REVIEW: A LITTLE TOO MUCH by LISA DESROCHERS

Series: A Little Too Far #2

Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: William Morrow/Harper Collins

Publication Date: 11/12/13
Format: eARC
Pages: 416
Source: Publisher
Rating: 3.5 stars

In the follow-up to Lisa Desrochers’ explosive New Adult novel A Little too Far, Alessandro Moretti must face the life he escaped and the girl he loved and left behind.

Twenty-two year old Hilary McIntyre would like nothing more than to forget her past. As a teenager abandoned to the system, she faced some pretty dark times. But now that’s all behind her. Hilary has her life on track, and there’s no way she’ll head back down that road again.

Until Alessandro Moretti—the one person who can make her remember—shows up on her doorstep. He’s even more devastatingly gorgeous than before, and he’s much too close for comfort. Worse, he sees right through the walls she’s built over these last eight years, right into her heart and the secrets she’s guarding.

As Hilary finds herself falling back into love with the man who, as a boy both saved and destroyed her, she must decide. Past or future? Truth or lies?

 

 

 

**Spoilers abound if you have not read A Little Too Far. **

I was a reader who devoured and adored A Little Too Far. It was a gorgeously written story that had the perfect amount of angst, and left me guess whom Lexie would pick until the very end. Lucky for me, Lexie picked the guy I hoped for, Trent. But this left me doubly lucky because that meant Alessandro was getting a book!

I wanted to see what happens next to the man left behind. The would-be priest. The man with a past. I thought A Little Too Much would be that book. And yes, it is about Alessandro to a large extent, but more so about the girl he left behind years ago, Hilary. The story is told exclusively through her point-of-view, which, okay, I don't have to have my hero's side of things, I guess. But I was so invested in Alessandro's life and future, that it was hard for me to let go and accept that I was only going to get his story through Hilary.

Moving past that, I did find A Little Too Much to be a very powerful story. It is about the painful past of Hilary and Alessandro, and how it led them to the choices they made. Hilary dealt by becoming numb, Alessandro through religion. This is a reconciliation of the past, and knowing that is the only way to move forward to a future that is free. There were profound moments of pain and anger, of just how badly being left can hurt you. It is a second-chance love story, and a tale of the power of forgiveness of oneself.

 I stated in my review of A Little Too Far that Desrochers writing is quite excellent. That holds true here. The prose has a steady flow that had me through the four hundred plus pages in no time. Once again, she made the setting a character in the story. This setting is New York City, and while I didn't become absorbed as I did in the Rome setting, I did like the descriptions and how she brought the city to life. I did become invested in the story and characters -particularly Alessandro. This time around, though, I didn't feel that crazy intense pull that had me dying to know how it all ends. There was some angst, but not the kind that had my stomach in knots and white-knuckling the kindle.

A Little Too Much wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I did enjoy it. It was gritty and powerful.


Favorite Quotes:

  It's amazing how a person can convince themselves of almost anything. Even when that anything could cost them everything.   ~eARC, 37%


  "No matter how hard I tried to pretend that everything was fine and I belonged in the priesthood, when I saw how easily I was drawn off course, I couldn't deny the truth. I was there for the wrong reasons. I thought if I wrapped the beast in God's clothing, maybe that would tame it. I was wrong. It's still here, deep inside me. Nothing has changed."   ~eARC, 38%


  We've got priests and prostitutes and a gay girl from Biloxi. Yep, just your average Christmas morning.   ~eARC, 63%
 
 

A Little Too Far Series 

 

 

 (cover leads to GoodReads)

 

 

My Review of A Little Too Far


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About the author:

Lisa Desrochers lives in central California with her husband and two very busy daughters. There is never a time that she can be found without a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.

Look for her New Adult novel, A LITTLE TOO FAR , courtesy of HarperCollins Sept 2013, and the first companion, A LITTLE TOO MUCH , in Nov 2013. Also in stores is her YA PERSONAL DEMONS trilogy (Macmillan).

 

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