Book Review – Unsticky by Sarra Manning

Unsticky
Wait. I just realized… I still have no idea what “Unsticky” means. What the heck is unsticky? Interesting title for sure but it seems I may have missed the hidden meaning. *shrug* Ah well. The title might be convoluted, but the book was straightforward, and an easy read. Interesting enough to hold my interest, but I was able to put it down.

So was it like the Fifty Shades trilogy? Is Vaughn as awesome and freaky, as tormented and as infuriating, yet as sexy, as Grey? Was THIS the book that we’ve been looking for to give us another “Christian-style fix? Hrmmm…. sorry. But nope. Sorta close, but not close enough. It had everything it needed to “give me the need to read” – I mean how could one not want to read this? This looked like it would be right up my alley!

• young, inexperienced, down-on-her luck girl wanting to get ahead in the world
• super wealthy, distinguished man that has “his way, and ONLY his way of doing things” who sees potential in said girl
• An interesting “business/personal” proposal that includes a 6 month timeline that allows her to live his lifestyle
• An incredible tension, and a constant like/love/hate relationship
• A seemingly unattainable man who can be sweet and gentle and generous at times, and then turn around and absolutely destroy all of the tiny crushes I was developing on him. Constantly. Give and take, but when he takes, he has a tendency to smash it to bits.

And yet, I could never wholeheartedly latch on to the potential (and I must underline potential) “love” story.

Because for a grand majority of the book, the romance is kept right on the edge, you think it might be coming. It’s there it’s hovering, it’s close, but the reader is not allowed to fully indulge. I never felt like I was in it. Indulge me deeply, and then take it away if you must, but PLEASE let me bask in the romance glory, even for just a bit before the drama starts up again. I LOVE the drama. I love the give and take of an alpha male that won’t let himself lose control, that wholeheartedly resists the potential for true love. I enjoy that in a book because it keeps me on the edge of my seat, and I find myself pining… anxious for him to break (well you know, not “break” but more like… show his vulnerability). Love that!

This had it. Sorta. But here is yet another book that was just… missing something. At least to me.

We were discussing this one on Facebook (Gitte’s friend LOVED the book so Gitte was already planning on reading it, and Yanira was reading it at the same time I was):

Maryse’s Book Blog: It’s a good book. BUT, go into it to enjoy their journey and “issues” and go into it NOT expecting to fall in love with Vaughn. Not that he is not “fall-in-lovable” but I think I was really expecting the passion and intensity that we had with Grey and Anna… and that was a bit of my downfall. Because Vaughn really does stick to his guns… whereas Grey gave in a little bit easier. The end though, in this one… – VERY worth the read. And she may seem “shallow” at first, but she’s in fashion, and she’s 23, so you know… it makes sense. There is a lot of “growing up” in this one, and they are both broken.

Gitte: Thanks Maryse..it still sounds good so am still quite excited to read it!!! xx

Yanira: Gitte it’s a good read, I’m sure you’ll enjoy and at times you’ll want to kick both their asses… I’m currently reading it, at moments I’ve hated Vaughn, the main character, so much, he can be an ass sometimes, or most of the time. But they grew on me.

Yanira: Back to Unsticky…I hate him all over again!! This a rollercoaster alright!!

Julie: Can’t wait to get my copy!

Iced: I honestly can’t make up my mind with this one, I think I’ll subconsciously keep comparing it to 50Shades all along and that will totally ruin the experience before it even starts. I will put it on my TBR pile but I think I need to further detoxify myself from the whole 50 Shades realm!

Maryse’s Book Blog: Yep Iced… I think that was my problem. Had I read this before Fifty I would have loved it more, for sure, because the story IS interesting and the journey is quite a ride… but. I dunno. Not enough *oomph* I suppose.

Was it too much Vaughn barely ever giving in?

“Another reason why people take me seriously is because I never apologize even when – no, especially when I should,” he told her coolly. “No pleases, thank-yous or sorries – remember that and you might have that interesting year I was talking about.”

Despite his “glorified bigger than life persona” did I just not find him sexy enough? Was it that I didn’t feel the heroine truly falling for him? Now I’m not saying whether that does, or doesn’t happen… eventually ;). But for a large part of the book I found what I was mostly reading about was the struggle while they learned to adapt to one another (which caused Grace serious issues at first – I mean, wow she had some learning to do…). That, and all of the bumps in the road they encountered (plenty of those, and they were SO fun to read). OMG Vaughn could be infuriating (but there was that undeniable attraction…)

“God you’re pushy.” Grace sighed without much bite, because there was something to be said for a man who got what he wanted and didn’t just wheedle and whine until she did it for him.

And Grace… well you know what? I kinda liked her most of the time. She had issues to resolve, and she was sometimes irritating. Some of her decisions (no wait – most of her decisions) were all wrong and yet, she had a few things I could relate to. Her love of fashion, and her love of floppy-haired bad boys (especially of the rock star/artist kind):

And as usual, that first sight of Liam made her heart flip over because he really was pretty, but the stubble and the tattoos gave him a dangerous edge. God, the bad boys were Grace’s kryptonite.

Hehe. Yeah. *blush*

I dunno. Had I read this before Grey, I probably would have loved it. Honestly, it’s not fair for me to compare anything to Christian. It just isn’t. He ruled my world for months, and there was just so much more of him to love (hee hee! Not like that silly! Okay.. maybe a bit of that too 😉 ). So much of every part of him (emotionally, professionally, romantically, desperately…) and we just had so much of him from the start, and even though he resisted falling, you could just tell… you could feel him… and her.

Vaughn… well, we get that, but something was held back in the romance part of this book for too long, that I never fell for him completely.

However, I must say, the last quarter of the book really had me. LOVED it. So I’m gonna give this book 3.75 stars (maybe 4 stars? I dunno – I’m undecided). Anyway. It’s almost there. There were lessons learned (and some that were sorely needed)…

“Yeah, yeah, I know all that,” he conceded. “But that’s it. You’re funny but you’re not happy.” He nodded again, a short, decisive dip of his head “You have no happiness in you, Grace, you just fake it.”

But unfortunately, I needed much more to *squee*. I swooned… but only a little bit.

So… I have one copy to give away (mine) It’s used and slightly abused, but still worth the read ———-> WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!!! –> Congratulations Teresa! You win my copy of Sarra Manning’s “Unsticky” book!!

How to enter for a chance to win it? Just leave a comment below, and Friday night (Friday February 24th 2012) by 10pm EST, I will randomly select one winners.

The winner will be contacted and will have 24hrs to respond with a mailing address (must respond by Saturday February 25th 2012 – 9pm EST at the latest), so if you are picked, do not delay or you will lose your chance.

Here’s a suggestion. If you want to enter to win the book, leave your comment, and you may also pre-send me your mailing address, by email, in case you do win (please don’t post it in your comment). In a couple of my past giveaways, there were some issues with getting the mailing address on time, so to avoid this, if I pick your name, and I already have your address, then all is good. Sorry for my international readers, this is a open to U.S. residents only (but you’re welcome to comment and join in any time!!).

And while you’re here, if you haven’t already joined me (actually “us”, ’cause we’re a big group now) on Facebook and Twitter, whatcha waiting’ for?!