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The only person poetry-loving Cali Monroe hates more than herself is Logan Waters, the geeky kid who lives in the dorm building next to hers.
Ever since Cali's parents told her she would amount to nothing, she has felt entirely inadequate. Friendless and alone, she takes on the mean girl role in hopes it will make her feel better--and Logan serves as the perfect target. He infuriates her with his obnoxiously long lashes, his all too perfect dimpled smile, and his complete lack of personality outside of his intelligence. It doesn't hurt that he's part of the reason her brother is dead, either. So Cali hates him, and he returns the favor. Thus, their prank-filled, insult-driven rivalry is born, and torturing Logan quickly becomes the highlight of her life.
But when Cali's parents set them up on a blind date, she begins to realize Logan might not be as boring as she always thought. He shares her love of poetry, takes a sadistic pleasure in making fun of crepes, and he makes her blush when he calls her smile pretty.
And hey, maybe those long lashes of his aren't that obnoxious after all…
Two Roads is New Adult Romance about finding love, standing out, and learning to embrace who you are. It contains some language and mild sexual content.
ARC received for honest review
L.M Augustine's latest offering, Two Roads, their first foray into the NA genre, is sweet and funny, but also delves into the darker side of life.
Cali Monroe is the ultimate "mean girl" all the others around campus look up to. She has a biting remark to say about anyone and anything, and has that promiscuous, man-eater reputation.
But that is not who she is. She is filled with the guilt of her brother's death 4 years earlier, and rather than partying, she would rather stay in and immerse herself in the world of poetry.
**Note - if you don't know much about the life and poetry of Robert Frost, you will by the end of reading Two Roads**
Other than poetry, the other love of Cali's life is tormenting Logan Waters, geek to the core and her brother's best friend. What she doesn't blame herself about for his death, she blames him for.
So instead of dealing with their feelings, Cali and Logan embark on a practical joke war. I loved their snarky comments, public put downs. They are hilarious at times, at other times you can feel they cut right to the core.
But as they say - it is a fine line between love and hate.
Through a mutual love of poetry, Cali and Logan try to get back to that place they were before her brother's death. Friends. This may be helped along with a mutual hate of, and a bit of blackmailing, with crepes. Those pancake wannabes.
Can their love of poetry and hate of crepes help them grieve and heal from the hurt her brother's death caused them?
For that you are going to have to read for yourself.
At first I did not particularly like Cali with the mean girl attitude. But as the story moved along and we realise why she has this facade, then my heart was breaking for her.
Logan is just adorable. Geek chic.
All through the book you could feel the mutual attraction between the two, and as much as it looked like they hated each other, you could feel the pull they had towards each other.
Poetry is a big, big part of this story (maybe a little bit of overkill, but that could just be me), and there was a few times I wanted to shake Cali and go "seriously? You can't tell who that is about?" when she was reading poetry online.
Two Roads delves into darker places than the author's previous works. While yes it is a fun lighthearted read on the surface, it goes into depression, suicide, grief, all dark places that the author has dealt with very sympathetically.
I enjoyed Two Roads as I have LM Augustine's previous works, and I look forward to reading more in the future.
L.M. Augustine:
L.M. Augustine is a YA romance author who is obsessed with writing about dorky teenagers, love, and happy endings. He currently lives in New England, where he spends far too much time reading books and screaming at his computer, and he believes that the solution to the world’s problems can be found in chocolate cake.