Review: Real by Katy Evans

Real by Katy Evans

April 8, 2013

293 pages

Genre: New Adult Romance 18+

(Contains: sex, mature language, violence)

Source: eARC for Honest review

Synopsis:

A fallen boxer.
A woman with a broken dream.
A competition…

He even makes me forget my name. One night was all it took, and I forgot everything and anything except the sexy fighter in the ring who sets my mind ablaze and my body on fire with wanting…

Remington Tate is the strongest, most confusing man I’ve ever met in my life.

He’s the star of the dangerous underground fighting circuit, and I’m drawn to him as I’ve never been drawn to anything in my life. I forget who I am, what I want, with just one look from him. When he’s near, I need to remind myself that I am strong–but he is stronger. And now it’s my job to keep his body working like a perfect machine, his taut muscles primed and ready to break the bones of his next opponents . . .

But the one he’s most threatening to, now, is me.

I want him. I want him without fear. Without reservations.

If only I knew for sure what it is that he wants from me?

My Review:

This is one of those books where I want to divide my rating system.

Remy: 5 Stars
Brooke: 2 Stars
Sexual tension: 4.5 Stars
Storyline: 3.5 Stars
Overall Average: 3.75 Stars

If you like a book centered around the girl's lust for the boy, this is the book for you. We've got Brooke, an under-developed character, who essentially lusts after the beautiful and complicated Remington Tate. Truly, Remy is the saving grace of this book, because he's the driving force of the storyline. Despite this being from Brooke's POV, we don't really get to know her at a deep level. She's quite superficial, so we don't get a great view of her, nor the depth of her feelings for Remy. She's just okay. But she can be dealt with because we really just want to get to know Remy. I wish Brooke wasn't so sex-obsessed. I wish she could have described more things that she liked about Remy outside of his physical beauty and musculature, musical taste, love-making, and ability to run with her. At least Pete is there to give us more details.

But even if you don't like a lust-obsessed book, Remington Tate's story may still make this worth your while. I really enjoyed Remy, getting to know his character and his heart, even though it took a while to showcase it for us (since Brooke is a superficial narrator). Despite Brooke's lack of effort, however, I loved Remy, all his hidden layers, his painful past and painful present, his persistence, his loyalty, his strength, his boyish charm and his brutal strength. He's definitely a character to focus a book, or an entire series, around because you not only want to know him, you want to protect him and heal him and hope for him. Even when he's "crazy" he's just so dang likable and lovable.

The storyline itself, despite my issues with Brooke, still had some great points, some interesting twists, some tender moments, some scary and dangerous moments, and some twinges of trepidation. The story improved, particularly in the second half. And despite my heroine and storyline complaints, I was hooked on this book, and needed to know what was going to happen with Remy.

Overall, the saving grace of REAL was Remy. He was a great character whom I loved in every way I could. While Brooke was superficial, and the secondary characters were interesting yet meagerly explored, Remy was awesome. Getting to know him and his story made the read worth it.

3 1/2 to 4 STARS

 

Book Links:

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