Watch Out for Your Neighbors.

Name: Wallbanger (Cocktail #1)

Author: Alice Clayton

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, New Adult

General Thoughts: Good book for reading slumps.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.

First Lines 

"OH, GOD."Thump."Oh, God."Thump thump.What the..."Oh, God, that's so goof!"I scranbled up out of sleep, confused as I looked around the strange room. Boxes on the floor. Pictures propped agaisnt the wall.My new bedroom, in my new apartment, I reminded myself, placing both hands on the duvet, grounding myself with the luxurious thread count. Even half asleep, I was aware of my thread count."Mmmm... Yeah, baby. Right there. Just like that... Don't stop, don't stop!"

Wallbanger is the story of Caroline, professional designer who just moved in to a new apartment, and has just declared herself in a dating-hiatus. She finds that the guy behind her bedroom walls might be getting some more than unusual sex, and then starts and unusual relationship with what she calls her "Wallbanger".

OK, I admit it, this was thoroughly and completely a guilty pleasure. I admit it, no shame in it.

This is a contemporary, romance, maybe New-Adult novel. This is exactly the type of books that I try to avoid reading, because it normally leads to disappointment and reading slumps, for me. But this novel in particular was filled with humor, which is something I highly appreciate. And this was definitely not a bad one.

It was cheesy, and really predictable, but I didn't care. It was obvious and we all knew it and the author didn't try to hide it, she just worked with it. That's something I'm impressed about and very happy to read.

The characters weren't the best ones or the most deep and full of layers type. I did find myself loving the main characters, Caroline and Simon. I thought they were very real and funny, and I was rooting for them. The other characters gave me mixed feelings. Some were annoying to me, some were really great, some I had to think twice until I remembered who they were. But they weren't stupid or unrealistic and I'm very grateful for that.

The story is cheesy and predictable, but original in it's own way. I think that she added some elements to it that made it not so one-sided. I laughed out loud in several scenes and gripped my hands in anticipation of what was coming. It made me feel, which is always good.

The style of writing was very particular. It wasn't poetic or memorable or majestic. She chose ways to phrase things so that it was 21st century-ish but not overly spoiled-OMG-girl that we all hate. And she added things like phone conversations, that at first I found confusing but then I found myself loving.

Lastly, the romance in the novel wasn't all over the place or overly dramatic. This is very typical of romance, chick-lit novels and it's the main reason of why I run away of them. But I didn't feel that in this novel. Maybe I'm growing into it or this was really a good novel or I just really wasn't paying attention.

I read this because a friend lent it to me and I just said, whatever, why the fuck not? And I went with very low expectations and I ignored a lot of mistakes and pet-peeves of mine. But I really think this novel was a good one. Not just me.

I definitely recommend this to most readers. Maybe if you read more adult, drama books this won't be for you, but I think it appeals to anyone. I gave it 3.5 for the small mistakes (really, I can't never really ignore them) like the cliches in the speeches of the characters, etc and because it was just a passing novel. But a really good one.