Genre:   Contemporary Romance

You’re not supposed to want the one who torments you.

When my stepbrother, Elec, came to live with us my senior year, I wasn’t prepared for how much of a jerk he’d be.

I hated that he took it out on me because he didn’t want to be here.
I hated that he brought girls from our high school back to his room.
But what I hated the most was the unwanted way my body reacted to him.

At first, I thought all he had going for him were his rock-hard tattooed abs and chiseled face. Then, things started changing between us, and it all came to a head one night.

Just as quickly as he’d come into my life, he was gone back to California.

It had been years since I’d seen Elec.

When tragedy struck our family, I’d have to face him again.

And holy hell, the teenager who made me crazy was now a man that drove me insane.

I had a feeling my heart was about to get broken again.

Stepbrother Dearest is a standalone novel.

I love Elec’s way with words…

Keep reading to see the full Love Note!

I was wrong.

Greta Equals Way More Than Great…

I’m so crazy for you…I can’t see straight.

I’ve been filling a novel with you more each day.

That’s falling in love with the letters scrambled, by the way.

You’re a part of me now, like a right arm…

My lucky charm…

Ok…I’m running out of material.

GET CEREAL!

O, Evil You…

(I Love You.)

P.S. This Valentine’s Day I have a double date. It’s with my stepsister and my wife. 😉

Stepbrother Dearest by Penelope Ward

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

4 “scramble the letters” “Look at me.” Kisses

I could not put this one down. And I didn’t. Seriously…I read this book, cover to cover, non-stop, in one sitting – I can’t even tell you the last time that happened…it has been a while but OMG I effin loved it! Everything about it completely had me…I was just compelled to keep reading, I couldn’t even fathom not finishing it because every time I said I was going to stop…something else happened and I was like…well, I can’t stop now!!! And so…I sit here writing my review on barely four hours of sleep and I seriously cannot stop thinking about Greta and her ass hole step brother and the rollercoaster ride they just took me on. *sigh* #BookwormProblems

Greta Hansen…is a sweetheart. A little on the innocent side…friendly…kind…but to her very core a sweet girl. I mean only a sweet person would be nice to someone who is as much of an ass as Elec is to her. But don’t let any of that fool you, Greta is not a doormat by any stretch of the imagination…she just picks her battles wisely and stands up for what she believes in. I bonded with Greta in ways I wasn’t expecting…she’s an only child, and so am I…she lost her father very quickly to cancer and so did I. I think that’s why I really fell into the story, I may not have connected 100% to Greta, but I got her and I liked her a lot. I think anyone who has the balls to stand up to a guy like Elec deserves a gold medal, honestly…

‘I left the room and went back downstairs. Seeing him looking so down when he didn’t know I was watching him made me more determined than ever to break through to him somehow. I needed to know if this was just a façade or if he were truly a genuine asshole. The meaner he was to me, the more I wanted to make him like me. It was a challenge.’

Elec O’Rourke…yeah…even his name is hot…but trust me…he only gets hotter…tall, lean muscles, tattoo’s everywhere (and the fact that they actually meant something! Don’t even get me started…), dark hair, grey eyes…but it was his attitude that really sucked me in. He’s an ass…cocky…arrogant…but not in a douchey way…he toed that line very nicely. While he may have said and done things to Greta to get a reaction from her, I honestly didn’t think any of his actions were truly mean or mean-spirited. There is so much more to Elec than meets the eye…I mean, I get people who have it rough growing up…rough would have been a cake walk compared to what Elec went through and just thinking about his childhood makes me tear up Needless to say, he is a momma’s boy, through and through, but I don’t think she could have dreamed up a better son than Elec. I loved that beneath the tough, tatt’d guy was a sweet, gentle heart…I loved that he was a writer…and I loved that he really only opened up to one person…the one girl he wasn’t supposed to love.

“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“You turned away from me. That’s my fault. I made you feel like I didn’t want you looking at me – that self-respect bullshit I fed you. Out of everything I ever said to you, that was the biggest lie, and I regret it the most. I’d started to let my guard down, and it freaked me out. I never had a problem with the way you look at me. My issue is the way it makes me feel when you look at me; things I’m not supposed to feel, things I can’t let myself feel for you. At the same time…nothing felt worse than when you stopped looking at me Greta.”

