Book Review: Believe by Erin McCarthy

Believe
True Believers #3
Author: Erin McCarthy
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Romance
Released: November 4 2014
Review Source: Berkley Trade

A sexy and emotional New Adult novel from Erin McCarthy, the USA Today bestselling author of Sweet and True.

Robin used to be a party girl…until she got black out drunk and woke up in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend. Disgusted with herself, she doesn’t tell her friends the reason for her sudden sobriety and avoids everyone until she meets Phoenix—quiet, tattooed, and different in every way that’s good and oh, so bad…

Phoenix is two days out of jail when he meets Robin. He knows he has no business talking to her, but he’s drawn to her quiet demeanor, sweet smile, and artistic talent. She doesn’t care that he’s done time, and she supports his goal to be a tattoo artist.

But Phoenix knows Robin has a secret, and that it’s a naïve dream to believe that his own record won’t catch up with them at some point. Though neither is prepared for the explosive result when the past collides with the present…

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

Robin is a college student wanting to break out of her norm, yet she did it so effortlessly. She turned into a big time party girl and ended up doing the one thing she never thought she'd do-sleep with Nathan, her best friend's boyfriend. Phoenix is a 20 year old who just got out of a 5 month stint in prison for protecting the one person who means the most to him, even if she doesn't deserve it, his mother. When they meet they know they aren't right for each other, but maybe Phoenix is Robin's road to her own forgiveness, and Robin is just what Phoenix needed for him to get some perspective.

From the start I was in love with Phoenix. I know he just got out of jail, but a guy who will send a kitten meme text after a joke about that has been made-what's not to love? He's honestly a sweetheart who has the bad boy image, which is honestly what I think most girls want.  Also his time in jail was for a good reason, it's not like he just killed a guy for fun. He was protecting his mom, which shows his devotion to those he loves. Robin, although I understand everything that she did, I just wish she had handled everything so differently! I understand that for her to get with Phoenix she had to handle her problems how she did, but I really wanted her to just come clean to her friends about what happened. Keeping it to herself makes it seem like it wasn't just a onetime thing, and that irritated me. 

The story was good, it kept me enthralled in what was happening. I loved switching between Robin and Phoenix's perspectives. I think this helped to show just how much Robin meant to Phoenix. It's hard when the lead romancer is a bad boy because there's always that doubt that he doesn't truly love the girl. But being able to get into Phoenix's head showed just how crazy he was for Robin. I did feel like the problems that arose at the end of the book were rushed, but honestly I really just wanted more of Robin and Phoenix's love story at this point so it wasn't too horrible that it was rushed.