Review&Giveaway!: Did I Mention I Love You by Estelle Maskame

DID I MENTION I LOVE YOU
Author: Estelle Maskame
Series: The DIMILY Trilogy #1
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: December 1st 2015

Book Length: 421 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

When sixteen-year-old Eden Munro agrees to spend the summer with her estranged father in the beachfront city of Santa Monica, California, she has no idea what she’s letting herself in for. Eden's parents are divorced and have gone their separate ways, and now her father has a brand new family. For Eden, this means she's about to meet three new step-brothers. The eldest of the three is Tyler Bruce, a troubled teenager with a short temper and a huge ego. Complete polar opposites, Eden quickly finds herself thrust into a world full of new experiences as Tyler's group of friends take her under their wing. But the one thing she just can't understand is Tyler, and the more she presses to figure out the truth about him, the more she finds herself falling for the one person she shouldn't – her step-brother.

Throw in Tyler's clingy girlfriend and a guy who has his eyes set on Eden, and there's secrets, lies and a whole lot of drama. But how can Eden keep her feelings under control? And can she ever work out the truth about Tyler?

Did I Mention I Love You is the first book in the phenomenal DIMILY trilogy, following the lives of Eden Munro and Tyler Bruce as they try to find their way in an increasingly confusing world.

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Review

Did I Mention I Love You is easily my favourite contemporary romance of the 2015!

It will grip you from the beginning and won't let go until long after dark, with a scorching forbidden romance at it's core. Maskame produces a daring debut filled with fun, friendship and a whole 'lotta feels. This is one series you don't want to miss.

DIMILY begins with Eden the sixteen year old protagonist, her parents are divorced and after a three year silence from her father he’s finally back in touch and wants her to visit Santa Monica for the summer with him and his new family. Upon arrival Eden isn’t impressed, with her new surroundings or the company, her two younger stepbrothers Jamie and Chase are okay as can be but the eldest Tyler is nothing but a whirlwind of trouble with a serious attitude problem…that is until her treacherous heart falls for him.

So after the intriguing synopsis I pretty much thought I would be getting a light and fluffy read, which are completely fine, I’m a big fan of those types of books don’t get me wrong but you can imagine my surprise when I stumble across DIMILY and it’s anything but. Not only does this book tackle some pretty hard-hitting subjects but it also was able to evoke so many emotions and the one that stuck with me the most was the thrill that came with reading this book. I was unable to tear my hands from it and it inevitably lead to me loosing quite a lot of sleep, which hardly ever happens because I’m a lazy sod.

Before I go town about my thoughts on the romance let me just state that this will not be for everyone. After seeing so many reviews about this series there’s an obvious trend and it all comes down to the reader and what type of romance they like and what they expect from the book. We all read a book differently and we all take something differently from books- different strokes for different folks I suppose but for me I will always always always fall for Good-girl-changes-bad-hot-boy-with-issues-and-bad-attitude-into-hotter-good/bad-boy-with-less-issues, throw in a forbidden romance and I’m a complete mess on the floor, so DIMILY had pretty much everything I loved and wanted; tonnes of angst, tension, stolen smoldering looks and touches, so sue me for devouring this in a day. I’m just a glutton for punishment. Y’all have been warned, don’t hate get on the guilty pleasure DIMILY train and appreciate ;)

“Who the hell is this jackass?”

“I'm guessing you haven't met your step-brother yet.”

The slow burn romance will drive you crazy, it’s filled with tension, angst and the torturous progression of feelings of hate turning into something more. I absolutely devoured the chapters with Eden and Tyler, their animosity and chemistry was off the charts. To me everything progressed at a natural pace, let’s not forget that Eden and Tyler have never met before, they’ve been pushed together into an awkward situation with their parents and are now labeled as step-sibling's but they’re really anything but.

The book touches a lot on being young, carefree and in love and while I was able to connect with this book in more ways than one, it predominately felt like a really great coming of age story. It fully explores being a teenager in a world with drinking, smoking, abuse, sex, bullying and to me it was portrayed realistically, mistakes are made but it’s always about the journey and not the destination.

The ending was the most shocking of all and probably the most adult/mature decision Eden made and even though it broke my heart, it made sense. However the sneaky little epilogue at the end is now eating away at me and it’s making sure I invest in Did I Mention I Need You which was why I made sure I got my copy this week. At first glance this may seem like any other contemporary romance but I assure you it's not, it's one I won't be forgetting anytime soon anyway.

Giveaway!

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About the Author:

Estelle Maskame started writing at the age of thirteen and completed the Did I Mention I Love You?  trilogy when she was sixteen. She has built an extensive fan-base for her writing by serializing her work on Wattpad. Fitting book writing between work, Estelle has amassed followers from all over the world. She lives in Scotland. For more visit estellemaskame.com 

Author links

Website  / Twitter