Date Me Like You Mean It

Book reviews

9 Nov

Written By Anzhelika Li

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1. DATE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT by R.S. Grey

SYNOPSIS

I’m good at hiding my feelings. Having to pretend I’m not in love with my best friend? Pfft. That’s child’s play. Here’s how I do it: I avert my eyes when he walks out of his room, shirtless in all his toned glory. I squash the butterflies that fill my stomach every time he slowly unfurls a dimpled smile. And, most importantly, I keep an arsenal of ‘personal massagers’ in my bedside drawer. Wink.

Not to brag, but Aiden Smith isn’t hard to resist if you’ve been doing it for as long as I have. In fact, we might have continued as best friends forever if not for the fact that I needed him to play the part of my fake boyfriend. Date me like you mean it, I told him. Nudge nudge. C’mon, just go along with a little lie, help a girl out, and then we can all return to life as we know it.

Except he veered from the plan. He crossed the line. Flirting with me when no one else was around? Pinning me down and kissing me like that? Okay, how exactly is taking off my bra part of the ruse, Aiden?! I’d ask him about it if I could, but well… things got ugly and we’re not best friends anymore. In fact, we’re the exact opposite. Now, I have to play nice even though I want to crush his heart in the palm of my hand.

Pretending not to love Aiden was the easy part. Pretending not to hate him? Well… I might need a little more practice.

BOOK REVIEW

Date Me Like You Mean It by R.S. Grey was immensely entertaining and gifted me with the biggest smile on my face. I was hooked from the very first page and utterly enjoyed everything about the story. The friendship between Madison and Aiden was beautiful, and their banter was just off-the-charts hilarious. The chemistry was palpable and left my heart aching along with Maddie’s…

How is it possible for two people to be in love, circling around and around one another, neither one of them clued in to the fact that the other person feels the exact same way?

Madison Lane and Aiden Smith harbored romantic feelings for one another but never acted on them because of even a tiny possibility to get rejected and thus, out of fear to ruin an amazing friendship that they had. But then, Maddie being the dork that she was, suddenly got herself into a mess of needing a fake boyfriend, Aiden specifically. As you’ve probably figured out already, the whole arrangement went completely wrong, and the main heroine ended up with a broken heart and more confused than ever before. The two spent some time apart, and the reunion was a beast of its own…

The central problem of the story was a miscommunication, or rather—a lack of such, which was quite unexpected given the close relationship that they had but still understandable. All the pain and heartache could have been easily avoided if only Maddie and Aiden were more open about their true feelings for one another. But let me tell you, the yearning was delicious and angsty and good. Even the physical aspect of the relationship was so intense and oftentimes, left me sexually frustrated (just like it did Madison haha).

The more I loved her, the lonelier I felt. The harder I fell, the scarier it was to admit my feelings.

I’d like to take a minute and focus some of the attention on Aiden in particular. There was no doubt that he made a great book boyfriend but not without his flaws. The thing I appreciated the most in his character though, was how easily relatable he turned out to be as a character. SPOILER! I feel like today, a complicated choice many young people are forced to make between a career and a significant other is so brutally unfair but still largely spread. Being a romance reader, it was not hard for me to figure out what kind of choice Aiden was going to make, but the pacing and the logic behind his actions on the way to his choice felt natural and definitely not forced. So, a huge plus for the book, I guess.

We’ve killed ourselves over a misunderstanding.
We’ve loved in isolation.
We’ve starved, and the kiss is so overdue it hurts.

Madison and Aiden made an excellent couple together. I absolutely loved their character development on a rather bumpy road to HEA. Neither one of them was without his/her flaws but both kept the fighting spirit and didn’t back away from the ultimate goal of openly loving each other with no barrier between.

Date Me Like You Mean It was a fantastic read with an ‘R.S. Grey from earlier’ sort of feel to it. The book was a swoon-worthy rom-com that delivered romance, humor, and angst in just about perfect proportions. The love story between Maddie and Aiden was so adorable and wholesome, and expertly delivered everything I wished for on a ‘relax’ kind of day.

I feel like for me, Date Me Like You Mean It is now on the top shelf among all other books from the author. Highly recommend!