I most certainly did not pick this book because the heroine chicky had an awesome name! But the chick does have an awesome name, eh?

I found Ali after reading the first book in this series, Char, which I had picked up for nadda and read in hyperspeed. Mercy Amare has that spooky finger on the pulse of teen behavior that makes me cringe since my sister is an 18 year old who only last week I recall was entering pre-school; time seems to be a treacherously speedy bitch. Before you yank my review for that teen realism, I am not saying that the situation of a girl dumped in NYC and set up in a Gossip Girl episode is a reality. My go on this book is that I have to worry about my impressionable baby Jelly Bean walking into peer pressure, low self esteem, questionable, wtf judgement calls, hormones, drugs, drinking, insta-love, lust puppying, and overreacting as a daily experience. It is a frightening echo of every text, Facebook post and story my mom has to relate to me. There is a lot of Chuck Bass in the Beckers but not a helluva lot of sugar coating as far as being an adolescent or teen as far as Mercy Amare and how she writes out the inner hell that is a girl’s brain and how she relates to her friends and the general bullshit of growing up–which is pretty much the same no matter where you live.

Christian Becker is a NYC icon and dreamiest boy of all dreamy boys. As son of Charles Becker, Christian, and his brother Tristan, are heirs to Becker Industries, a multimillion dollar company, that the Becker men have plans to expand into other parts of the country when the Becker Boys get some finish on themselves. These aren’t your normal guys and Christian Becker isn’t an average NYU Freshman, he has plans. Once he sets his sights on Ali not only do those sights include making his mark on the world, taking his place in Becker Family Inc., he is planning on acquiring Ali in a long term capacity as well. Seeing Tristan with Char all flowers and hearts has left Christian with an itch to find himself a good woman and he knows the second he sees Ali that she is it for him. Continue Reading