Always Red (Chasing Red Book 2), by Isabelle Ronin

Publication: Sourcebooks Casablanca; November 7, 2017

always red About the book:

The highly anticipated and epic conclusion to the Chasing Red duology

“Red,” Caleb whispered. “Do you know how I felt when you left me?”

I looked into his eyes. The emotion I saw in them, the intensity, and the tenderness filled up my throat.

“I felt ruined. Because, Red, every time you break me apart, you put me back together. And I always come out better than before.”

“So,” he cupped my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “Ruin me.”

My Review:

I recently discovered Isabelle Ronin when I read Chasing Red immediately knew I had to get my hands on Always Red. The novel picks up right where the last one left off, with Veronica regretting not giving Caleb a chance to explain himself. Thus begins the suspense of “will things work out or will they not”? There is a lot of crazy drama in this one, but of course, there is still a lot of romance!

Once again, I found myself completely head over heels for Caleb. I just adore this character. Handsome, sexy, wealthy, caring, romantic, and so on. I did find myself frustrated when he gave Beatrice Rose more opportunities to ruin his and Veronica’s relationship and lives, but overall, I am still crazy about him!

Veronica is a character I’ve struggled with because of her low image of herself and her habit of allowing people to walk all over her. However, she really blossomed this time around. She stood up to Beatrice Rose, Miranda (Caleb’s mom), and Justin for all of the rude, insane, crazy, criminal things that were thrown her way. She also became more relatable as she recognized and acknowledged her feelings, and let herself fall for Caleb.

Ronin’s writing style is gripping and each of these novels has been page-turners, however, some of the plot almost got to the point of being silly. The romance, love scenes, conflict, etc. were all perfect until Beatrice Rose’s character started being a little too over the top. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and had been itching to get my hands on it so I could find out what happened with Caleb and Veronica. But in my opinion, things started spiraling out of control teetering on the line of fiction and absurdity. The story just didn’t need all of the complex, out of control conflicts that were included.

Other than some of the plot issues, this was a fantastic read that I highly recommend after reading Chasing Red. Prepare to fall in love with Caleb and completely believe that fairy tales can come true!

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review!