Believe (True Believers, #3)

by Erin Mccarthy

A sexy and emotional New Adult novel from Erin McCarthy, the USA Today bestselling author of Sweet and True.

Robin used to be a party girl…until she got black out drunk and woke up in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend. Disgusted with herself, she doesn’t tell her friends the reason for her sudden sobriety and avoids everyone until she meets Phoenix—quiet, tattooed, and different in every way that’s good and oh, so bad…

Phoenix is two days out of jail when he meets Robin. He knows he has no business talking to her, but he’s drawn to her quiet demeanor, sweet smile, and artistic talent.  She doesn’t care that he’s done time, and she supports his goal to be a tattoo artist.

But Phoenix knows Robin has a secret, and that it’s a naïve dream to believe that his own record won’t catch up with them at some point. Though neither is prepared for the explosive result when the past collides with the present…

• ISBN10: 0425275051
• ISBN13: 9780425275054
• Publish Date: 4 November 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 298
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425275054

Reviews

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Moving through the social circle of previous characters, Believe follows Phoenix who is Tyler and Riley's cousin, and Robin who is Jessica and Rory's roommate. Phoenix is fresh out of prison and crashing on his cousins' couch, and Robin is considering moving out after she sleeps with her best friend, Kylie's, boyfriend while blackout drunk. She feels like she has no one until Phoenix asks her to hang out. He may have done a stint in prison, but he's not a bad guy at all. He doesn't drink, smoke, or do drugs, which is exactly what Robin is trying to avoid. She's new to the sober lifestyle, but it and Phoenix are the best thing for her.

I loved how Believe dealt with alcoholism. Robin is not an alcoholic, but she does have an alcohol problem. At first she figured she was just being a typical college student when she got drunk at parties. But after she does something she would never even consider doing while sober, and can't even remember doing it, she knows she needs to stop. Phoenix has always been clean, because his mother is an addict, and he doesn't want to head down that road. Being with Robin scares him, because he will not let him self get close to someone else who medicates with alcohol. Of course, Robin has to slip up at some point, upset Phoenix, and mess up their relationship, but I liked how it was handled. Robin eventually takes responsibility for her sobriety and Phoenix is there to support her.

There was one really interesting, and potentially exciting, plot thread in Believe that didn't get fully fleshed out, much to my disappointment. Phoenix and Robin run into someone who was in prison with Phoenix. Apparently Phoenix owes him, since he saved his life once. Phoenix gets really nervous over this, because he definitely doesn't want to do the job that this guy needs help with, and now he knows what Robin looks like and might use her as leverage. I was always waiting for something to come of this, but nothing does. The guy does turn up at the end, but it's over in a handful of pages. Then a super simple resolution comes about in the epilogue and that's that.

I really liked Believe, but it could have been better. It had a great set up for some tension and danger, but ultimately didn't go there. I did love how the author handled Robin's problems, and that she didn't make Phoenix a jailbird cliche. He may be tatted up and had been locked up for five months, but he's a good person. I also liked the few scenes of him and his mom at the end.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[EBookObsessed]

All it took was one night of drinking has changed Robin’s life. One night to drink so much that she blacked out and did the unthinkable. She woke up the next morning in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend. Sober Robin would never have done that. Sober Robin would never betray a friend like that.

Robin has spent all summer absolutely sober and drowning in guilt and remose. She has isolated herself from her friends because they will know something is wrong and she can’t confess to them and make them chose between their loyalty to Robin or their loyalty to Kylie. Robin will do anything to keep Kylie from finding out. Nathan might be a cheating bastard who keeps calling her, but Kylie she loves him and Robin can’t be the one to destroy that for her.

So Robin has spent the last few weeks alone. When she meets Tyler and Riley’s cousin, Phoenix, who has just been released from prison, she finds in him another pained soul and together they find quiet and peace in each other’s presence. Both of them use their art to speak what is in their hearts.

But Phoenix is the son of a drug addict and an alcoholic, and he refuses to be dragged back into someone else’s world of addition. When dark secrets from their pasts come to light, will the bond formed between Robin and Phoenix be enough to save them both from self-destruction?

THOUGHTS:
I really like the way things started out with Robin and Phoenix. In the beginning there was just a need to be accepted by someone and not judged. In fact, in the beginning they spent a lot of time together not even speaking. They just watched movies together or went on a picnic and just gave each other a non-judgmental presence. He didn’t ask what she was hiding, and she didn’t ask why he was in prison.

You know my love for a wounded hero. Phoenix’s childhood with an almost non-existent parent, since his mother was always getting high, this left him desperate for the simple touches of concern shown by Robin. She took him for a picnic and he had never been. Robin gave him a party for his birthday which he had never had, even the idea of cutting a cake was overwhelming to him. Your heart broke for him that any measure of affection or attention meant so much.

When we got to the middle of the story though the relationship started getting a little too intense between the two and Phoenix’s affection for Robin started bordering on crazy-stalker. Phoenix has an issue with rage and when it finally comes out it is pretty scary.

By the ending, both Robin’s alcohol issue and Phoenix’s rage issue are being addressed professionally, but for awhile there I was uncomfortable with where the story might be going.

Overall it was an enjoyable tale, but I liked the quiet connection between the two in the beginning a lot more than Phoenix’s overly-intense obsessiveness in the middle which turned me off quite a bit.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

See more at http://ebookobsessed.com