The Consequence of Loving Colton by Rachel Van Dyken || ARC Review

Title: The Consequence of Loving Colton

Author: Rachel Van Dyken

Series: Consequence #1

Genre(s): New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Skyscape Publishing

Pages: 304, Kindle Edition

Publication Date: April 21st 2015

My Rating: ★★★★★

It’s all fun and games…until someone’s heart is broken.

They’re not kids anymore, but Milo Caro is certain that Colton Mathews will only see her as his best friend’s little sister for the rest of their lives. After all, he made that clear the night before she left for college. But four years later, her brother is getting married and Colt’s the best man—and guess who is the best man’s last-minute date?

Milo vows to use the wedding to either claim the smoldering firefighter’s heart or douse this torch for good. When Max—her best friend from college, who may be carrying a torch of his own—crashes the party, they devise a plan to make Colt see what he’s missing. But after Colt catches on, he decides to cook up his own revenge.

Now it’s personal. Colt and Milo are at war, and between Max’s questionable acting methods, an unfortunate trip to jail, and a maniacal fiancée, what could possibly go right?

Thanks to Skyscape Publishing for providing an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

21-year-old Milo Caro has been crushing on Colton, her brother’s best friend for years. Colton, the guy who’s there for everything, the guy who can’t possibly see her as anything more than “Jason’s sister”. Away at college, she tries her best to get over him. Just when she thinks she has extinguished the flame, a weekend wedding with her family and Colton proves otherwise. When a ping-pong game gets heated, in an act of self-defense, Milo impulsively appoints her best friend, Max as her “boyfriend”. Max the “boyfriend” with a flair for theatrics, and Milo devise a plan to make Colton fall madly in love with her using the one thing can get to anyone. Jealousy. Thanks to Max, the “couple” soon find their game spinning out of control. While getting their game plan straight, Colton overhears their schematics. Hoping to get some retribution – and Milo- Colton plays his own game. But will he make it? Or would it all be too little too late?

What I liked:

The characters- I loved each and every one of the characters. They were all bursting with life and they stood out from one another. I never had a problem telling them apart.

-The female protagonist, Milo, has the kind of innocence I like. Mind you she wasn’t too innocent. ahem She had just the right amount of innocence that it was believable, you know? At times it was just down right comical. Don’t let her innocence fool you into thinking she’ a damsel in distress. ‘Cause that’s like not even in her dictionary. She stood up for herself, wasn’t afraid to throw a few punches. I also liked how she was so sure of her feelings for Colton. There wasn’t a point where she actually considered Max as a romantic interest. Which was refreshing considering so many books I’ve read almost always had the female lead falling in love with the second male lead.

-Then there’s Colton Mathews, the love of Milo’s life. He may come off as cocky but deep down he’s actually quite insecure. He worried a lot about whether he was good enough for her. Then when Max came along, he worried that maybe it was too late, that she had already found someone worthy of her love. To add to all his insecurities, there was that teeny tiny problem of Milo being his best friend Jason’s little sister. I mean, in the guy code handbook that’s considered not cool or something right? At least that’s what I gather from all the books I’ve read and that’s what Colton thought. Something I really liked about Colton was how he often challenged Milo. Every chance he got he’d present a challenge and push her to limit. That definitely played a huge role in their friendship. The whole thing between them would have been much more dull if it weren’t for the bickering and competition. In my opinion, a relationship would be kind of boring if the guy agrees to everything you say. But I am the last person to give any comments on relationships. So I’ll zip it and throw away the key. I liked Colton and all but not enough to add him to my long list of book boyfriends, he just wasn’t sweet enough, I guess. 😦

-The character that laced everything with humor was definitely Max. Max was a riot! He was witty, sarcastic, dramatic, spontaneous and so many other things that just made him MAX. With him, it was always unexpected, unpredictable. He just kept me on my toes throughout the book. The whole time I was like, “God, what the hell is Max going to do now?”. He also had this odd tendency to show up at all the wrong times. Like, when something was about to go down, he’d just pop in. I’ve lost count of all the moments he interrupted. But I think what really warmed my heart was the fact that Max was willing to do anything for Milo. I mean ANYTHING. Which guy would volunteer to help their best friend get a guy when it means acting like a couple and doing couple stuff, the whole time knowing she has no romantic feelings toward you? I really admired Max for that and all he did for Milo.

