Reviews...Down to Business & Taking Care of Business by: JC Alexander

I received a copy of this book for an honest review. 3.5-4 (this was reviewed by me in December) This book has a cliffhanger ending.

After graduating high school Autumn has stayed back to help out with her family business. After two years, receiving a scholarship and saving money she goes off to Adelphi University to live with her best friend Lindy. Once she arrives she soon discovers Lindy's boyfriend is going to be living with them for a while. When Lindy wakes up one morning to use the bathroom it is occupied and she becomes annoyed until a freshly showered gorgeous guy exits the bathroom...Vinny. Autumn is a blubbering mess and tries to quickly make her escape before further humiliating herself. Later that morning they discover they are in the same business class together. They have an instant connection and Autumn finds herself thinking about him all the time. They consider their relationship a friendship that's easily pushing those boundaries. They both claim to care for each other and Vinny repeatedly tells her that he doesn't want a relationship or to hurt her all while he's stringing someone else along.

I really liked this book and had a hard time putting it down but there were a few things that bothered me. First being, Lindy, Autumn's so called "best friend," I found her to be very selfish and self-centered same goes for Vinny claiming he loves and cares for Autumn but stringing Vivian along for the business. I also felt that after Autumn told him what had happened to her during her one and only sexual experience he would have made theirs a little more special. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with sex on a pool table and it is hot and sexy but for her first "real" sexual experience I felt he could have kept it in his pants and waited until it was a little more special for her. I know she was a willing participant but it just would have convinced me a little more that he cared for her. Lastly, why do all girls have to be such bitches to each other? I liked Suz and Autumn all the other girls were bitches and "sluts."

I hope Autumn really lays into Lindy and Vinny in the sequel and makes Vinny crawl and beg for her. I will be reading the sequel and really hope it's out soon.

This is just a note and nothing against this author but every book I've reviewed including this one has ended in a cliff hanger and I usually am not bothered by it but it is beginning bother me a bit.
   

***If you haven't read the first book you may not want to read the review below***

  This was a review copy provided by author. I had a love hate relationship with this book. Ugh! I don't know what to rate it. 3.5 stars I'm thinking but maybe I'll come back and change it. I am so mad at Vinny's stupidity. And Lindy is definitely not best friend material. I thought she may redeem herself in this book but she was just as self-centered. 

After the dreadful phone call Vinny receives Autumn packs up a moves out. Vinny tries to contact her to explain but she won't hear of it. She decides to take the semester off and move back home. As Vinny and Autumn try to move on, Vinny becomes self destructive, drinking, doing drugs, selling them, having sex and blacking out. You'd think after his mistake with Vivian he would change his ways and try to win the "love" of his life back but instead he wallows, pities himself and makes no attempt to try to even contact her again after she gone. Not much happens with Autumn she's depressed and working back at Malones, she tries to go on a date with no success. 

Suz,Vinny's cousin invites Autumn to her wedding. Autumn decides to go and hold her head up high to make Vinny regret his decisions. When she does she over hears a conversation that changes everything. Should she tell Vinny or let him figure it out himself?

Vinny is set on finally telling Autumn the truth about what happened or what he remembers happening, even if she never forgives him he just wants her to hear him out. Will she finally listen?

This book was like a tug of war with my emotions. One minute I'm yelling (in my head of course) for Vinny to man up and fight for his woman and the next I'm yelling at Autumn to forget him. I'm yelling at her to tell her best friend to shove it too. I mean what kind of best friend invites herself along as a date for a wedding that your invited to asks you come and stay with her then totally ditches you the whole entire time your out to visit her. And to top it off she leaves Autumn's car at the bar to hook up with some guy. It's like she can't stay in one night and have a little girl time? God Lindy frustrated me. I really hope Autumn grows a backbone and tells her friend off. You can see little by little that she's starting to stand up for herself; in book one with Vivian and in book two with Ashley. But the girl needs to stop getting stepped on and stand up to Lindy and Vinny's mom. If that happens in the next book I will be a very happy reader. The whole thing with Vivian was pretty predictable and and wanted to yell at Vinny over that. Hello Vinny have you ever heard of that test you can take?

So like I said I felt this push and pull with this book I loved it but It frustrated me, I was rooting for our H and h's then wishing they would just forget each other. All in all I'm glad Vinny and Autumn were able to finally get everything out in the open.

Do I recommend this book? Of course I do! Just prepare to be cursing out the characters.

HEA? (2) <<<click here if you want to know if Vinny and Autumn got one. FYI one more book to come.