When the only thing that’s remembered about your mother is how she died in a murder-suicide killing the wife of her ex-boyfriend, you know life isn’t going to be a piece of cake for you. Add to that a never-present father with more affection for his beer bottle than his daughter, and a too-hot-for-his-own-good surviving son of the victim of said “accident,” and you have a problem—or at least, Nicole Harmon certainly does.
When the surviving son, Derek Noble, sees an unsavory opportunity for revenge in the form of a heated one-night-stand, he decides to take it. It is intended to be an unkind but relatively uneventful interlude, but turns into the catalyst that unknowingly casts Derek and Nikki into the shadow of their parents’ sordid past.
For a little while, Derek enjoys toying with the daughter of the woman who robbed him of a mother, and Nikki—having read in her mother’s carefully kept journals all about her mistakes with Derek’s father—has no concerns that she would ever make the same mistakes that her mother made, allowing “love” to poison her soul and destroy her life. For that matter, Derek was the last person in the world she would ever fall for.
What begins as a hateful game of revenge soon evolves into something they never expected and a love neither of them ever wanted. With the fragments of Derek and Nikki’s parents and their own tumultuous past hanging over their heads, the second generation of star-crossed lovers begin a love story all of their own.
But when the past collides with the present and history threatens to repeat itself, will Nikki and Derek change the way the story unravels, or repeat the same mistakes their parents made all those years ago?
Professional Reviews
All the Bookish Love
Because of You kept me on the edge of my seat. I swear, the book kept whispering to my subconscious: “Don’t put me down, just keep reading. Who cares about all the stuff you have to get done? You know you want to keep reading.”
Well it worked. I finished this book in five hours. Sam Mariano sure knows how to weave a great story. The first person point of view really grabbed me from the get-go. I felt like I was living the story as it unfolded.
I really loved how the prologue delved straight into the history that you needed to know, and throughout the book, I only had one “What did I miss?” freak out and that only came at the start of the epilogue. I won’t spoil anything and say why, just that I was pleasantly surprised.
This book brings forth characters that are so real, you can relate to the drama, the emotions and all the ups and downs. We have Nicole, whose whole life has been tainted by the one crappy decision her mother made years ago. With all the crap she’s had to deal with, it was refreshing to see that she was strong, confident and independent. She doesn’t take crap from anyone and I adored that she was a bookworm. Living with the black cloud that is your mothers’ reputation, over your head, throughout your whole childhood, can’t be easy, but she persevered and came out on top. Her father, Alex, isn’t the best role model, in fact at times he seems uncaring, but the way his character grows, you can’t end up not liking him. At one part, I actually cried because of the heartfelt words that came out of his mouth. He’s not the best father in the universe and he sure as hell won’t any Father of The Year awards, but when his daughter really needed him, he pulled through and won a place in my heart.
Then we have Derek. He’s Mister Cool at school, and he sure goes all out to try and make Nicole’s life a living hell. I formed a kind of love-hate relationship with him. At times he was such a complete douchebag, but then he’d pull a 180 and you fall head over heels for him. He gets under your skin but he crawls into your heart as well. I regret some of the choices he made, mostly because I really wanted things to work out the way I had envisioned them to work out.
There was so much love in this book, it almost jumped right off the pages. I was blown away by the couple of steamy scenes, they took my breath away. The only word I had after them was WOW!
The twists in this story, oh my god, the twists. The minute you think you have it all figured it, it’s going to end like all other books, you just get propelled to one side, then you think, “Fine, I can see what’s going to happen” you’re right back where you started. It made for a story that was beyond invigorating. I kind of wished the ending was a bit different, but it wouldn’t do the book, or the characters, justice. Here’s hoping we get a novella or even a sequel(Please Sam) just to quench my thirst.
After the tears I shed, and the laughs I laughed, I felt a bit sad at finishing the book so quickly, but I just had to know what was going to happen next. So here’s to Sam Mariano, I give you all the applause my hands can clap.
The Reading Girl
4.5 beautiful stars
"If I could go back in time, I wouldn't have changed anything...
If I had the chance to choose all over again, i would still take the same path I had taken." ~Nicole
There is so much that I have to say...I can't even find the right words for this review...this was such a beautiful journey of finding yourself, learning from your mistakes, living with the past and trying to forget, and simply just about love, hate, and forgiveness.
Because of You is not what I imagined at all...It was unlike any story I have ever read. It was gorgeous. It made me think about life, about problems, about the past...it made me feel something inside that just made me break and realize that the past is what it is and even if you try to change it or not re-live it, life is just life and things just happen without expecting it. It made me realize that you have to make hard choices no matter how much it hurts. It made me realize that no matter how much you want to hate someone you just can't. It made me realize that forgiveness,trust, and letting go is the key to everything.
"In that fleeting moment, I wished that it could be the last time I ever looked back.
I knew it wouldn't be."
~Nicole
Because of You is not a happy story, it's rather depressing. What do you think when you look at the cover? That it's going to be a book about romance...happy romance, happy events, a happy ending,happy everything. Your typical stories. And don't get me wrong,this story has its bright side, happy moments, and funny scenes but it doesn't fully focus on that. I love happy stories but sometimes you have to read a sad story to wake up. You get what I mean? Because of You is the opposite. It's sad, heavy, emotional, and heartbreaking. It makes you feel and realize A LOT of things. It's a bittersweet story and mainly a story about Nicole and Derek growing up and having their own journey of love, hate forgiveness, games,trust, distance, and heartbreaks.
"Be happy, Derek. I want you to be happy."
Because of You....Because of You....Because of You...was a story that from the beginning is not happy but you can relate to what is happening. You can relate to that feeling of having your first love, of when you try to hate someone but fall madly in love with them, of when you screw up big time and try to fix everything, of when you try to trust, of when you try to not repeat the same mistakes but can't help it...of when you finally understand that life is not a fairy tale.
"I'm sorry, Nikki," he whispered. "I'm sorry I did this to us."
But there is a bright side filled with a dry but funny humor between Nicole and Derek. A humor that left you laughing and hating Derek but loving him. A humor between father and daughter. A humor between Derek's dad and Nicole. But what is an event of revenge and games turns out to be something about love.
"For a little while, Derek enjoys toying with the daughter of the woman who robbed him of a mother, and Nikki—having read in her mother’s carefully kept journals all about her mistakes with Derek’s father—has no concerns that she would ever make the same mistakes that her mother made, allowing “love” to poison her soul and destroy her life. For that matter, Derek was the last person in the world she would ever fall for."
Derek and Nicole's relationship is just a beautiful love between both of them. There is forgiveness and laughter. There is trust and there is life.
But the past collides with the present...and that's when everything that seemed so sweet and alive is torn.
"It seemed I was torn; I wanted my goodbye, and I didn't. I wanted him to make me stay, and I wanted to go."
This was a book that even though it was sad and bittersweet it is a book I recommend to all. There are hot love scenes, sad scenes, and delicate fragile scenes. Scenes where you just want to scream and yell and you are extremely surprised. The ending just killed me but it went well with the story.
Sam Mariano provided this to me and I am extremely honored to have read this. There was a little bit of grammar to fix but other than that she has talent for writing.
This book needs to be read. Mariano has put a lot of effort and deserves to be known. Read this and you will not be disappointed. Because of You will forever stay in my heart no matter what. It is one of those books that when you finish reading you just whisper "Wow.."
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