With a Twist (Bad Habits, #1)

by Staci Hart

[Angie]

Despite my rating, I did really enjoy reading With a Twist. It just has one really huge flaw: the romance doesn't start until 86%. Seriously. Lily and West have been friends for the past four years, but it's always been friendship between them. Currently, West isn't looking to casually date, although he has a friend with benefits. And Lily has finally bagged her long time crush. But things aren't going so well for either of them with their current partners, because obviously, the one they're meant for has been there all along.

With a Twist starts off good. I liked Lily and how she goes after what she wants. She won't let anyone get in her way, but she's also not going to trample on people to get it like some other girl in her ballet company. She also owns her sexuality, and isn't willing to put up with bad sex. She'll take things into her own hands if need be! Her disastrous relationship with Blane was great to read about. Lily's crush is not living up to the fantasy in her head at all.

At around 50% I noticed that our love interests hadn't spent any significant amount of time together. Lily and West do hang out, but there's no romantic or sexual tension there. It's purely friendship. I do like friends to lover romances, but they sometimes share one inherit flaw with second chance romance: little to no relationship development. Lily and West already have four years of friendship under their belt, so we don't get to see any kind of development. They're already friends, and it isn't until two-thirds in that either of them realize that they have feelings for the other. And then it takes until 86% for them to admit their feelings and get to kissing. I am not okay with that in a romance.

With a Twist was just a let down as a romance. As just a story, it's a good one. I like the characters and seeing them deal with their individual problems. But that's the problem, they're too individual. There's not enough of Lily and West together, developing feelings, giving me feelings, or anything. I am not okay with waiting nearly the entire book for the romance to happen, only to have it just end. I'm also not okay with people purposely having unprotected sex without any kind of conversation about birth control or STDs. "I trust you" is not a discussion. But that's just a personal, nitpicky thing that I cannot stand. It may not bother anyone else.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.