Just for Now (Sea Breeze)

by Abbi Glines

Set in the steamy coastal Alabama town of Sea Breeze, an interconnected group of older teens hook up, break up . . . and much, much more.
Preston is one bad boy. And Amanda has harboured a crush on him for forever. When she finally makes her move on him, it does not end well. But still, she can't resist him. Especially now that he seems to be pursuing her, too.No one wants wants them to be together. Not Amanda's brother, Marcus, who is on the verge of his marriage to Low, and definitely not any of Preston's buddies. They know way too much about Preston's dark side. Yet the dangerous attraction is there ... and neither Preston nor Amanda are going to deny it.

• ISBN10: 1442488603
• ISBN13: 9781442488601
• Publish Date: 27 August 2013 (first published 30 October 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

I love Abbi Glines for giving me these awesome soap opera-ish books. Preston was always so misunderstood, and I loved getting to know the better side of Preston. I was also happy to see things start to go his way towards the end of the book. Another fun, hot read with enough drama and heartfelt moments to incite some serious pitter pats.

[leelu92]

I just don't get the crazy over this book. It was a fine read...nothing that I feel like shouting on the rooftops about.

[Ashley]

booknook — Young Adult book reviews

Disclaimer: I haven't read any other books in the Sea Breeze series. Someone told me reading the other books wasn't necessary to read Just for Now, but maybe not having read the previous books affected my take on the book. Just keep that in mind!

I stared reading Just for Now because I was desperate for something sexy. Desperate. DESPERATE. I didn't care what book I read, I just wanted a good story and hot and heavy stuff to help me pull through the "I'm missing my boyfriend like crazy" phase. Coincidentally, someone's review of Just for Now showed up on my Goodreads feed, raving about how sexy it was. So I ran off, bought the book, and started reading.

This book has good points and bad points. The good points: Just for Now fulfilled exactly what I wanted it to fulfil—it was sexy. There isn't loads of sex—only like 3 scenes—but it's there. And Preston is obviously a very sex-oriented guy.

The bad points: I didn't understand why Amanda was so obsessed with Preston. As a reader, we do get to see his sensitive side, which is attractive. But Preston kept that sensitivity hidden from the rest of the world, so Amanda had no idea it existed. To Amanda, Preston wasn't a sensitive brother who cared for his family and provided for them. He was a complete and utter jerkface playboy.. oh, and he was hot. Preston was a total douchebag to Amanda. He did have his reasons (which I'll talk about later), but that's why I didn't understand why Amanda was so obsessed with him. She didn't even get a glimpse of his sensitive/sweet side until the second half of the book (long after she became obsessed with him). That really made me think that Amanda only liked Preston because he was hot, which kind of annoyed me.

Preston had it in his head that he wasn't good enough for Amanda. She was a rich, innocent young girl and he was a poor, rude, man whore. I can understand where his "I'm not good enough for you" feelings came from, but it kind of started to bug me when he talked about it every single time he saw Amanda. And he had terrific timing </sarcasm>. At one point, he let his horniness take over and things got hot and heavy with Amanda. He was in the middle of fingering her, she was close to climax, and that was when he remembered that he wasn't good enough for her. So he stopped, said "Sorry I shouldn't have done that," and got up to leave, cutting her off just before an orgasm. Talk about leaving a girl hanging.

Furthermore, the story starts off with Preston and Amanda having sex. Horrible sex. Really, really bad. Because Preston was drunk out of his mind. Why, then, does Preston spend the rest of the book dreaming about how amazing it was? And why does Amanda even remember it fondly? She was in pain and only felt pleasure for about a second. But then we get quotes like these:

"Every night, Manda. Every damn night I dream about you. About how sweet you tasted. How incredible you felt. It's driving me crazy."
—Preston

"But it felt good. Really, really good. Better than any of the times I'd fantasized about."
—Amanda

Maybe I would have been more invested in their relationship if there actually was a fond sexual memory. But it was horrible! Even Amanda—a virgin with low standards—couldn't have thought that sex was amazing.

I think the rest of my negativity towards this book comes from the fact that it was so generic. I must be getting tired of the cookie cutter "Bad playboy changes his ways for innocent girl" books, and that's exactly what this story is. It wasn't horrible, I just don't feel like it brought anything new to the table. If you haven't read as many books like that as I have, you might really enjoy Just for Now. But I've read Pushing the Limits and Beautiful Disaster, both of which are similar—but much better—books. And compared to those, Just for Now just doesn't cut it.

To be fair, I wasn't bored or clawing my eyes out while reading Just for Now. I got through it really quickly and it did entertain me. Many of the side characters are interesting enough that I will consider reading other books in the Sea Breeze series. But overall, I just wasn't head over heels about this book.