.  The relationship that grows between Chris and Sara was very fascinating to me these characters didn't just go through the motions of a relationship these characters grew and evolved as the story progressed and as you get further into the story the secrets start to come out not just with them but also with Mark which left me wondering exactly how much Mark was involved with Rebecca and her 'master' as she referred to him since his name was never mentioned in her journal entries.  Did he have something to do with her disappearance?  Does she know where she is?  Is he the other man that she was shared with?  I cannot wait to find out the answer to these questions.  Then there was Chris and his secrets from that first time he and Sara have sex from that moment it becomes clear that the image that was painted of Chris as a person is completely different from this dominate dark man who has her pressed up against the glass wall of his apartment which was HOTT.  Chris has a lot of secrets and demons that he is dealing with and he keeps telling Sara that she should stay away from him that she will run away from him eventually but I hope she doesn't because despite his secrets I truly did love the character Chris and I can't wait to read more about him.
          The characters in this book were incredibly depicted and I thoroughly enjoyed this book I cannot wait to read the other books in this series as well as the journals.  This was by far one of the best books I have ever read and didn't bore me even for one second I think everyone should read this book it had a little bit of everything and will only leave you wanting more of Chris and Sara.

Favorite Quotes:

"I didn't think about safe sex when you said you were on the pill.  I wanted to know who the guy was who had you and lost you when I have no right to care.  I don't want to care.  I don't want to want to know."  LOC 2045

"I'm as far from the white picket fences as you can get.  Sooner more likely than later, you aren't going to like everything you find out about me."  LOC 2272

"Losing control and taking it from me are two different things, Sara.  You won't ever take it from me." LOC 2619

4 comments:

  1. wonderful review...amazing series....fantastic author....cannot wait for BEING ME....

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    1. Thank you so much glad you enjoyed the review and I agree she is a fantastic author and I also cannot wait for Being Me.

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  2. Fantastic review that I so agree with. Lisa Renee Jones has written a mesmerizing story that captures you from word one. The journals that accompany it are great too. I am so looking forward to reading Being Me when it comes out in June.

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    1. Thank you I'm glad you liked the review I heard great things about the journals from a lot of other readers and I cannot wait to read Being Me.

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