Right of First Refusal

oh god, where do i even begin

Ok I feel ridiculous. This is another 4 star read (although this was definitely a 3.5 but I'm all about rounding up) but these books are just fitting my reading mood lately. I got this whole series a while ago and really enjoyed the first book (I think) but then never read the other 2. I am correcting that now and this was good. I appreciate a female athlete anyway so Cait was totally badass and brilliant. I enjoyed the romance with her and Mase. It was a little drama filled and if folks used a few more words this might have run more smoothly but then it would have been a shorter book. I'll finish the third (yay for a queer romance) and maybe I'll have my Kindle down to under 300 unread books by the end of the year.

Find this review and more at kimberlyfaye reads. Dahlia Adler has done it again. Right of First Refusal is everything that is right about new adult in one addictive little package. I've pretty much been waiting for this book since I finished Last Will and Testament AGES ago, before I really even knew who or what it would be about because I just honestly loved Dahlia's writing and take on the genre so much. The wait was long, but totally worth it. I was a little worried about the whole love triangle thing when I first started Right of First Refusal. Unlike some readers, I'm not adamantly against love triangles... as long as they're realistic and well-written. I mean, it happens in real life. Why should books be any different? But I digress. This was a good love triangle, if you even want to call it that. It's messy, sure. I mean, how awful would it be to be in Cait's shoes and realize your new roommate's boyfriend is a guy you not only have a past with, but "the one"? I felt for her. Seriously. There was no way this was going to end in a way that didn't hurt someone. And truthfully, I didn't even know exactly what I wanted to happen. It's easy to root for the main character to get her way, but sooner or later you start thinking about what it's like to be the other character, too. But, I'm not gonna go any further down that road right now. You can do it when you read this book. Which you should. I liked Cait. I really liked Mase. The secondary characters were wonderful and I love the friendships. I LOVED the diversity and the fact that it's not totally in your face. It just ... is. It didn't need to be more than what it was. It was perfect as is. More than anything, I loved that it wasn't a point of conflict in the novel. It's 2016. An interracial relationship shouldn't be looked at any differently than any other relationship. (I don't know if any of this makes any sense... it does in my head.) Dahlia's novels always have some amount of diversity in them and I really appreciate that. I'm not going to say a whole lot more here except that Right of First Refusal was just a fantastic book all the way around. It was funny, sweet, sexy and even punched me in the feels a couple times. I found it easy to get lost in the characters and their story and the way everything connected. I didn't want to put this book down once I started... in fact, I got a little growly when I had to. I'm looking very much forward to Frankie's story in Out on Good Behavior. I've got my fingers crossed it really does come out in June. It's not been long since I left this world, but I'm ready to dive back in regardless. FAVORITE QUOTES "The thing about the stars, about everything that's bigger than us, is they never fucking change. The Big Dipper looks the same here as it did in Indiana as it did in Stone Creek as it did in Philly." But then the song inside switches and I think about how I want to dance with him and remember that I can't and why I can't and we are holding hands and this is not okay and I am not okay and we are not okay. We have changed and everything changes. It's impossible to tell who comes first, impossible to be aware of anything at all except that the world suddenly seems full of stars. "We're old, but we're also new, and what's happened in between has made us very different people. And those very different people seem to think they belong together, so."