If he's a Bad Romeo, she's a real Bad Juliet

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Cassie and Ethan have a past full of rocky waters. Because of Ethan’s traumatic past, he’s very uncomfortable with affection. He is untrusting, is easily jealous, and easy to anger. Cassie, the main character of the novel, wants the relationship to manifest past the behind the scenes everything-but-sex. She wants their relationship to be out in the open, where everyone can know that they are with each other.

While this is understandable from an emotional standpoint—I mean, everyone wants to be acknowledged—I don’t agree with her pressuring him to have sex with her when he clearly had said no. Yes, the reader can tell that he wants to have sex (I mean he even said he did) but pressuring over (and over and over and over and over) just because you don’t feel like going out and ordering a vibrator is a no-no.

Regardless of his reasons (this being that he wanted to protect her from himself; how self-sacrificial), when someone says no to sex you do not pester them until they agree. I feel like this was brushed over, and while I (sort of) get why, I’m going to go ahead and chat with you about it for a bit.

In BAD ROMEO, Cassie wants to get rid of her “pesky virginity” and she wants Ethan to be the one to do so. Ethan is very hot-and-cold, back-in-forth, love-her-love-her-not through the entire novel. This boy has so many unresolved issues.

To be frank, I don’t think that he should have been in a relationship in the first place. His self-esteem is so low that it’s destructive. Through reading the entire book, I wanted to drag him to a therapist’s office to talk and rant. And then maybe to a boxing gym to punch things.

This leads me back to the sex issue. Cassie is horny beyond belief through the book and I wanted to buy her a vibrator as much as I wanted to take Ethan to see a therapist. Instead, she continuously pressures him to take their intimate relationship further. It seemed to me that she was brushing off his obvious personal problems in favor of her own sexual relief. While he obviously wanted to have sex with her, he didn’t.

Not once did she really, like open and face-to-face and in his interest, ask why he didn’t want to go ahead and have sex. When she asked, she felt like he didn’t want her. Again: understandable. But, come on babe; you are literally the only one that he makes a conscious effort to be open with.

I was expecting him to have done something horrible. Disgusting beyond belief horrible. The way it was built up throughout the book. I was more frustrated with her than I was with him though. For loving him so much and all that, and for being so broken by his actions and words (or lack thereof) she is as much at fault—maybe more so—as he is. And I just really wish that was acknowledged.

I mean if a guy was pressuring an emotionally distraught girl to have sex—even if she did actually want to have sex—even after she sad no, what would the world be saying then? Hmmm? No matter the people in the relationship, no matter the person doing the pressuring, no matter the circumstances, once someone says no then back the hell off.

And freaking take the other person’s emotional state into consideration.

Anyways, that’s my two cents about the book. I adore the cover, but sadly the inside was less than for me. Obviously I’m in the minority here. Leave me some of your thoughts in the comments! Have you read BAD ROMEO?

Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven

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When Cassie Taylor met Ethan Holt at acting school, sparks flew. She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy about campus. But one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing, Cassie and Ethan's romance seemed destined. Until he broke her heart and betrayed her trust. Now the A-list heartthrob is back in her life and turning her world around. One touch at a time. 

Cast as romantic leads once again, they're forced to confront raw memories of the heartbreaking lows and pulse-pounding highs of their secret college affair. But they'll also discover that people who rub each other the wrong way often make the best sparks.