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

Only For You

Author: Genna Rulon

Series: For You

Pages: 390

Publisher: Self

Genre: New Adult

Amazon

Release date: 24^th September 2013

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

“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.

Review: 4 out of 5 stars

I have been burnt out by the New Adult genre recently but when I was contacted by Genna Rulon to read and review Only For You, I was intrigued by the synopsis so decided to give it a go and I’m thankful I did, it is a wonderful tale of a beautiful friendship, a compelling romance and an extremely well written mystery, thriller that had me frantically flicking the pages wanting to know what was going to happen.

Only For You follows the story of coffee loving, drama-queen 23 year-old Everleigh Carsen {I love her name} who is in the process of completing her final year at university. When brutal crimes begin to happen on campus which targets the female students she is encouraged by her best friend to attend self-defence lessons.

I can’t say I would have returned to those lessons after only having spent a few moments in the room and been publicly humiliated in front of my peers by the uber hot instructor but it is what started the witty, amusing and tempestuous relationship between Everleigh and the trainer, Hunter Charles.

Everleigh reminded me of my best friend, kind and loveable but melodramatic, overly sensitive and extremely sarcastic. Hunter was her equal when it came to the sarcasm and was able to match her in their verbal sparring. He was quite the mystery and I was intrigued by what he was trying to hide. Both of the main characters were extremely likeable.

The banter between Everleigh and Hunter had me giggling on so many occasions but it also had a more mature, sophisticated feel to it; they are both extremely intelligent and it came across in the dialogue as well as Everleigh’s inner monologue.

I am thankful there was no over the top unnecessary drama with this plot but it did evoke a lot of emotion at times, especially when it came to the detailed crimes; Only For You flourishes in its simplicity and despite the mystery and brutality surrounding the violence occurring on campus which escalate throughout, the author dealt with it in a way that was believable and without the dramatics, her research with a difficult subject matter was done well.

My favourite part of this book is Everleigh’s relationship with her childhood best-friend and room-mate Sam Whitney, it was a wonderful and endearing and the banter between them was just as humorous and witty, I adored the way they had always protected and supported one another and I’m eager to read Sam’s story in the sequel.

The mystery element was done very well, I had numerous suspects in mind but nothing was solid; I was kept guessing which I appreciated but in the end I did guess right – the twists and turns kept the pacing consistent. There were a few moments which left my heart breaking but once again it was written extremely well and in a way which was realistic.

For a debut novel, Only For You is written beautifully, it flows well and is engaging and captivating; all of the characters are fully developed and with depth and likeability and the storyline had me glued to the pages. The romance also wasn’t rushed and started off as friendship which I enjoyed.

Overall, Only For You is wonderfully written with a thrilling, emotional plot that had me frantically flicking through the pages, with amazing characterization and a sweet romance, it is a fabulous debut novel for Genna Rulon.

Thank-you kindly to the author, Genna Rulon for providing me with a copy of Only For You to read and review.

About the author: Genna Rulon is an up and coming contemporary romance author. 

During her 15 years in the corporate world, Genna, inspired by her love of reading, fantasized about penning her own stories. Encouraged by her favorite authors, many of whom are indie writers and self-published, she committed to pursuing her aspirations of writing her own novels.

Genna was raised in Long Island, New York, where she still resides, surrounded by the most amazing family and friends. Married to a wonderful man, who patiently tolerates her ramblings about whichever book she is currently working on, even feigning interest relatively convincingly! Genna is blessed with two little boys who do their best to thwart mommy's writing time with their hilarious antics and charming extrapolations.

You can find Genna online at :www.gennarulon.com
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