Review: Ripped by Katy Evans

Received from Tour Host

Title: Ripped
Series: Real #5
Author: Katy Evans
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: 9 Dec 2014
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

Every woman wants me–except the one I sing for.

Seattle shakes with anticipation: they call it the concert of the year. They say girls are getting pregnant just thinking about my band being in town.

But when you love a girl, you don’t leave her with nothing but a ring and a promise. Any man with half a brain should know.

So what did I expect my girl would do when she saw me again?

Well, for starters, she loathes our music. Particularly the song I wrote about her.

When I sing it, the stadium is in an uproar. Thousands of fans scream my name like I’m a god–but yeah, not her. Crystal clear: the girl’s not happy to see me.

Black hair, black boots, a bad attitude, that’s her — Pandora Stone is a freaking man-eater and she’s out for my blood.

That’s alright.

Let her come at me. Because I’m out for her heart and, this time, there’s no way she can stop me.

Received from Tour Host

REVIEW

What do you do when you meet your soul-mate at 17 only to be torn apart when they leave. We’ve already seen how bitter Pandora is towards love but now the reason is revealed tearing your heart out right along with Pandora’s. The emotions Katy Evans evokes within her readers are so visceral you get caught up with each word dragging you deeper into the plot and increasing empathy towards the character.

I have to say Pandora is my kind of girl; she wears her vulnerability under an armour of snark, sarcasm and general bitterness. When really she is a scared, lonely girl who has constantly craved her mothers unconditional love. Her relationship with her mother is so precarious she hides the most important thing in her life from everyone, her relationship with MacKenna. You can guess how that makes him feel.

Thank god this book had dual narrative as I needed to understand MacKenna’s actions. Although there were some points of his debauchery I would have rather not known. I’m all about the romance and soul-mate connection to have it sullied by the stuff he had gotten into. However, you can forgive him as it was his way of trying to get over Pandora.

Their chemistry is undeniable and inevitable as much as Pandora tries to deny it. Yet they have something far greater, a connection so deep it has a force all of its own. I loved watching both of their barriers come crashing down the more time they spent together.

There were aspects of the plot that are easily guessed, but they way in which they unfold is completely compelling. The resolution serves to add a further connection for the characters to each other and in turn the reader to MacKenna and Pandora.

The romance is definitely hot and steamy but it is the tender moments (and let’s be honest girls – the caveman possessive moments as well) that provide the swoon factor.

Pandora and MacKenna are up there with Brooke and Remy as my favourite fictional characters. Which I have to say it was so nice to catch up with them in this book

Ripped gives your heart exactly what it needs – a second chance at first love, this time forever and always *happy sigh*