Sweet Ruin (University of Branton #3) by Nazarea Andrews
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: A&A Literary
Pages: 252
Format: eBook
Source: Review Copy from Author
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It’s good to be on top…
Asher Knox has it all. Girls, wealth, a career most would kill for. He’s just landed the biggest job of his career. And he’s miserable.
She’s fighting her way from the bottom…
Megan Beauchamp has no illusions about why she was chosen to be Asher’s PA. She’s pretty, and down to earth, and everything the Hollywood star always falls for. Too bad Megan is just paying her dues and has no interest in anything but advancing at her PR firm.
He’ll throw it all away…
Luca James knows what he wants. And he’s waited a long time for the window to open—when it does, he’ll walk away from the career he’s built for a chance at something real.
When Megan’s boss threatens to fire her, Luca and Asher convince her to leave town with them. Between bad hotels and pit stop confessionals, the three are drawn closer together. And the lines blur even more in Branton, where Megan is forced to look at everything she left behind. But when the boys want more, Megan will be forced to choose between the men she loves and the life she thought she wanted. And in a town like Branton, the secrets she keeps won’t be hidden for long.
Sweet Ruin opens with a promising—albeit common—premise. Asher Knox is beautiful, famous, supposed party boy, with a hidden propensity for brooding. Enter his sweet but fierce, small town assistant Megan. You think you see where the story is going. And you're not wrong. There's obvious chemistry between the two of them. But then there's the final player: Megan's friend, Luca James. Thus, a very special kind of romance begins.
The relationship dynamic between Asher, Luca, and Megan is...complicated. I've often read books to which I can't directly relate—that in itself is usually a large part of reading. In the case of Sweet Ruin, however, it was a difficult element to overcome. In my mind, the nature of this relationship felt unrealistic and was incredibly difficult to become invested in. Rather, it felt like a gimmick designed to draw readers with nothing more than "shock and awe" and sex appeal.
Is this necessarily a bad thing? Definitely not. There are many series built on this premise that are excellent and/or wildly successful. But, like I said, this wasn't the kind of story line to do it for me.
Overall, Sweet Ruin was enjoyable but just fell flat. For those who eat up the not-so-vanilla romance, this might be a better fit. They tend to be hit or miss for me. I'd be much more likely to recommend This Love or Beautiful Broken, the other books in Andrews' University of Branton series.
Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.
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