Show Me - Abigail Strom

Airin was free. No sign of her mom or anyone who worked for her mother. She was a few blocks from the hotel but she felt like she was in a different world. Someone bumped into her but a strong hand on her arm helped her recover her footing. She turned and was looking at a tall hot man. Airin wasn’t used to being touched by strangers, except for the medical professionals who’d drawn her blood and changed her IVS and poked and prodded her for so many years. But this was different , there was nothing professional or antiseptic about his man’s touch or the way he was looking at her. His gaze was neither blatant or furtive. This man was intensely alive with an energy that seemed to crackle in the air, He was actually flirting with Airin. The man’s name was Hunter and he was with Caleb- who was having his last night of freedom before marriage- and Stu. So Airin figures this must be a bachelor party. Airin had come out tonight looking to be part of normal life.  She decided why not go in the bar and have a drink. She’d only been in bars in hotels and never had an alcoholic drink. It would count as a brand new experience, It was Hunter’s brother -Caleb’s bachelor party. Than the bartender Kaleo asked what Airin wanted and after he described a couple of drinks to her she said a Blue Hawaii. Hunter had offered to get the drinks at the bar so he could see Airin again. Than Airin said she was named after her grandmother who had been a refugee from Iran. Than an older man cut in and said wait a minute, you’re a refugee from Iran. A Muslim. But Hunter inserted himself between Airin and the man. Than the bartender kicked the man out of the bar and Hunter escorted him out. Than Caleb came to the bar and introduced himself and said she’d already met his brother Hunter, than he asked her to join them and Airin said he is making fun of her . caleb said no having a beautiful woman around for a bit will shut Stu up and Hunter had a hero complex and would worry about her and wouldn’t be able to enjoy himself. He had also told her he was getting married the next day. Than Caleb left to go back to the table and Airin said she wasn't even Muslim. But that shouldn’t matter . Should it? Airin had a heart condition and an overprotective mother but she was cured now. Hunter is an astronaut and is to be going on an eight month mission,Airin and Hunter have hot chemistry. Dira is Airin’s mother and is a near genius scientist and owns Del Ares and is trying to be the first on Mars. Once Airin and Ghuinter meet they can’t keep the other out of their heads. Airin is trying to break free of her mother. Airin thinks she will never see Hunter again. Later Airin goes to the same bar and sees Hunter again.  They talk once more and she decides to go home with Hunter. . But they get in a car accident and she passes out and has lost her purse so she has no identification and he doesn’t know her last name or anyone to contact for her. So he does take her to his home and opts out of the program to stay with Airin until she recovers. Even though his dream was to go to space and he had vowed never to be on a relationship as going to space would make it basically impossible. After the accident Airin’s mother demands Hunter make a deal with her and than Airin gets a chance to stay in hawaii and take time to decide what she wants to do next without her protective mother Dira over her shoulder.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the information on space flight and NASA. This was a quick romantic read. I liked the pace and plot. I liked Airin and Hunter and how they interacted together. I didn’t like  that Hunter made a deal with dura behind Airin’s back she is going to feel betrayed when she finds out. I really liked that Airn wanted to live life to the fullest now she isn’t sick anymore. I loved how both Airin and Hunter wanted to go to Mars. i liked seeing both Airin and Hunters POV.  This caught my attention right from the beginning and kept it until the end. I liked Airin spoke her mind. I thought this was a little predictable. At times I didn't like Dira but I understood she was a mother. I didn’t like the insta/ lust, love. I liked the characters and the ins and outs of the book and I recommend it.

This book was okay.

There was a lot of action in it, but the plot didn't feel cohesive. The narration felt more like a running list of things that happened. It really lacked complexity. The characters felt flat as well and the plot twists were fairly predictable.

This is a pretty simple book, quick read, but it didn't really hold my interest.

