Book Review: Swanson Court Series by Serena Grey

Drawn to You (Book 1)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I adore this book. The story is told from Rachel’s POV and I liked all the characters from the beginning. We get to know a little bit of every character but the adventure of Rachel and Landon takes in all of the pages because they are constantly hot for each other. A lot of sex scenes are included. The story lets you yearn for more. It’s an enjoyable read and I am eager to jump right into the next book.

The Story:
Finding herself accidentally in sexy hotelier Landon Court's suite, Rachel gets mistaken as a hooker, presumably booked for his birthday from Landon’s younger brother Aidan.
Both seem unable to forget this night and Rachel is sure she won’t see him again until she gets assigned to write an article for a new Lounge, where she will find herself drowning in those beautiful eyes of Landon Court.
Rachel can’t ignore the strong attraction she feels towards Landon and it seems as if he can feel it too. Agreeing to spend a week in San Francisco with him, without any long term relation and without emotions, Rachel will soon find herself in an emotional turmoil.
Landon doesn't seem to be a guy that does love and Rachel has to prepare herself for never going to see him again. But how will she manage this? Her feelings for her ex-boyfriend Jake were nothing in comparison to her feelings for Landon.

Thoughts:
What a great story. I enjoyed every bit of it even though I doubt that any woman would agree to do everything a stranger wants in bed without further explanation. It doesn't matter how hot this guy is, you don't know him. He could be a perverse for all she knows.



Addicted to You (Book 2)
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This sequel is more or less about Rachel’s feelings and if she can or can’t live without Landon. She really struggled with the conflicts of her feelings. She loves Landon but is scared that he would leave her when she wants him to commit to her or when she would tell him that she loves him. I understood her jealousy of his ex though I don’t know if I would just run away, I would for sure confront him first. If he is having dinner – even for business – with his ex, I would not be really good with this. Ava – his ex – is all over him and it doesn’t help that she looks like a supermodel. Rachel has to deal with a lot of stuff in this book. Poor woman.

It would be a lie to say that I didn’t enjoy this book but it lacked on some things that I can’t point my finger on. It is a little repetitive because Rachel sends Landon away all the time and he is coming back to her like a boomerang. It is still kinda sweet though. I was like ‘he has to care for her or otherwise he wouldn’t be so stubborn, but why can’t he just admit his feelings? ’

Even though it was a little on the slow read, it felt like real life and that’s never boring. Because in real life you don’t always get your HEA and even if you get one, it doesn’t happen in a day. So I was torn between liking the story because it stayed on the true side and wanting to throw the book against the wall and scream at Rachel because she didn’t want to confess her feelings to Landon. As you see, there is no lack of emotions in this book =P

What bothered me:
The thing about this book was that it felt like turning in a circle. Rachel didn’t want to get hurt though was hurting already. She rather left Landon than tell him her feelings because she believed he would leave her because of his lack of commitment and feelings. When he kept coming back to her she still wanted him to go away. And when he suddenly left her or rather walked away from her, she ran after him. There was a constant repeat on this. I kept thinking ‘Woman, when you don’t want him to come back for you just tell him your feelings and he will go.’ Though she clearly didn’t want him to leave her. But then she was ok to leave him? I didn't get her logic. At the middle of the book I started screaming at her constantly why she acted so stupid. She should have just told him her feelings so either he would leave her alone because she didn't want him to come back to her or he might love her and they could have their happily ever after. I got really frustrated at her.
Though I have to say that I understood her reasons for pushing him away in the first place because I know how hard it is to talk about your feelings because you are scared to get hurt but she should have really talked to him to have saved both of them a lot of trouble and because this seemed like a never ending story… (Though the end of this sequel was probably worth the wait.)

Love:
The last few pages were so touching. 

"You have no idea how afraid I am of hurting you." 

My favorite secondary characters:
Even if Laurie and Brett are just minor characters, I really enjoyed reading about them. I loved them already in the first book but when Brett wanted a break in their relationship in the first one, I was really sad. As you can imagine I was more than just sad when something happened at 32% into this second book. I was so disappointed in Brett and really angry. I had high hopes for them and I still can’t shake this feeling that he is going to propose to her and they are going to get married. I still hope =) I am a hopeless romantic.

All in all this was a good read and I really enjoyed the writing as well as in the first book.


Lost in You (Book 3)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I heart this book. The writing is as capturing as it was in the first two books. I love Rachel and Landon, those two are so sweet.

We get to read about some really lovely moments but at some parts - especially in the middle - there isn’t much happening. A lot of sex like in the first two books. Steamy but I find it tedious that there is a sex scene in every few pages. It sometimes felt like they were thrown in everywhere possible as page fillers, even though they aren’t badly written, it was just slightly too often for my liking.

I felt kind of bad for Jack, Rachel’s ex, because he discovered his feelings for her too late by the time she’s already moved on from him.
Serena Grey really knows how to create her characters and makes them lovable for us readers. I enjoyed reading about every single one of them, even Jack’s mother or Evans Sinclair. If good or bad, the characters are convincingly created.

To be honest, I was so scared of finishing this book because I was worried there might be a bad ending. My previously read books ruined me because I get scared shitless at the slightest possibility of a bad ending. I feared already in the middle of this book that something bad would happen to Landon. But I think I was just paranoid. This probably wouldn’t have happened to me if I would have read different books before this one.
This book was nonetheless enthralling closer to the end.

I loved the beautiful ending and the epilogue was so sweet. At about 78% I loved the story till the end because it got a lot more to it than just sex. There was some emotional rollercoaster going on. Beginning and ending in this book was super. The middle part was good.

I recommend this series to anyone who’s up for a sweet love story driving on a bumpy road but willing to find a happy ending.

“I only want you,” I whisper.
“All of me,” he says softly. “You already have all of me.”

-- I received an ARC of those books from the author through the Fifty Shades Support Group on Goodreads in exchange for an honest review. --