Kiss Me Like You Mean It

I know we are only 5 days into the New Year, but i'm feeling good about my reading! This is book number 2 for the year, so i'm hoping for a lot of reviews this year!

                                          Kiss Me Like You Mean It by J.R. Rogue

"Yes, he would have ruined me. I'm happier with the way things ended up. That I was the one to ruin me."

I have to start out by saying I did not like ANY characters in this book. None of them. I have to admit I didn't even notice that on the cover of the book that it says it's based on a true story, which made me feel bad for not liking any characters, but I just couldn't. This cover is gorgeous though, it totally caught my eye and that's how I ended up reading the book in the first place. I loved the writing in the book. There were so many quotable lines, and it really kept me hooked on the story even when I couldn't stand any of the characters. 

"I thought of all the things my pride had taken from me. What a vengeful thief it could be."

Gwen is the main character. I did not like her. Not at all. She was shallow, she did not care about any one but herself, and all she was concerned about what what guy she could get into bed with next and who it was going to make jealous. She was constantly down grading herself, but you saw her do absolutely nothing to fix anything about herself. The story starts off with her going after a guy she knew her friend liked. That was the first time she rubbed me the wrong way, and it only went downhill from there. She was not likable at all, but there was also nothing put into the story that made her likable. I finally couldn't decide if I felt bad for her or was just really annoyed with everything she did. *SPOILER ALERT* You do find out that she was sexually abused by her stepfather when she was young, but she doesn't realize it until way later in life, and she does nothing about it. I didn't like how it was just kind of thrown out there in the story.

"When I tell you I was the villain I'm not being cute. I don't want to be cute. I just want to be honest about all of this." 

Connor could also be considered a main character. He had a few small chapters, but he was the man the talked about the most. Connor was made out to be villian. Some of the things he did were pretty questionable. I personally couldn't figure out why he chased Gwen for so long, why he stuck around as long as he did. She put him through so much crap. Now I know people will say.."well when you love someone.." but I don't know. I don't think he could have loved himself very much to put up with the things he did. If i'm being honest here he was pretty much her play thing for the whole story. She came back to him when she had enough of someone else, and she didn't want him to be with anyone else. 

All of the characters were pretty awful, but one that gets an honorable mention from me is Avery. What a complete and total tool. This guy was a real douche. He was her first love, she goes on and on about him for several chapters, and I couldn't stand him. He dumped her out of nowhere in the middle of a party they were throwing, while constantly controlling her throughout their relationship, then got married and had a baby shortly after. *SPOILER ALERT* When she had sex with him later in the book I was so disgusted. The guy was a horrible person, he was married, he had kids, and she just hopped right back into bed with him. Even while he was treating her like complete shit the whole time. I just wanted to shake her and be like "HAVE SOME SELF RESPECT!" 

"I will always keep my heart in a glass jar. No one, no one but myself, is allowed to break me. No one can have that kind of control over me."

Warning: This last paragraph is a complete spoiler for the book. So if you don't mind spoilers keep reading, if you want to read the book and find out for yourself stop now and come back after your done!

In the end you find out the person Gwen has been talking to the whole book is her therapist. You also find out she is in the middle of writing a book, and the therapist asks her how much of what she has been saying is the truth and how much is just for the book. She says a lot of it was a lie. She tells you later that the next therapy session will be them starting over with the complete truth. I was angry. The book was confusing, strung out, and then I find out that some of it wasn't even the truth. It's hard to say if Connor really was as bad as he was made out to be or if she exaggerated most of it. There was a whole part dedicated to a man named Logan that she fell in love with from the internet, that you find out in the end didn't actually have that much of an impact on her life after all. I was just really irritated at this point. 

Overall I have to give this book 3.5 STARS I loved the cover, and I loved the writing, but I just hated the characters. I hated the things the characters did to each other. I didn't feel like there was any character growth in the book. Gwen was still exactly the same in the end as she started off. I just couldn't find any redeeming qualities in any of them. I was confused about halfway through the book, and then just straight up pissed off with the end of it.