{ARC Review} Inside Out by Lia Riley

Title: Inside Out

Series: Off The Map #3

Author: Lia Riley

Published: 1st Dec 2014

Age Group: New Adult

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Source: eARC provided via Netgalley for fair & honest review

Rating: 5/5

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BLURB:

Lia Riley made New Adult readers fall in love with her breakout debut, Upside Down. Sideswiped, the second of her series, made readers clamor for more. Now, with INSIDE OUT, Lia Riley brings her evocative Off the Map series to a stunning conclusion.

When Talia first moved from California to Australia to study abroad, she never dreamed she'd find the love of her life. Bran understands her like no one ever has before. And despite the numerous challenges they've faced, they've always managed to figure out how to stay together. But this time they'll face their toughest hurdle yet. Is their love strong enough to keep them together?

Inside Out is the perfect ending to Talia & Bran's epic romantic adventure. You'll laugh, cry and snort giggle all the way to the very end!

REVIEW:

The story:

As sad as I am that Talia & Bran's story is over, I couldn't have asked for a better ending - if was perfect.

We pick up the story exactly where we were left hanging, at the end of Sideswiped. Both Talia & Bran are off doing their own thing, trying to find their own futures before they can find their way back to each other. But things don't run so smoothly for either of them. Bran's dealing a lot of self blame, regarding an incident that occurred of the ship in the Antarctic. While Talia contracts a severe illness in Africa with the Peace Corp, causing her to feel like she's failed. On top of that she's struggling to deal with her OCD. Both characters had to work through their issues, but that just made the ending so much more rewarding.

The characters:

Talia grows up a lot in this book. She doesn't want her life defined by other people, and finally starts to make some decisions about her future. She finds some independence, and even after some major setbacks and battling self doubt, she starts to create a future of her own choosing. I loved seeing how determined and strong she's become since we first met her.

Bran is still as stubborn as ever, but in a good way. I was so happy to see he never truly gave up on Talia. He had to fight hard to keep Talia from pulling away, and his dedication to her made me happy sigh more than once. He's hot, funny, caring, passionate and has lickable biceps - what more could you ask for?!

The romance:

I ship Bran & Talia so hard. They haven't made things easy for each other, and have had to work extremely hard to keep their relationship together, but that's so true of real life. When it comes down to it they are always there for each other, and they never give up of their future together. Even when Talia pulled away and he had to *cough* entertain himself *giggle* he never gave up.

The writing:

I loved Lia's writing in the first two novels, but I think this is her best book yet. She's really found a unique 'voice' that expresses so much emotion and humour. And it's that humour that is one of my favourite parts of her writing, I found myself crying with laughter sometimes. The dialogue is sharp and snappy, with hilarious banter between all the characters.

"I’m resting my hand, it’s tired.”

I lift my head. “On my ass?”

“As good a place as any.”

Plus I have officially declared Lia "Queen Empress of Self Pleasure Scenes" because of the epic hotness that occurs at 21% and 74%. And let's not forget Chester the self abusing Chinchilla - freakin hilarious!

FINAL WORD:

Inside Out is the perfect ending to Talia & Bran's epic romantic adventure. You'll laugh, cry and snort giggle all the way to the very end.

CONTENT:

Sexuality: medium-strong / several sex scenes

Violence: mild

Language: medium / some f words

Drugs & alcohol: mild