Rome by Jay Crownover

Audio, 9 Parts

Release Date: January 2, 2014
Published by: Blackstone Audiobooks
Marked Men, #3
Source: Library (Overdrive)
For fans of: Contemporary Romance, Tattoos, Military, Hot Literary Guys, Companions, Tear Jerkers, Realistic Fiction, New Adult

     Rule’s big brother Rome finally gets his story in the much-awaited third book in bestselling author Jay Crownover’s Marked Men series.
     Cora Lewis is a whole lot of fun, and she knows how to keep her tattooed bad-boy friends in line. But all that flash and sass hide the fact that she s never gotten over the way her first love broke her heart. Now, she has a plan to make sure that never happens again: she’s only going to fall in love with someone perfect.
     Rome Archer is as far from perfect as a man can be. He s stubborn and rigid. He’s bossy and has come back from his final tour of duty fundamentally broken. Rome s used to filling a role big brother, doting son, super soldier but none of these fit anymore. Now he s just a man trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life while keeping the demons of war and loss at bay. He would have been glad to suffer it alone, until Cora comes sweeping into his life and becomes the only color on his bleak horizon.
     Perfect isn t in the cards for these two, but imperfect might just last forever.

TAKE ME AWAY…
AFTER DARK!

*This book is part of the new adult contemporary romance genre! It is more mature than both MG & YA. I have featured it in Take Me Away… After Dark as a way to feature the few Adult and New Adult titles I am beginning to read!” 

*MY THOUGHTS*

     Rule was good, Jet was aight. But Rome? Jay Crownover, you have completely rocked my socks off! (Do people still say that?) Any-who, I LOVED this book from the characters to the plot, to just everything. Rome is definitely my favorite book of the series so far!
     After he old boyfriend Jimmy left her and turned her into a pile of mush, Cora has the ideal boyfriend in mind and won’t be with anyone that doesn’t match her idea. That is until Rome gets to town. Things happen and she realizes that maybe her idea of perfect, isn’t as perfect as she thought…. 
     I was actually really worried going into this one because I didn’t want to dislike Cora at the end. She’s been my favorite female character in this series since I’ve met her, and I didn’t want that to change, But if anything, Crownover made me love her even more. Cora went through some major changes in this book and I was so proud that she had the strength to do so. So many people in her shoes wouldn’t have wanted to just give up, but she kept it together and did the best she could while she could. 
     And then comes Rome. He went through so many changes in this novel as well. In the beginning he was so upset all the time and no one could understand why. The way he evolved from the beginning to the end was amazing. It was like a coming of age novel for him as well. Rome went from being hard headed and mean to being a gentle giant. (But don’t tell him that) 
     As for their romance, I was convinced that Rome was going to do something to mess things up with Cora. In the end, he did KIND OF mess things up, but once everything was out in the open I was glad they handled it. I was happy that this book showed even though no one is completely perfect, there are still people out there that are perfect for you. 
     My favorite thing about this book was the way it played with my emotions. I laughed, I cried, I got angry, everything. I found myself talking to the book trying to understand why Cora or Rome would do certain things. I felt some of everything while visiting these characters and it was the perfect thing to listen to while I completed my boring homework. 
    This was certainly the best book in the series so far. There are funny scenes, sad scenes, and scenes to make you swoon. As soon as I finished it, I had to get my hands on Nash. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one! 
Overall, I give this

Take Me Away

Diverse Book Blogger. Diverse YA Librarian. Wonder Woman enthusiast. Bookish Blerd. "GryffinClaw" Geek extraordinaire. Pitbull mom. She/her linktr.ee/take_me_awayyy