Lexi Pendergraft has given up on finding love after a disastrous encounter with her last boyfriend. Instead, she focuses on two things: One, setting up a summer program for underprivileged middle-school aged students. And the second, getting to the bottom of her brother Reed’s recent strange behavior. His secret is destroying his relationship with his fiancée Caroline, and Lexi will do anything to help him save it. Especially after he gave up his dream to give Lexi a chance at a semi-normal college experience, something her parents threatened to steal from her after her rape a year ago. 

Ben Masterson is determined to make it through his final semester of his senior year at Southern University. After recently losing his full ride scholarship, he’s suffering from sleep deprivation while trying to keep up with his mechanical engineering courses and working three part time jobs. He thinks he’s lucked out getting a job in the university math lab. The only problem is his boss—Reed Pendergraft.

As part of a role in a community theater play, Lexi wears a black wig and feels a confidence she hasn’t experienced in over a year. When she wears it to a bar close to the theater, she doesn’t think Ben, a bartender there, recognizes her. While Ben’s intrigued about what she’s up to, he’s smart enough to stay far away from his overprotective boss’s sister. Until fate forces him to help her, but why won’t she tell him her real identity?

Ben Masterson’s life imploded and now he is working three jobs to cover tuition and be able to stay in school. One of his job introduces him to Lexi, while another has him working for her over protective older brother, Reed. Therefore she should be off limits to him. But they keep getting drawn together. She thinks she is living this dual identity and he has to be cautious so it gets complicated.

As the book opens, Lexi is trying to put her past behind her and live like a normal college sophomore a year after being raped and moving to Tennessee with her brother. That doesn’t mean she had an easy time of it, or even a smooth transition since leaving Boston. After breaking up with her last boyfriend because she couldn’t stop the panic attacks that happened while they were intimate, Lexi thinks she’ll never be able to have a real relationship. Living with her overprotective brother makes it difficult to try to live like a normal college student, and Lexi often resorts to sneaking behind her brother’s back in order to go out with friends without him hovering over her. 

Ben is still adjusting to the effects of a false accusation that caused him to lose his full-ride scholarship and led to a fight that cut him off from his father, and more importantly, his little brother. He is working 3 jobs to make ends meet, at least until the end of the semester when he graduates. Those 3 jobs, plus a full load of classes, means he doesn’t have time for a full night’s sleep, let alone time to let loose. 

Together, they seemed to settle each other. Lexi feels safe and less anxious than she has since she arrived at Southern, while Ben starts to see a silver lining to his own situation. But Ben doesn’t tell Lexi everything about his situation, which leaves him wondering what will happen when he tells her WHY he lost his scholarship. 

Reed was so overprotective and overbearing when it came to Lexi that his own relationship suffered. I haven’t read Redesigned, so don’t know all the details of his and Caroline’s beginnings, but watching him seemingly sabotage his relationship took protecting his sister to a whole other level. Caroline was the perfect bridge between Reed and Lexi, and a great friend to Lexi despite Reed’s actions. 

This was a great, fun, light read. There was a bit in the beginning where I was waiting for the story to pick up and Lexi and Ben to actually meet and start to get to know one another. But after the first third was up, the pacing picked up and I was hooked into the story. While I haven’t read the first two books in the series, Lexi and Ben’s story did not suffer for that lack. There was enough background information reviewed that, while things weren't always crystal, they were clear enough that I never felt lost. And there wasn’t so much information given to make me feel going back to read the first two books not worth my while, and they have already been added to my TBR list. 

Thanks to Denise Grover Swank for providing with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. 

After Math (Off the Subject #1)

Scarlett Goodwin’s world is divided into Before and After.

Before she agreed to tutor Tucker price, college junior Scarlett was introvert, struggling with her social anxiety and determined to not end up living in a trailer park like her mother and her younger sister. A mathematics major, she goes to her classes, to her job in the tutoring lab, and then hides in the apartment she shares with her friend, Caroline.

After junior Tucker Price, Southern University’s star soccer player enters the equation, her carefully plotted life is thrown off its axis. Tucker’s failing his required College Algebra class. With his eligibility is at risk, the university chancellor dangles an expensive piece of computer software for the math department if Scarlett agrees to privately tutor him.Tucker’s bad boy, womanizer reputation makes Scarlett wary of any contact, let alone spending several hours a week in close proximity.

But from her first encounter, she realizes Tucker isn’t the person everyone else sees. He carries a mountain of secrets which she suspects hold the reason to his self-destructive behavior. But the deeper she delves into the cause of his pain, the deeper she gets sucked into his chaos. Will Scarlett find the happiness she’s looking for, or will she be caught in Tucker’s aftermath?

Redesigned (Off the Subject#2)

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Denise Grover Swank was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in the area until she was nineteen. Then she became a nomadic gypsy, living in five cities, four states and ten houses over the course of ten years before she moved back to her roots. She speaks English and smattering of Spanish and Chinese which she learned through an intensive Nick Jr. immersion period.  Her hobbies include witty Facebook comments (in own her mind) and dancing in her kitchen with her children. (Quite badly if you believe her offspring.)  Hidden talents include the gift of justification and the ability to drink massive amounts of caffeine and still fall asleep within two minutes. Her lack of the sense of smell allows her to perform many unspeakable tasks.  She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity. Or so she leads you to believe.