Review- Better When He's Bold by Jay Crownover

Summary-

Some men are just better when they're bold.

Welcome to the Point...

In a dark and broken kingdom, a ruler has to be fearless to control the streets and the ruthless people who run them.

Race Hartman is just bold enough, just smart enough, and just lost enough to wear the crown. Places like the Point will always have bad things and bad people, but the man in control of all that badness can minimize the devastation. Race has a plan, but can he prevent total annihilation without destroying himself?

Brysen Carter has always seen her best friend's brother for what he is--too pretty, too smooth, and way too dangerous to touch. Basking in Race's golden glow is very tempting, but Brysen knows she'd eventually get burned.

When she starts receiving threatening texts and someone tries to take her out in parking lot, the only person interested in keeping her safe is the one man she can't allow herself to have.

Sometimes being bold is the only way to stay alive. But can she let Race save her life . . . if it means losing herself to him?

Release date: February 3rd, 2015

Published by: William Morrow & Company

Page numbers: 400

Review-

Better When He's Bold is the second book in Jay Crownover's Welcome to the Point series. I had liked the first book enough to pick up the next one right away. This is Race's and Brysen's story both of whom we'd met in the previous book. I liked Better When He's Bold but I do think it could have been better. It was an okay read.

After the events which take place in the last book the Point is left with no person to kind of rule over it. This is when Race decided to take over with the help of Nassir and Bax. Race has been a rich guy until his messed up family made him decide to come to the Point and live the hard life. I found Race to be okay. There was nothing special about him for me. Everyone around him kept saying what a genius he was but I just couldn't see it.

Then we have Brysen. Brysen and her family fall right in the middle of the pack. They are not rich enough to be a part of the Hill but not poor enough to be a part of the Point. I really liked Brysen. She was a hard worker trying to keep things as normal as possible for her sister Karsen, while handling a drunk mother and a father who is a gambler. I liked Brysen's determination and her strength.

The best part about Brysen and Race's story was that even though their conversations were slightly prickly in the beginning they never denied being attracted to each other. There was no hiding their chemistry and they very easily accepted each other for who they were. I liked how Race wanted to take care of Brysen and her sister when things got tough. Brysen was the grounding point in Race's life.

The reason I felt this book was lacking as compared to the last one was that the suspense about Brysen's stalker was very weak. I guessed the stalker right at the beginning because he was very easy to spot and I couldn't understand how the apparently most intelligent hero didn't get it. But aside that Better When He's Bold was a good addition to the series.

Review- Better When He's Bad by Jay Crownover

Summary-

Welcome to the Point

There’s a difference between a bad boy and a boy who’s bad . . . meet Shane Baxter.

Sexy, dark, and dangerous, Bax isn’t just from the wrong side of the tracks, he is the wrong side of the tracks. A criminal, a thug, and a brawler, he’s the master of bad choices, until one such choice landed him in prison for five years. Now Bax is out and looking for answers, and he doesn’t care what he has to do or who he has to hurt to get them. But there’s a new player in the game, and she’s much too innocent, much too soft…and standing directly in his way.

Dovie Pryce knows all about living a hard life and the tough choices that come with it. She’s always tried to be good, tried to help others, and tried not to let the darkness pull her down. But the streets are fighting back, things have gone from bad to worse, and the only person who can help her is the scariest, sexiest, most complicated ex-con The Point has ever produced.

Bax terrifies her, but it doesn’t take Dovie long to realise that some boys are just better when they’re bad.

Review-

I have read Rule and Jet by Jay Crownover and they were pretty average for me and that is the reason I didn't bother picking up the rest of the series. But then recently I had been hearing a lot of buzz around the Welcome to the Point series by Jay Crownover so I decided to give her books one more chance. I am glad I decided to read Better When He's Bad because I enjoyed it.

So Shane Bax, our hero has just gotten out of prison after a five year stint. He is one of the bad guys and not in the sense that he has good inside. He is hard and has always been on the wrong side of the law. At first, I didn't like Bax at all. I felt he was too reckless and stupid. But after he meets Dovie and we start seeing what she sees in him we kinda start understanding him. Bax kinda grew on me by the end of the book.

Then we have Dovie. Dovie is Bax's best friend's half sister. She is a girl who knows all about the hard life but still she works hard to meet ends meet. Despite all the bad surrounding her Dovie has remained untouched and innocent. I really liked Dovie. Though she was portrayed as the good girl she was brave and not afraid to stand up against Bax. 

Bax and Dovie could not be more opposite if they tried. I have to admit I was not very convinced of them in the beginning. I was not entirely convinced of the book in the beginning, but soon I liked their chemistry. Things really started moving for me after about 30% and that's when I started rooting for Dovie and Bax.

I also really liked meeting the myriad of characters which make up the Point. Each one is broken because of the world surrounding them but we still get glimpses of good once in a while. While I cannot say Better When He's Bad was an exceptional read, I enjoyed the start of the new series and I hope to read more from Jay Crownover.