*Grabby Hands* Release & Review - Against the Wall by Jill Sorenson

Image  and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Against the Wall

Release date:  February 2nd, 2016

Author: Jill Sorenson

Loveswept

About the book:

Fans of Katie McGarry, Simone Elkeles, and Tammara Webber will love Against the Wall! As teenagers, they fell for each other despite the odds. But now that Eric and Meghan are all grown up, they’re reunited by fierce passion and dangerous secrets.
  
Eric Hernandez is the bad boy of every schoolgirl’s fantasies—and every mother’s nightmares. But after serving time for manslaughter, he’s ready to turn his life around. He just needs a chance to prove himself as a professional tattoo artist. The one thing that keeps him going is the memory of the innocent beauty he loved and left behind.
 
Meghan Young’s world isn’t as perfect as it looks. The preacher’s daughter is living a lie, especially now that Eric is back. Tougher, harder, and sexier than ever, he might be the only person she can trust. But there’s no telling what he’ll do to protect her if he learns the truth, and that’s a risk Meghan won’t let him take. And yet, back in the arms of the troubled boy with the artist’s soul, Meghan can’t help surrendering to the man he’s become.
 

Goodreads | Amazon

My thoughts:

4 "Mexican/Spanish sexyness" STARS.

ARC via NetGalley - THANK YOU, LOVESWEPT

This was a pleasant surprise. Sure I'd hoped the book would be good, but it was actually a great and refreshing read.

Refreshing in the sense that the characters and the story (although focused on the romance) were different enough to make it stand out from the rest of the books in the same genre.

Eric is a convicted felon, and while the Meghan (the one he loves) and April (his ex sister-in-law) keep saying it was self defense, Eric doesn't play the victim card. He knows he screwed up and he's ready to pay for it. Watching him struggle to keep control of his anger, look for a job, lower his head to his boss's (sometimes absurd) demands and try to lead a normal life was touching. I was rooting for him. I wanted him to do well. I wanted him to find his HEA.

Meghan dealt with a lot of shit, too. An abusive boyfriend. An overprotective brother. Recriminating parents. And a love for the man who had once rejected her and was now back into her life -- one who'd just gotten out of prison. Girlfriend was living a hard life, but she kept going, and I admired her for that. 

The sexual tension between Meghan and Eric was amazing. The fact that she stated right from the start that Eric was the love of her life hit me hard. I was rooting for them from that moment on... and they had barely talked then. 

There was also a lot of Mexican/Spanish elements, which I thought made the story richer. 

This book was dual-POV, but the voices weren't that distinctive. They weren't bad, but I thought the author could've done more.

The writing is solid, but there's a lot of telling. I mean... A lot! At some point, I started asking myself if this was part of a series and I'd picked up the third or fourth book or whatever, because there was a lot of telling going on. Although this isn't exactly the case, I learned that there was a book with Meghan's brother as the LI and Eric's sister-in-law as the MC, so yeah... 

I'm really happy to have had the chance to read this story!