The Studying Hours

******* 4 Stars *******
A lot of banter but with 50 pages less it would be great.

1st read - 4 stars
2nd read - 3.5 stars

The first time I read it, I really enjoyed this book because of the slow burn.
When I read it for the 2nd time, I founded it a little too long... and also it had too many cliché situations and I just wanted to roll my eyes. Nevertheless, I liked the story.

2.75

Color me surprised!

I'm usually not a big fan of jerk-y heroes, so my expectations for a book with this very honest series title were admittedly low.
That I found Sebastian - although absolutely eye-roll-worthy - a likeable hero despite his obvious occasional douchebaggery was unexpected.
I liked that James always gave as good as she got, and that she proved time and again that you really shouldn't judge a girl by her... cardigan.

Yes, it seems like about 90% of the book is about sex - someone thinking about it, talking about it, “making” it (SCNR) - but the story in between, of James and Sebastian's growing friendship (and the dreaded l-word) was truly enjoyable.

This book was just okay for me. The main characters had decent chemistry but I need to know more about the characters to get fully into a story and that was lacking here.