Review: No Kissing Allowed

Title:  No Kissing Allowed
Series:  None
Author:  Melissa West (Website | Twitter)
Age Group:  New Adult
Publisher:  Entangled Embrace
Publication Date:  July 28th, 2015
Source:  Bought

No kissing. No touching. And definitely no falling in love...
Armed with her besties, an embarrassing number of shots, and her list of 10 Wild Things To Do Before Adulthood, recent grad Cameron Lawson is partying it up before she starts her dream job at New York's biggest ad agency. Her last task? Hook up with a random guy. And while it's so not her style, the super-sexy guy sitting next to her is definitely game. No names. No details.
At least, that was the plan.
On her first day of work, Cameron discovers her hook-up is none other than Aidan Truitt—her new boss's boss. Talk about failing the “no fraternizing with coworkers” policy on an epic level. Especially when Aidan makes it clear their one night was only the beginning. Falling for him could cost her everything, but sometimes the only way to get what you want is by breaking a few rules... 

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As sad as it is for me to say it, I just don't think that this author and I are meant to be.  I didn't really like her YA book, Gravity, but I figured maybe we'd click in New Adult.  Well, I don't think that's going to happen either.  There is just something that gets in between myself and her writing and I find myself unable to enjoy it which is so disappointing because her books always sound so amazing and wonderful.  

My main problems with this book stemmed from none other than Cameron.  Yes, our main character was the thing that lead me to scream into pillows and internally rant at the book while reading.  She was just so not the type of lead female character I like.  While she had a lot of promise (seemingly very independent, hard working, and practical), she just didn't live up to my hopes.  She wasn't able to see from any other view point than her own and expected Aidan to bend to her wishes throughout the duration of the book, despite knowing why he was so wary of commitment.  Rather than try to coach him through it, she instead basically was just like "get over it" than threw a fit when he didn't immediately.  She was also repetitive, especially in the beginning.  I swear, I read the same paragraph about her dad's money at least five times in the first seven chapters and that really got on my nerves.  

Besides those issues, I also disliked Aidan and Cameron's relationship as a whole.  I just didn't get it. They meet randomly one night and then it goes from there when she realizes the hook up was her boss.  She didn't want any attachments with him in the beginning and now suddenly she's madly in love with him and can't be away from him for three measly days without basically falling into a well of sadness.  There was no build up with them whatsoever and that aspect seriously brought this book down for me.  Also, Aidan kept preaching about how he was a no commitment type of guy and how they would never work but then he would go and say things like "You're worth the risk" to Cameron and in general act very boyfriend-y.  While I didn't like Cameron, it felt unfair of him to lead her on like that.

To tie up my unfortunate dislike of this book, the ending was very blah to me.  While I was okay with how it actually ended (like, the outcome of their relationship), this book seriously lacked a climax.  Suddenly I was 10 pages from the end and just sitting there like wait...isn't something big supposed to happen?  Looking back, I do see what was supposed to be the climax but it just wasn't done in a way that made me feel like there was anything major at stake and that may have stemmed from the fact that I just didn't care much about Aidan and Cameron's relationship.  

Overall, I'm disappointed I didn't like this book.  It had tons of potential but it just was not for me.  There was too many things throughout that wore on my nerves and kept me from enjoying it.  I don't think I'll be picking up any more Melissa West books but that doesn't mean you shouldn't if you think the summary of this book sounded interesting!

“Ask me to stop. Tell me you don’t want this.”

“I can’t.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

Two Teapots