BOOK REVIEW: Suffer Love by Ashley Herring Blake

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The scheduled publication date for this book is May 3, 2016.

Sam Bennett falls for Hadley St. Clair before he knows her last name. When Sam finds out she is that St. Clair, daughter of the man who destroyed Sam’s family, he has a choice: follow his heart or tell the truth about the scandal that links their families. Funny and passionate, Suffer Love is a story about first love, family dysfunction, and the fickle hand of fate.

This book was the first book that hooked me after reading Harry Potter and for that, I am grateful. This was such a bittersweet love story with so much dysfunctional stuff that it’s hard to even begin.

The book is told in two POV’s: Hadley and Sam. Hadley is dealing with the fallout of her parents’ crumbling marriage. The year before, her world was turned upside down when she found out her dad had been cheating on her mom for an entire year. They moved to get a fresh start, but man their marriage was dysfunctional on a ridiculous level. First of all, I completely understand why Hadley’s mom would continue to be angry with her dad. Deciding to give their marriage a shot doesn’t just erase the anger. They were going to couples counseling and Hadley very wisely commented that it seemed to be a waste of money. No kidding. Seriously, her mom just made me mad. I mean, she did things like put a pound of pepper on Hadley's dad's dinner so he would sneeze constantly or leave the vacuum running in the morning (and would refuse to let him turn it off) so he would get no quiet. Those were just childish things and even though he had an affair, I still started feeling sorry for him. He was TRYING. That should count for something, right? Not only that, but Hadley's mom stays gone a lot. In trying to avoid her husband, she ends up avoiding her dad. Poor Hadley.

Meanwhile, Sam is dealing with family issues of his own and there is this whole secret connection to Hadley's family that is evident pretty early. I won't give it away though, but OF COURSE Sam decides to keep it from Hadley. (You know how that will end, right?) Sam has the worst mom. God, she just sucks. His dad left and now she blames Sam for her crappy life and she just treats him like crap. But he takes it, mainly for his sister, who is the best. Sam and his relationship with Hadley was just awesome. There was a lot of slow burn stuff and a lot of chemistry and tons of flirting. But because of both of their issues, they resist the whole relationship thing.

There are some other things going, namely Hadley trying to distract herself by kissing different guys a girl who bullies her for it, and a best friend who judges her for it. Seriously, I wanted Hadley to stand up to Kat so bad because she was a judgmental b**ch. I hated her passive aggressive comments about Hadley's makeout sessions. Ridiculousness.

Despite some of the frustrating issues around Sam and Hadley's respective families, I loved the writing and the emotion and the themes about forgiveness and reconciliation. I thought Hadley was such a well written character and I could relate a lot to her need to hold onto things. I can be the same way sometimes. Loved this story! 

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy this one!