-I felt really sorry for Jason. He was engaged to a maniacal social climber. Jayne was so intimidating that all the guys were scared of her, Colton included. She gave everyone the heebie jeebies. Let’s just say she was a little unstable and off her meds. Back to Jason, it is humanely impossible to not feel for him. Like being attached to a psycho wasn’t bad enough, he had the misfortune of being everyone’s punching bag. True, it wasn’t intentional but the poor guy ended up with enough bruises to last him a life time and it was his wedding weekend! All things said, he was really good natured about it all. I found his reaction to Colton’s feelings for his little sister really refreshing.

The humor- The humor was without a doubt very unexpected. Having read this book without checking out the reviews, I must say I was pleasantly surprised to find how hilarious it was. I found myself laughing out loud at like almost every page. Which took me by surprise seeing as so many books I’ve read were only able to squeeze a chuckle out of me or at most a few laughs. But this book had me laughing right from the beginning till the end. I still laugh when I think about it. And I cried… tears of laughter! The hilarity in this book makes it a welcome change from the usual NA humor. Max, you played a huge role in the amusement department, thank you!

The relationships- I don’t just mean the romantic relationships. I’m talking about all the relationships. Between best friends, lovers, siblings, family, everything. They were all just so on point I cannot even. The author made it so that they were united, all of them. Well, give or take a maniac or two. The point is that the camaraderie between the characters just got to me. What I really don’t see that often in NA or YA books is the bond between Milo and Jason. Usually the brother and sister share a mutual sense of hate. With them it was just different, sure they argued and all but he sincerely cared for her and wanted what’s best for her. Let’s not forget the bromance, shall we? ‘Cause there was quite a lot of that going around. The bromance between Jason and Colt was perfect! Of course there’s the best friend one which I already explained earlier. And there’s the family one. Which was visible throughout the book, but at one moment it just shone through. I had no idea Milo’s mom had that in her. I was cheering for her, like literally cheering. Out loud! Most importantly, the relationship between Milo and Colton. The air around them was sizzling with sexual tension the entire time. Honestly, it was palpable!

The analogies- There were heaps of analogies in this book. Almost all of them made me laugh out loud.

The whole story- Everything. I absolutely loved everything. The stuff up there? Yeah, that and so much more made up the story.

The ending- It was more than satisfying. It was everything an ending should be and more. The ending left things cleared up and neat but at the same time made way for a sequel. Yes, there’s a sequel! And it’s… *drum roll*… Max’s story! Yes he gets his own book! I did a little happy dance when I found out there was a sequel and that it was Max’s story! Oh my God, I hope it features the characters from The Consequence of Loving Colton!! And yes, I do realize I’m using an excessive amount of exclamations, but I just can’t help myself!

What I did not like:

NOTHING! I’ve finally found a book where I wouldn’t change anything! Not even the head cases!

Now that I think about it I did an awful lot of grinning and laughing while reading this book. I don’t even know what to say anymore. I just loved it! A refreshing, humorous, emotion filled, feel good book is how I would describe it. This book has just become one of my go to books on a bad day. But I must warn you that this book is not for everyone, some may not enjoy the humor as much as I did. The romance wasn’t as sweet and mushy as I usually enjoy but it was good nonetheless. If you’re looking for something extremely meaningful then this book isn’t it; it’s more like something you read for fun and laughs. I cannot wait for the sequel, The Consequence of Revenge to be released this June. Also according to Goodreads there is going to be a third book, which is titled The Consequence of Seduction.

Looks like my review has come to an end. What do you guys think? Considering The Consequence of Loving Colton is being released pretty soon, would you get it? If you’ve read it, let me know your thoughts on it! Was it so good that you’d rush to get the paperback? Or was it something you’d only read once? For those of you who haven’t read it, do you think it’s worthy of a seat on your TBR bus? Whatever it is, let me know in the comments! Hugs! ❤