"From the moment Lev
Leokov spots the young woman hiding behind her hair in the middle of the
gentleman's club, he can't take his eyes off of her.
For the very
first time in his life, he is affected. Having been told his entire life
that he can't process or understand emotion, he considers it a big
deal.
When Mina Harris gets caught red-handed with a wallet that
isn't hers, she falls apart. She's tired, lonely and hasn't eaten in
days.
Lev offers her an ultimatum... A nice warm bed, a hot meal and a job, or the cops.
Mina takes her chances with Lev.
After all, a person with nothing has nothing left to lose." -Goodread synopsis
Belle was gracious enough to send me an arc of her new book. This however didn't change the way I felt about it... How did I feel about it???
I freaking loved it. Belle is just a horse of a different color. She is a writer that is so unique and fun.
We follow two main characters. Mina and Lev. Mina is a runaway who became homeless just hoping to make it to the next day. Starving, living on the streets, and starting to turn desperate. I loved her character. She is a charismatic character with a slow start. When I say slow start what I mean is that at first she is this innocent lovable character and then throughout the novel she starts revealing all this little piece of herself. As Mina grows we really get to grow with her. I liked sweet Mina but I loved Sassy Mina. Sassy Mina was so on point. Speaking of on point characters, lets talk about my favorite... Lev. He was what made this novel so unique. I have never read a character like him before. Especially not a leading male. Loved everything about him. He has this whole
Beautiful Mind-GoodWill Hunting thing going on. So perfect!
The way he reacted to both people and situations kept me hooked. It really didn't hurt that he sounded like a Nick Bateman look alike. Swoon! I even found myself liking his thoughts and view better than Mina's. There were so many layers to his character that it will constantly keep you guessing. These two have the most adorable relationship as well. It was refreshing to read a guy who was so sweet, without even knowing he was doing it. Sometimes I got a little annoyed by one or two things they did, but then one of them would do something that would recover the situation, and I would fall for them all over again. I knew I was sold when Lev pulled a total
If I stay moment.
So
so sold.
The smutty moments between the two will also have you reaching for a fan and a glass of ice water... The ice water is to pour over your head, yeah they're that good. When it came to side characters there are only two I really want to touch base on. Those are Nas and Sasha, Lev's brother and sister. Nas is probably one of the best secondaries I've read in the longest. Everything she said had me in stitches. She suffers from HBIC syndrome and I loved it! Pretty sure we'll be getting a spin off from her POV in the future and I can't freaking wait! Sasha another character that I was really surprised I liked. He was suppose to be like the token dick, but after getting a small snippet of his POV I realized how much I liked him... and of course he has layers that we "didn't see coming". My first thought when we randomly got his point of view was "
wow this is random and I don't think I like how it feels slipped in there (that's what she said)"... then after marinating on it for a bit I realized I actually liked the that it was placed in. This leads me into the plot.
Like I said, there were a few moments when other people's POVs were thrown in. This was a turn-off, but only at first. Some of the POVs, even though I understood their value, at first just didn't rub me the right way... Some later on I came to like more but some still sit in that "
I don't know how I feel about this" unknown zone. The actual pace of this book mirrors that of a roller-coaster ride. It's up, down, left, right, and looping all over the place. My emotions and thoughts were ping ponging back and forth. Action packed with tons of light hearted scenes. I like when authors can give a steady flow of predictable moments that are perfectly balanced with wtf events. I like when they can mash the unrealistic with realistic. And I like when an author can take characters that might not seem the most likable and then makes you fall in love with them, and that's what Belle does.
Lev is a fun, wild, new adult book, and for sure drop kicked me out of my reading slump. If you want a good time read Lev is it.
10/10 Stars
-Angela
