Review: Only For You (#1, For You) by Genna Rulon - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle Blogger

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Review: Only For You (#1, For You) by Genna Rulon

My Thoughts

A thoroughly captivating story brimming
with mystery, angst, humor and romance.
An impressive debut novel from Genna Rulon! 4halfstars

Synopsis

only for you“In its purest form love is self-sacrificing, eternal, selfless, enduring, truthful, forgiving and indulgent. It also feels an awful lot like a kick to the stomach when you try to fight it!”  All Everleigh Carsen wanted to do was complete her final semester at Hensley University and begin the life she carefully planned.  When a wave of violent crime seizes campus, Everleigh is persuaded to attend a school sponsored self-defense seminar by her best friend, where she meets volunteer instructor, Hunter Charles. After Everleigh’s biting sarcasm induces Hunter to eject her from class, a tempestuous relationship is born.  Everleigh is determined to forget the striking man, but fate—that fickle shrew—continuously intervenes. Unable to escape him, she declares Hunter an enemy combatant. The only complication…Hunter is resolutely pursuing vindication…by any means necessary. Verbal warfare ensues, and despite Everleigh’s ingenious efforts, in Hunter, she has finally found her equal. Only For You is a compelling tale of friendship, desire, and redemption—brimming with intelligent characters, witty dialogue, unexpected twists, profound sorrow, unfettered hope, and love’s unassailable perseverance.

My Review

“It was amazing. Earth shattering, mind blowing, it was everything. I’m hopelessly in love with him and destined to be destroyed in the near future.”

Murder. Seduction. Desire. Friendship. Humor. This book had it all. I was instantly absorbed by the suspense of the story line, pulled in by the wit of our strong and fiesty female protagonist and riveted by the angst between between two friends who desperately desired each other, but couldn’t be together. This is Genna Rulon’s debut novel and it’s a true gem! Well written and well paced, this story consumed me and I read it quickly in one sitting. The suspense, coupled with the will-they or won’t-they push and pull of our main characters, fueled me to finish as quickly as I could to know how it all would end. I loved the banter, the relationships and the intelligent characters. So what is this story about?

A college campus lives under the looming threat of another beating… another brutal murder by an unknown assailant who shows no signs of stopping. The women live in constant fear and that’s why Everleigh (Ev) and her best friend and roommate, Sam, decide to enroll in a self-defense seminar. Little did they expect to walk in and find their instructor to be incredibly gorgeous in this most unsettling way.

“He was the human equivalent of a perfect piece of fruit featured on a magazine cover – impossibly succulent, such perfection couldn’t be real.”

But as we soon learn, Ev’s unstoppable sarcasm catches the attention of Hunter, the instructor, and promptly gets her kicked out of the seminar. Feeling angry and insulted, those initial feelings of desire quickly morph into a bold indignation. So when Hunter unexpectedly shows up to her business class, she can hardly believe it. Their verbal warfare is funny and captivating… I devoured every word of it. A reluctant friendship ensues as after awhile, Everleigh comes to the conclusion that they aren’t able to succumb to any attraction between them anyway due to some unavoidable circumstances. The duo of Sam and Ev quickly becomes a trio as Ev and Hunter soon become inseparable themselves. Both of them have similar personalities, a fierce wit and that intangible something between two people that makes them fit so effortlessly. Ev continues to suppress her desire for him, focusing on their friendship that she suddenly can’t imagine losing.

As the beatings escalate into murders with each case more horrendous than the previous, Hunter becomes more protective and possessive of Ev. There are even times when Hunter seems to feel the intensifying attraction between them and Ev can’t help but question what they truly have together. With so much time spent with one another, the unavoidable happens and Ev finds herself falling irrevocably for Hunter, meaning that the deeper she fell, the more she couldn’t bear to be near him if he didn’t return the feelings she so strongly felt.

“The further our relationship progressed, the closer we came to acting on our desires, the closer the end was. It was bittersweet. I cherished every little touch, every moment we spent together, because they were finite. I loved a man who could not fully return my love,  not in the way I wanted. Every day the pain deepened and another crack was chiseled in my heart, as the impending loss loomed. I tried not to focus on the grief that was to come, and instead lived in the moment. After all, these moments were all that would remain when he was gone.”

Their relationship is a constant push and pull, the desire is palpable and I was really rooting for them to be together. I loved both characters. Everleigh is fiesty, tenacious and doesn’t let anything get her down. Her optimism and sense of humor have helped her cope with the things that life has thrown her way. Hunter is intriguing and smart, but he’s also funny and sweet. They seem so right together. Eventually, it becomes clear that Hunter has fallen for Ev too, but he refuses to give her what she most desperately wants… a future together. He’s secretive and elusive and every time emotions threaten to take over, he pushes her away.

“Why am I pushing this? Because I fucking love you, you idiot, and I can’t hide my feelings anymore.” I screamed at him. “I’m in love with you. I love you so much it eclipses everything else around me. You’re the star I can never reach. I can wish and dream, stretch and strain, but you’re always just out of my grasp. I need something I can hold, I can count on. I need something tangible.”

When tragedy strikes, the story becomes so heartbreaking. I felt shattered and broken myself. We get to see the strength of  relationships both deeply break and profoundly strengthen as truths are finally revealed and unexpected plot twists come into play. This is a story about love and redemption… about the unshakable bonds of friendship and the enduring hope that in the end love will find a way.

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2 Comments:


  1. terrie61 said:

    This book sounds like an awesome read. I am always looking for new authors to read. I put “Only for you on my TBR list. Thanks for the introduction to a new author.

    Reply

  2. VBB Post author said:

    Thanks Terri!!! I hope you enjoy it!

    Reply

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