Ruby Red - A Romance, by D.L. Croisette
alireadss97's review
Ruby Red is the story of young Ali and the mystery guy she meets at the club Sam. Ali is a typical socialite fresh from her divorce who is looking at starting to put together her life plans, while Sam is the new hire trying to keep a roof over his head. Romeo and Juliet style, they are from different worlds, so of course it works.
Ali finds herself in many situations throughout the book where she must redefine her book. Some reviews depict this as rags to riches, or riches to rags, but I think it's more about self-discovery. Ali finds out ways to support herself and stand tall with and without friends and boys, she develops her own voice in a very loud crowd and sets herself up for happiness.
Reading this book, I loved how it was straight into the action, there was a spilt POV which I feel just makes a story fly through so much quicker and allows us readers to develop a bond with all characters. This for me makes me enjoy the text so much more and allows an opportunity to present itself where I can't put it down. The world development of this text, was done through the story, not stacked upon itself at the beginning making it more relevant and easier for the reader to pick up what was happening. The plot wasn't that hard to comprehend, and it was easy to pick up on some of the information regarding what was going to happen etc in advance, but for once this didn't really bother me. I was still intrigued.
I loved the community that Ali and Sam had throughout this book and think we should all have some Brenda's and Johnathon's in our bubble. Sam was a complete gentleman and I loved how we meet a very powerful family in this book, and they were so nice. It didn't fall in the clique that you are nasty and only look out for yourself if you are powerful and rich. I would happily eat pie with this family… and the dog.
Tropes in this book:
Hidden identity
readthatromance's review
I really love the honest realism in this story. The two hurt leads with pasts they don't want to share and present problems that flow so naturally from those past wounds really got me in the feels. I fell in love with Ali and Sam.
I loved how well Ali was portrayed – a strong woman who had overcompensated from the wound her ex husband left on her. I also loved how authentically Sam struggled with telling Ali his secrets and the reason he got distracted from achieving it. I'm not going to spoil it, I'm just going to say once you get there, you'll understand.
I felt the conflicts were realistic, interesting, and wrapped up nicely in the end. I was definitely excited to see these two get their happy ending.
The only thing I struggled with in this book is the timing and emotional impact of the two main twists in the conflict. I really felt like the midpoint conflict had more emotional impact than the conflict nearer the end because it was the one that had the most direct impact on their relationship.
Ultimately, I thought the story was engaging, lighthearted, and fun. These two had chemistry, emotional attachment, love and care for each other, and more than enough drama to keep me thoroughly entertained. I really loved this story, and would definitely recommend Ruby Red to lovers or romance, and especially to lovers of riches to rags, hidden identity or slow burn stories. I'm definitely looking forward to more from D. L. Croisette.
I received an advance review copy of this title in order to facilitate my honest, voluntary review.