Oye…where do I start with these two. Why is that I enjoy it to no end when a couple is at odds with one another? I love it when they fight…maybe it’s because it’s a passionate emotion of some kind and I know buried behind that anger or frustration or whatever…is the truth. Elec is an ass to Greta from the start…he barely even looks at her and he’s giving her an attitude so I knew it had very little to do with Greta and a whole lot to do with something or someone else. I loved Greta’s faith and devotion to Elec…he gives her every reason to hate him…give up on him…and she doesn’t. The way they form their bond…over ice cream and video games…protecting one another from the things they can…it was like I didn’t even have to try to fall in love with them…it just happened…but man did they make it a rough ride. And I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.

“You make me feel things, Greta. You always have. When I’m around you, whether it’s good or bad…I feel everything. Sometimes, I don’t handle it too well, and I fight it by acting like an asshole. I don’t know what it is about you, but I feel like you see the real me. The second I saw you again for the first time at Greg’s when you were standing in that garden…it was like I couldn’t hide behind myself anymore.”

I’m an angst whore and Stepbrother Dearest fed my angsty soul! So the book is separated into two parts. Part 1…OMG…the sexual tension was palpable and delicious and I was tortured…and then, things got…hotter than hell. Good gravy…Elec is a sexual force of nature and he may or may not have made me drool (he totally made me drool). Clearly…I’m in my happy little bookworm place with Part 1 and I knew it was about to get angsty again but…I was not prepared for the angst that came next. If I was tortured in Part 1…Part 2 nearly ripped my heart out. Because…it’s still the same angsty goodness with these characters…just more history, with a side of pent up emotions and a dollop of I-still-wanna-fuck-your-brains-out…sounds like a tasty recipe, right? Oh…it totally was. Obviously, the writing was what brought this all together for me and made it that much better. It was fantastic…clearly…I mean, for me it was un-put-downable (yes…it’s a word!)…I mean the story just demanded to be read. It was angsty, hot-n-steamy, funny, emotional and it flowed perfectly. I’ll be honest…this was my first Penelope Ward, but if this is what I can expect from her…count me in cause I’m in love.

“I guess it doesn’t matter anymore,” I said under my breath so low that I didn’t think he heard me.
Elec scowled as he took the empty bowl to the sink, washed it and put it in the strainer.
He looked back at me. “You’ll always matter to me, Greta. Always.”

So clearly…I enjoyed the story, loved the characters, everything was great…but there was part towards the end of the book that I got a little frustrated with. The entire book is from Greta’s POV…but there is a point where we get to see things from Elec’s POV…and I don’t want to say why or how because I feel that would spoil it…but trust me, I was so excited when it happened because the entire book all I wanted to do was climb into that boy’s head! So I’m loving every minute of it until…it got repetitive. I am a lover of dual POV’s, so do not get me wrong on this but I like it up until the point where I stop getting new information. There were certain pieces that I felt did not need to be rehashed word for word…I wasn’t reading anything I hadn’t already read before, and that’s where my frustration came into play. Plus…with what was happening, I almost wanted more from Greta…of her thoughts and emotions from what she is learning. Then towards the end, it all wrapped up so quickly…I felt like I didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. Don’t get me wrong, the ending is fabulous…I guess maybe a little more conversation and it would have made me feel better about everything.

“Now, I understand,” Sully said.
“Understand what?”
“Why you’re here with me every Friday night and not on a date with some man, why you’ve been unable to open your heart to anyone. It belongs to someone else.”
“It used to. Now, it’s just broken. How do I fix it?”
“Sometimes, we can’t.”

I was not expecting the ending to be as…thorough as it was. Of course I was hopeful for my big red bow that I love to get…but this was more than I could have ever imagined and the epilogue just thrilled me to bits and pieces. And the fact that it was from Elec’s POV was pretty spectacular. I’m always the girl who wants more, but this is an absolutely fantastic standalone. Stepbrother Dearest is packed full of so much amazingness…an amazing story of two people, the choices they made and the unending love they had for each other.

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Penelope Ward is a USA Today Bestselling author.

She grew up in Boston with five older brothers. She spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor, before switching to a more family friendly career.

Penelope lives for reading books in the new adult genre, coffee and hanging out with her friends and family on weekends.

She is the proud mother of a beautiful 9-year-old girl with autism (the inspiration for the character Callie in Gemini) and a 7-year-old boy, both of whom are the lights of her life.

Penelope, her husband and kids reside in Rhode Island.