REVIEW: Everything for Her by Alexa Riley

Shannon C’s review of Everything for Her by Alexa Riley
Contemporary romance published by Carina Press on 27 Dec 16

I should have known better. A few weeks back on Twitter, I asked Sybil to recommend Harlequin lines I should be reading. Somewhere in that Twitter exchange, she said, “Well, duh, of course I’m not going to rec you any Harlequin Presents. You won’t like them.” She’s right, of course. And I’m sure that, if she’d looked at the blurb for this book, she’d have said, “Don’t do it, Shannon. You won’t like it.” And, again, she would have been right. Because I sure didn’t.

Alexa Riley is the writing pen name for a couple of women who are hilarious and awesome to follow on Twitter. Their specialty is over-the-top insta love and alpha males. Some of their novellas have worked really well for me, and some of them haven’t, so I was curious about what would happen if I read their first attempt at a novel.

When Miles, our hero, spots Mallory, she’s seventeen and kicking ass at a high school math competition. He falls hard for her and decides she will be his. For the next five years, he basically orchestrates every aspect of her life so that eventually she will meet him and he can claim her.

Miles–or Oz, as Mallory calls him after their first meeting–is a sociopath. I hated him. In a novella-length story, there wouldn’t be enough page time to question why he was super obsessed with this girl he saw for like five minutes. But this is a full-length novel, and much of what I read was from Mallory’s perspective. Mallory, poor lamb, may be super book smart, but as far as real life goes, she’s dumb as a post. She’s charmed that Miles is into her so much, but the reader is well aware of his machinations. Occasionally she would question things like why the cafeteria would suddenly have better food after she complained to Oz about it, or why he had known that she didn’t set her alarm one morning. Every time she did, I got the feeling I always get when watching horror movies… the one where I just know the heroine is going to go down into the basement with the serial killer and all the shouting in the world won’t keep it from happening.

At one point, when even her best friend starts acting weird, I had to skim for spoilers, and I realized that Oz had engineered that friendship, too. Mallory basically had nowhere safe to be where some lackey of his wasn’t spying for him. I kept thinking, “This isn’t romantic. This is domestic abuse.” And I eventually gave up about halfway through.

I realize the over-the-top possessive alpha is a legit fantasy for many readers, and it’s certainly worked for me in other Alexa Riley reads, but those were novellas. This was a longer story, and so it was all super gross. I hated it, and wouldn’t recommend.

Grade: DNF

Summary:
“I devour every single delicious word Alexa Riley writes.” —#1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Maya Banks

USA TODAY bestselling author Alexa Riley’s first full-length novel shows just what happens when a strong, possessive man finds the woman of his dreams

I’ll never forget the way she looked, so confident and sure of herself. I watched her from a distance. She wasn’t ready for me yet. I didn’t approach her
and I didn’t disturb her, but I never once took my eyes off her.

Mallory Sullivan is ready to start her new life. After graduating at the top of her class, she’s landed one of the most coveted internships in the United
States. Hard work and determination have gotten her to this moment of living the life she only dreamed of growing up in foster care.

From the start, I knew that she would be my greatest achievement, so the day I let her go, I set down a path for her. A path to me.

She never expected Oz to be the greatest culmination of those dreams. But sometimes fate determines who you fall in love with. Who makes you lose control.
Who owns your soul.

And then you realize it wasn’t fate at all…

I’ve wanted to care for and protect her since the first moment I saw her. I’ve constructed everything in our lives so that at the perfect moment, I could
have her, could give her the life she deserves.

The time has come.

This book is approximately 97,000 words

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise.

Read an excerpt.