Blog tour: For Real (Rules of Love #1) by Chelsea M. Cameron

By Laurie T - December 10, 2013

Good morning! Reader Girls is one of the stops on the For Real blog tour today. I always enjoy author Chelsea M. Cameron's novels and For Real is her latest New Adult contemporary romance. We have our review and there is a giveaway. The book is also on sale for a limited time and there's a link to the sale. Have a wonderful day. We are expecting snow today so be safe!

For Real (Rules of Love #1) by Chelsea M. Cameron
New Adult contemporary romance
Paperback/eBook, 210 pages
Published November 20th 2013 by Createspace

Two people. One fake relationship. What could go wrong?

When virgin Shannon Travers gets fed up with her friends demanding that she find a boyfriend, she enlists the help of tattooed, mohawk-rocking graphic design student Jett. He’s more than happy to play along with their Fake Relationship, including the Ten Rules of Fake Dating that control-freak Shannon comes up with. Even if he likes to violate them. Repeatedly.

But what happens when Fake Dating starts to feel… not fake anymore? Will Shannon be willing to let go and embrace the first thing in her life that’s ever felt REAL?

Buy Links: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble

In For Real, Chelsea M. Cameron's latest NA contemporary romance, Shannon has an annoying group of friends. They're pushy and want her to get rid of her virgin status. I never regarded the v-status as a "burden," but it seems to be a common thread in today's New Adult books. In order to get them off her back, Shannon does what many a girl would do-she gets a guy to act as her boyfriend. Only problem? Said guy, Jett, is more than Shannon can control with her take-charge ways.

Opposites attract. A fake situation turns realistic over time. Yes, we can imagine how the story goes and it is formulaic, yet in a good way. The author creates a sweet story filled with looks, touches, and yearning which intensifies over time. I'm glad the couple's connection wasn't instantaneous and they took their time. Both main characters are likable, even if they're light on development and dimension. Shannon was like a bowl of vanilla ice cream with sprinkles while Jett was a splendid triple scoop cone of rocky road, pistachio and butter rum (my faves) with his awesome mix of contrasting attributes. I really liked his character. He's cool, looks like the typical bad boy but isn't (thank goodness). He's got a dragon tat and treats Shannon like a gentleman. I was stoked to see an Asian character featured as a love interest and not as a secondary character like a roommate. NA needs more diversity. As for Shannon's so-called friends, they were grating and fell flat, all seem like the same type of character. As much as the chemistry between the couple worked, the friendships didn't which resulted in a lower rating from me.

Sometimes I don't mind a break from the angst-filled, overly dramatic characters and numerous detailed sex scenes populating today's New Adult market. For Real provided a necessary reprieve. There was a twist which I did see coming and still welcomed it. I enjoyed For Real. Shannon and Jett's story is sweet and made me smile.

Rating: 3.5

1/2

Cover comment:

I have tired of the posed couples gracing the covers of NA romances and yet, this is one cover where I would have loved to have seen BOTH characters, especially since Jett is not the typical male romance lead. The cover as it is now is okay, but it falls flat for me.

Book source:

I received a promotional copy in return for my honest review during a book tour.

Author Information

Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting (this one time, she was tweeted by Neil Gaiman). She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

Her New Adult Contemporary Romance titles include My Favorite Mistake, which has been bought by Harlequin along with a sequel, Deeper We Fall and Faster We Burn (April 20, 2013)

Her Young Adult books include Nocturnal, Nightmare and Neither, the first three books in The Noctalis Chronicles. The fourth and final book, Neverend will be out in 2013. Whisper, the first in The Whisper Trilogy is also available, with the second book in the series, Silence and the final book, Listen coming out in 2014.

Author links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads