Series Review: The Bad Boys by M. Leighton

Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:

Series: The Bad Boys
Author: M. Leighton
# of Books: 3 (Down to You, Up to Me, Everything for Us)
Complete?: Yes
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Suspense
Heat Rating: really warm (Down to You); hot (Up to Me & Everything for Us)

Thoughts:

It’s no secret I dislike love triangles so why I decided to read Down to You is a little bit of a mystery to me considering the lead is torn between two brothers’ affections. But I went into this book with a good idea of what I suspected was going on and I really wanted to see if I was right.

This series is nice change from the common New Adult plot of taming a bad boy player with love as it is mostly a suspense series, especially in Up to Me and Everything for Us. Down to You follows more of the New Adult formula of a girl meeting a handsome rich boy who tries to sweep her off her feet but by the end of the book we learn what is really going on and that’s when the plot shifts to one of suspense.

Turns out my hypothesis was wrong but I was happy to be wrong because I really like the plot twist that we get at the end. I was super excited to read Up to Me but by the time I got there, I was really disappointed.

Part of the problem was the way the plot unfolds. It wasn’t nearly as suspenseful as I expected and I just felt let down. There was so much potential at the end of Down to You that was lost in Up to Me. Disappointing and meh are the two words I would use to describe the plot in Up to Me.

The other part of the problem is Olivia. I found her tolerable in Down to You but by the time I started reading Up to Me I was ready to hurt her. Her immaturity about the whole situation really irritated me and was uncalled for. I’m all for female independence in a relationship but her actions were just plain idiotic and juvenile. I find it hard to read a book when the lead irritates me like that and that really caused me to dislike this book.

Which is why I was excited to read Everything for Us because it focuses on two different characters we have gotten a taste of in the previous two books and that taste was enough to make me want to finish this series despite my disappointment in Up to Me. Unfortunately, this was another disappointment–just not as much as Up to Me. While I enjoyed the little twists, I found it hard to like these two at times. I was satisfied with the way it ended but I didn’t like it as much as I had thought or hoped.

Conclusion:

After all is said and done, I think I could have avoid this series and still have been happy with my life. These books were nice ways to pass the time I suppose, but I didn’t enjoy them as much as the other books I put aside to read these three. They showed a lot of promise but just couldn’t deliver in the ways I expected.

Rating: 3/5

Similar Reads: Nothing comes to mind at the moment…

Synopsis for Down to You (from Goodreads):
The scorching tale of one girl, two brothers and a love triangle…that’s not. Olivia Townsend is nothing special. She’s just a girl working her way through college so she can return home to help her father run his business. She’s determined not to be the second woman in his life to abandon him, even if it means putting her own life on hold. To Olivia, it’s clear what she must do. Plain and simple. Black and white. But clear becomes complicated when she meets Cash and Nash Davenport. They’re brothers. Twins.

Cash is everything she’s always wanted in a guy. He’s a dangerous, sexy bad boy who wants her in his bed at any cost. He turns her insides to mush and, with just one kiss, makes her forget why he’s no good for her. Nash is everything she’s ever needed in a guy. He’s successful, responsible and intensely passionate. But he’s taken. Very taken, by none other than Marissa, Liv’s rich, beautiful cousin. That doesn’t stop Olivia from melting every time he looks at her, though. With just one touch, he makes her forget why they can never be together.

Black and white turns to shades of gray when Olivia discovers the boys are hiding something, something that should make her run as far and as fast as she can. But it’s too late to run. Olivia’s already involved. And in love. With both of them. Both brothers make her heart tremble. Both brothers set her body on fire. She wants them both. And they want her. How will she ever choose between them?