Ben Taggert had known Jessica for twenty years but they were no longer friends. Back in Jr. High they had been best friends and bend had a secret crush on Jessica. Then her family sent her to fat farm just before Freshman school of HS and she came back twenty pounds lighter and seemed to be only a shell of herself and had no time for Ben anymore. She only cared about herself. Yet he was invited to her wedding he did not want to go but his mom gave him those eyes and he agreed to go. Jessica was now just a beautiful shell Ben still preferred her twenty pounds heavier and the person she used to be even though she was young. Ben was a teacher even though his family had money he wanted to walk his own path. Then at the church Jessica  was jilted and her fiance Tom never showed up Jessica had been totally humiliated. Ben knew she could use a friend: kindness with no judgement and he goes to Jessica. They decide Ben should go on her honeymoon with Jessica as friends- ten days in Bermuda. Ben didn’t know Jessica had been molested and that is basically why she rebuilt herself but was really only a shell. While in Bermuda Jessica’s walls started to come down and Ben started to see some of the old Jessica.

I liked this story alot. I wish Jessica would have turned to Ben but they were both young. I was glad Ben chose to go to Jessica and be her friend right away after Jessica had been left at the altar. He was a good man. The story was good as was the plot. I liked the characters and i loved the ins and outs of this story and I recommend.

I received an ARC of this story for an honest review.

Initial reaction: How in fresh heck do I write a review on this book? I'll need a full night to meditate on my thoughts, but I'll give all of you some precursory details.

I actually thought there were many great parts of this book and it proved to be a very quick read - I read this in a matter of a couple of hours, I think. Plus I found some of the interactions and inclusions refreshing to read, which were direct knockdowns of a lot of New Adult stereotypes. Kudos to Abigail Strom for addressing them and even being responsible for addressing the conflicts themselves via the characters' dialogue.

But then the latter half of the book, I felt, tried to throw in too much, especially given the quick nature of the style and dictation this had from the beginning. I could get behind some of the occurrences, I could definitely feel for them, but some of it was overload.

Still, I'm in for following this series and the rest of the author's works.

Full review:

"Rikki" was a breath of fresh air in New Adult on many levels. I really liked how fluid the writing and interactions were (it took me only a couple of hours to read through it). I loved how it made me laugh at some of the banter between characters (Rikki and Alex had moments that left me doubled over in stitches laughing). I also. really appreciated that it incorporated a diversity of different characters and seemed to knock down many New Adult stereotypes. Rikki's parents were a lesbian couple who had prominent featuring in the book, Rikki herself was a sex-positive young woman who didn't believe in slut shaming (none of the characters did, to think of it), and even with this book dealing a lot with jealousy factors, for many places in the narrative, it handled it much better than I thought it would. I could probably credit Abigail Strom for dealing with all the conflicts in this novel in a plausible, open dialogue way that gave good insight into the motivations of the characters.

If there were a couple of caveats I would say that made me knock a few stars from the overarching experience, I'd say two things.

1. The novel's aide in its fluidity and brevity might've also been its Achilles Heel, because I think I would've easily given this higher stars if the narrative had a little more flesh to it. The college environment was realistic, the interests of the characters were too. I especially liked the dialogue and how it flowed, but I still felt like the characters themselves only scratched the surface of having depth enough to care about fully for me to identify with them. It's a good start to a series though, and I expect I'll get to know these characters more as the series goes on. I have some investment in them. Probably the most investment came with the two leads - what it was supposed to do, but a little more dimension to the side characters would've made this more fun as well.

2. I think the latter part of this novel threw too many curveballs/eggs against the wall. I mean, I expected to be frustrated with the sexual tension between the two leads and some other conflicts that were occurring around them (which felt realistic and palpable, I'm not saying none of this is realistic at all). I even expected that the heroine would be asked to grapple with some tough coming to terms. While all the conflicts were addressed in a way that felt conversational and aired things out in the open, in the last 40% of the novel it all felt like it was way too fast to digest and piled on more than I could really process. The flow of the first part of the novel was progressive and even, but it felt like the latter part disrupted the flow a bit.

And for personal peeves: I did have issues with the panty thing, and probably that's just my own level of discomfort within a novel that had uncomfortable moments, but at least it addressed that issue too. Although (slight spoiler):

But this novel had fun moments and some building blocks that were steps in decent directions, so I have to give it credit for that. I'm definitely reading more of Strom's work, and this series, to get more accustomed to her style, because I like the flow, dialogue, and bits of the humor in her writing.

Overall score: 3/5 stars.

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher.