Book Review: The Evolution of Us by D. Kelly

The Evolution of Us by D. Kelly

Blurb:

They say most people meet the person they will marry while in high school. Balancing one another perfectly, Holly Ryan and Declan James were together through most of college—until their relationship blew up, leaving Declan with more questions than answers.

For the past two years, Declan has tried everything he can think of to earn Holly’s forgiveness, but even if he manages to help her let go of the past and give them another chance at happiness, she still has a secret. Not to mention, she can’t get over the revolving door of women he seems to have coming in and out of his apartment.

Declan is desperate to prove to Holly she’s the one for him and isn’t above using his celebrity status or enlisting the help of their friends to win her back.

All’s fair in love and war, right?

My Review:

In true D. Kelly fashion (at least from the books I've read by this author) this story flips back and forth between the present and the past. Holly and Declan went to school together, fell in love and were together through college before a drunken misunderstanding ruined everything. 

Now Declan will do anything to get Holly back and makes a public declaration of love on his life stream YouTube channel. Holly misses Declan but she's not sure she can get past the parade of women in and out of Declan's apartment since they broke up or if she's able to forgive him for not hearing her out two years earlier. 

When Declan makes a bet with her that they'll end up together and coaxes her into going on a series of dates with him Holly reluctantly accepts, making Declan promise that "when" things don't work out he'll move out of her building and leave her alone. But with the sexual chemistry still smoldering between them and Holly's feelings toward Declan growing once more, she's not sure she can resist her charming ex. 

Can these two get a second chance at love? Or will the secret Holly's been hiding destroy them again - possibly forever this time?

I'll be honest: this was not my favorite D. Kelly book. The story seemed... lacking in a way and a little one dimensional. After reading about the Weston brothers in the Just An Illusion series I was expecting a male lead like Noah or Sawyer but Declan just didn't do it for me. He was so... agreeable and he kind of acted like a chick in the beginning. All the whining about wanting Holly back while Holly acted like she didn't care. And Declan's "celebrity status" didn't make much sense to me either. I know people make money making videos for YouTube but the blurb made me think he was a musician or an actor or someone legitimately famous and finding out what he really did for a living was a letdown.

I also couldn't get into the secondary characters, Baxter and Sage. Their interactions and humor just didn't jive for some reason. 

I kind of predicted Holly's big secret just from reading the blurb so it didn't surprise me that I was right, although the circumstances were different than I expected. 

I didn't care for how the story kept jumping back and forth between the present and the past. Usually I don't mind that, I love seeing backstories woven into the present, but it felt out of place in this book. I know it was meant to show the "evolution" of their relationship but seeing their teen selves went back a little too far for NA. And the ending of this book reminded me of others by this author.

Overall, this book was okay, if not a little cheesy on the romance. If you're looking for a quick romance this is your book, but it just didn't do anything for me.

My Rating:

★★★

3 of 5 Stars!