Name: Before You
Rating: 3.222222222222222 (9 reviews)
ISBN: 9781617731167

Amber Hart

An unlikely romance between popular dance captain Faith and haunted Cuban immigrant Diego is challenged by their respective ambitions to pursue freedom and Diego's dangerous past. Simultaneous eBook.

Before You

"Beautiful . . . will settle deep in your heart." --Sophie Jordan It will haunt me. It will claim me. It will shatter me. And I don't care. Faith Watters has a picture-perfect life. She's captain of the dance team, popular, happy. She even spent her junior year traveling the world before returning to Oviedo High School for senior year. But she's living a lie. Diego Alvarez hates his new life in the States, but staying in Cuba is not an option. Covered in tattoos and scars, Diego doesn't stand a chance of fitting in, and doesn't want to. His only concern is his secret past--a past, which if it were to surface, would cost him his life. Everyone knows that Faith and Diego don't belong together. But fate has its own plan. All they want is to be free. What they get is something different entirely. Love--it will ruin you. . .and save you. "Will hook and hold you. . ." --K.A. Tucker New York Times bestselling author of Ten Tiny Breaths

Becky

This was an enjoyable read but I had some issues with it, the main one being that I felt like I'd read this story before. It didn't feel original and that really impacted on my enjoyment of the book. It just didn't seem as fun as I first expected.Add to the fact the characters felt a bit flat at times and you have a book which is good in theory, but just fell a bit short in the end. I liked it, it wasn't bad enough for me to put down. It just felt a bit lacking, and that sucks.

Lisa Collins

2.5 stars.

I want to say I loved this book but it was just kinda okay. It tended to be cliche and then at the end I thought it was going to break the "everything is sparkly and wonderful" mold, but nah. It was worth the read, but I wouldn't read it again and I don't know if I'll pick up the other books.

Oh it's difficult for me to put my thoughts about this one into words. I liked the book. Portions of it really held my attention, but at other times I found myself almost skimming because things were moving too slowly for my liking. I read it in an evening, though, so kit definitely engaged me to some amount. 

On the surface, I liked the characters and the storyline. Faith was strong and relatively likable. She was tired of all the pressure of being perfect, and who can't relate to that on some level? Diego was a bit of a jerk on the surface, but there was more to him underneath. I did enjoy the dynamic between the two. They were both pretty spunky and their banter in the beginning was fun. Yeah, there was a bit of instalove... Ok, it was really more hate to instalove, but still. It worked in this book, somehow. Faith and Diego had chemistry. It was apparent from their first meeting. They were from two different worlds, but each holding a secret that definitely impacted the way they behaved in present day. The big secrets were revealed pretty early on in the book and I found Faith's far more believable than Diego's. The romance between them was good and passionate. I really liked them together and, overall, thought they were good for each other, even if others had a difficult time seeing it because of their differences. Faith helped him realize there are people worth fighting for and Diego helped pull her out of her shell so she could find herself again. 

I felt like the race relations and impact on the characters in the book were portrayed pretty realistically, for the most part. It's 2014 and people are more open-minded, but that doesn't always mean interracial relationships are always accepted. Diego's current struggles felt very real, even if some of his backstory was a bit far-fetched for me. While I'll admit I didn't love the characters in the beginning, I grew to love them as I watched them face their pasts and struggle to make a better future for themselves and each other. There was a moment towards the end I was pretty sure I was going to have to throw this book out the window out of sheer frustration and disappointment, but it turned around quickly. Thank goodness. Because if it had gone THERE, I would have been one seriously angry person. So it is safe to say I connected with the story and the characters on some level if I was that distraught and emotional. 

Yes, this book had flaws, but so did the characters. We all do. The book was a little too prose-y for me at times and the dialogue made me roll my eyes at times because I couldn't possibly imagine kids their age speaking that way. But all in all, it was a good book. It kept me guessing as to what would happen next. Because of the star-crossed lovers vibe it was giving off, I was unable to ever get truly comfortable and confident these characters would find a happily ever after. Faith and Diego's story might be over for now, but I'm very much looking forward to reading the sequel, After Us. I need to know more about Melissa and Javier's story!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

I accidentally deleted my review for this book. This review was originally published on Latte Nights Reviews.

You can also click the image below to view my reaction video:

  


First of all, I’ll start by saying that if you are a Simone Elkeles fan and you love her Perfect Chemistry series, then you will DIG, LOVE, ADORE, ENJOY Before You by Amber Hart! I finished this book while taking a bubble bath and I remember I sent a text to my mom, describing how I was feeling. It was in Spanish because I’m Puerto Rican (born and raised and still living here) so excuse me if my translation isn’t good (I suck at translating): “Second time I cry so much because of a book. It’s so beautiful! It broke my heart in pieces and then in tiny pieces. It tried to glue my heart together and realized the glue wasn’t a good one and so the pieces fell apart, breaking me once again until it finally found the right glue and pieced my heart together and it is so beautiful!”

Very descriptive, you see. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this book. I don’t think I have any complaints. It was hilarious. When I started reading, I couldn’t wipe off the grin on my face; it was like the Cheshire cat! Since I live in a place where Spanish is the first language, I don’t really swoon with books that have guys that speak Spanish; it’s normal for me so I don’t pay much attention to it. With Diego, is another story. I would re-read the phrases and literally swoon. That’s how I know I really liked Diego. He isn’t the bad guy you may think he is when you start reading. He is actually a very decent guy, just with a past that kind of haunts him a little and that’s okay. We all have pasts that we aren’t proud of.

“Mami, why don’t I help you loosen up a little?” Oh Diego, you can loosen me up all you want. Diego is hot…there is no question about that. I love the bad boy image he gives off and I love how he really is a sweetheart at heart.

Faith…where do I start? I don’t get the fuzz about people talking crap about her. They say she is conceited and selfish but…I never caught that in the book; quite the contrary. Faith needed to maintain the image of the perfect Christian, daughter of the Pastor of the church or people would start pointing at her and judging her for having a life. She forced herself out of having fun just so her dad would have a good image, her family wouldn’t be judged. That is NOT something we experience a lot. Yes, Faith had past that takes away the perfect image but nobody knows about that so it’s like the image hasn’t been tainted.

There is dual point of view, alternating with each chapter and I like it because I could read and see things from different sides, different thoughts and it was nice to read it that way.

The story’s last few chapters will break you guys…keep that in mind. The Epilogue will bring you back to life and you will put your torches down and will forget about wanting to do a “friendly” visit to Amber Hart. It is very amazing and loving.

I have to address something that has been bothering me since I read a review on Goodreads. This story has people that dislike Latins. It is a story, just a story. I am pure Latin and I was never bothered by this. Why? Because it is something that happens a lot in United States. There are states that don’t like Latins, it is not something of the 18th century, like someone mentioned. I wanted to clear this up in case someone else thought that this doesn’t happens, the hate Latins get, but it still does.

Before You

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