Review: While it Lasts by Abbi Glines

To sum it up: Maybe driving home after a few (or more) shots of tequila had been a bad idea, but hell, he did it all the time. The cops had to have been freaking bored to have pulled him over. He wasn’t even swerving! That’s Cage York’s story and he’s sticking to it.

Unfortunately, his baseball coach isn’t buying it. Cage has a free ride to the local junior college for baseball- or he did, until he’d gotten a DUI. Now, Cage has to decide: does he drop out and give up his dream of getting noticed by a college in the SEC, and possibly making it into the Major Leagues- or does he give in to his coach’s demands and spend his summer baling hay?

Eva Brooks planned out her life step by step when she was eight years old. Not once over the years had she lost sight of her goals. Josh Beasley, her next door neighbor, had been the center of those goals. He’d been her first boyfriend at seven, her first kiss at ten, her first date at fifteen, and her first tragedy at eighteen. The moment she’d received the phone call from Josh’s mother saying he’d been killed along with four other soldiers just north of Baghdad, Eva’s carefully planned life imploded in the worst way possible.

Cage isn’t real happy with his closet-sized bedroom in the back of a foul smelling barn, or his daily interactions with cows, but he knows that if he doesn’t make his coach happy then he can kiss his scholarship goodbye. Only a sick and twisted man would decide his punishment was to be working on a farm all summer. No hot babes in bikinis waiting to meet a Southern boy to make her vacation complete. Just him and the damned cows.

Oh- and an uptight, snarky brunette with the biggest blue eyes he’s ever seen. But she doesn’t count, because as hard as he’s tried to charm her out of her panties- he’s pretty sure she’d rather see him hung from the rafters than let him get a taste of her pretty little lips...

FYI: Even though this is the third book in the Sea Breeze Series, it's the first book I started with, and it can definitely be read as a stand-alone. Now with that being said...

You know the type of book that’s so good, that just thinking about reading it excites you? The type of book that makes you so giddy, that you’ve got the biggest stupid smile plastered on your face through every turn of the page? The type of book that you want to go on forever, and never end?

That’s this book for me.

I haven’t read a book this good in a long time, and that’s no exaggeration! It was fabulous!

Absolutely.
Freaking.
Fabulous.

I’ve had to go through some real disappointing and boring reads lately, before coming across this gem. Anyone who knows me knows that if I’m not hooked from the first few pages of a book, that I typically don’t stay interested throughout the rest of the novel… it’s sad, but true. But from page one of While It Lasts, I was entranced- I literally couldn’t put it down, unless something got in the way of my reading time. And even then, I was day-dreaming about coming back to this story and these characters.

First and foremost, let’s get to the most important topic of this entire review: (HE’S MINE) Cage York. I’m not kidding… I can proudly say that he’s officially apart of my harem of book boyfriends. (And is also my most current book boyfriend.) I don’t even have a picture to share with you guys, that will do Cage justice. What I can do though, is give you a list of reasons why he's my new favorite hero:

1.) He’s perfect.
2.) He’s perfect.
3.) He’s perfect.

Okay, so seriously the man has other qualities…

-He’s protective! *sigh* C’mon… we all need to just come out and admit that we love us some protective men! And Cage is most certainly that… you say something bad about his girl? He’s going to make you eat your words. You threaten her in any way? You’re going to regret it. Let’s face it: the man had me swooning like no other man has had me swoon before. Protectiveness is a quality that’s always a number one favorite of mine, and Cage had it in spades.

-He’s a bad boy! That’s right, I said it. A. BAD. BOY. A personal fan favorite quality, am I right? Cage had bad boy written all over him, that’s for sure. No one or nothing was getting in the way of what he wanted, and not one person was able to compete or challenge him in any way without either getting their butts handed to them, or having their life threatened. The man didn’t tolerate disrespect, and he made certain you knew that. *fanning myself*

I’m pretty positive you’re already in love with Cage at this point, so I’ll leave the rest of the list a surprise and have you find out for yourselves what makes him amazing perfect.

Eva Brooks on the other hand, came off as seriously uptight… at first. She had been through hell and back because of the loss of her fiancée, which caused her to be skeptical and judgmental of any man who wasn’t Josh… her fiancé that she had known and grown up with for eighteen years. The man she had planned to spend the rest of her life with. No one compared or lived up to the man who was no longer here, and most certainly not Cage. In her opinion, he was the man-whore drunk who would never fill Josh’s shoes, and the one person on this earth she knew Josh would never approve of to move on with. But Cage broke through those strong defenses of hers and made her feel alive again. He was the first and only person who didn’t look at her with eyes filled with sympathy. He never looked at her like she was breakable or tip-toed around her, in fear of saying or doing the wrong thing and making her fall apart. Cage was the only person since Josh’s death, who saw her… not the tragedy. Eva was an exception for me… I typically run away screaming when I read a book about a heroine who tries her best to keep her distance from the hero. If it were vice versa, I’d be all on the story… but a stand-offish woman with attachment issues? No thank you. But when it came to Eva, I really understood her reasoning for not wanting to want Cage. The girl had been through hell and back and suffered a loss I can’t even begin to imagine- and for some reason, it just worked for me. I never once got annoyed or even frustrated with her snobby behavior, because it was justifiable after everything she had been through.

Everything about this book was nothing short of amazing. Character development is a HUGE must factor for me- a book can lose major points without it… but every character in this story was wonderful. Every kiss or touch Cage and Eva shared had me giggling like a school girl- it just all felt so real. And trust me… authors who have the gift to make you feel like you know the characters on a personal level and are actually there and apart of the story, takes true talent. ...And have I mentioned the steamy scenes? Lord! This isn't your typical PG rated YA book, that's for sure! Bye-bye sweet and fluffy bedroom scenes, and hello mature passion and emotion baby!

Am I gushing much?

GOOD! Because this book deserves gushing! Not many books make it to my "favorites" shelf, so I'm proud to say that this is officially apart of it! It was everything I imagined a flawless book to be, and it didn't disappoint me one. single. bit. ...It's funny though, because I had reservations going into this book initially, because I wasn’t that big of a fan of the book The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines. Although it was enjoyable, there were just some things missing for me when it came to that book and the characters- but after hearing so many good things about While It Lasts and seeing all of the amazing ratings and reviews, I decided to give another book of hers a shot… and suffice it to say, I’m now a huge fan and this will most definitely not be the last book I pick up of hers.

Now my only question is... what the heck am I supposed to read now that I've finished a book this freaking good? *sigh*