For the young adult market.

For young adults, the themes and storylines within this series are better suited to their market.
It is sweet and age appropriate, but still has a tender sexy element of young love.

For those who love the 'Like US' series, I found this a drastic contrast to the passionate love styles, where well rounded characters intertwined family stories, but there was excitement missing from this book. In 'Like US' I felt a close connection to the characters and my imagination was really engaged in a full sensory experience.

This story was just a bit flat in comparison. A bit slow for me. A cool intro into the younger market, but for more mature readers/listeners, especially die hard "Like Us" fans...this is not something I would recommend out of all the books that these terrific authors have!

3 people found this helpful

- 5 stars -

I absolutely loved this audiobook! I've been waiting a long time for this book to come out in audio format, and it was well worth the wait. Both narrators did an amazing job with this audiobook and I'm looking forwards to listening to book 2. This is my first time listening to an audiobook narrated by Charlotte North and I thought she did a wonderful job with Willow's character. I've listened to Cooper North a couple of times before with M/M books, but this was my first time listening to him in an M/F romance type of book. I thought he did a wonderful job and was absolutely perfect for Garrison.



*Spoilers*

-storyline-
I've read this book before a couple of times, so that might be why I don't have a whole lot to say about it besides my love for the narration. (Never mind about that, I apparently do have quite a bit to say about this book). This is the first time that I've read and listened to this book after I've read and listened to the Addicted and Callaway Sisters series. I did go back to Addicted After All to reread a couple of scenes from Lo and Lily's point of view, just as a reminder to see what was going on in their heads. Like with the scene when Lo offered Garrison and his former friends a job and when Lily hired Garrison. I also found it interesting just how different Garrison and Willow's point of view are of each other compared to how they think of themselves. Willow thinks of Garrison as a very kind and wonderful person, while Garrison thinks he's a horrible human being who has done terrible things to people. His thoughts of himself are partly true, as he has done and said some pretty awful things, but I love how Willow sees the good in him and his true self who loves computers and video games. Garrison thinks Willow is cute and is one of the bravest people he has met, while Willow considers herself to be awkward and sometimes over thinks. I really love both Garrison and Willow, and I will always have a soft spot for them in my heart.
I also found it interesting that Lo was the person who started changing their lives. For Willow, it first began when Lo met her when she was in middle school and really influenced her love for comics. Then it turned into Lo and Willow building a brother and sister relationship, which she really needed after what her family did to her. I for one, dislike her family and Garrison's family. For Garrison, Lo showed compassion and just how human he is - along with the rest of the core six - when Garrison first portrayed him as more of an object to push his pain, resentment, and boredom onto (I think it was also his way of screaming out for help and drawing attention onto himself). But Lo gradually started working his way into his life and making him realize that he want's change and out of this situation. Which I am really proud of him for realizing it.
For some reason, this read through and listening to the audiobook for the first time, really made me realize just how bad Garrison's family situation was. I knew it was bad, but it has been a while since I read this series and the narration really made it hit even harder. Like the way his brothers were voiced, how Mitchell and his mother purposefully ignored Garrison when he was obviously being abused right in front of them, and then the anger, pain, and other emotions Cooper North expressed in his narration during those scenes. It was honestly rather heartbreaking and I feel so bad that Garrison had to go through that. I was also more aware of the moments when Garrison jerked away or started panicking when he was being touched or pushed into a corner, which really shows just how much he has been abused by his older brothers and in extension his parents since they didn't stop his brothers from treating him that way, and in a way added onto it.

*(Spoilors for the end of the book)*

The last scene of the book is my least favorite because I keep thinking of ways that could have prevented it from happening and what Willow had to go through because of it, but I think I now have a better understanding of why Garrison acted that way and it was bound to happen at some point so there was actually no way of avoiding it since they are both partially famous. Garrison for one, was not in a good place. Emotionally, physically, and mentally. He was depressed because Willow left, then he got beat up by his brothers which added onto his already bad state of mind, and then he runs into his neighbor who wants his fame but actually resents him so that upset him even more. But then he gets the call from Willow who is rightfully concerned about him and basically flys him over to London (not sure it was a good idea, but flying back to Philadelphia to check on him would have also probably ended badly. She probably should have called Lo or someone to check on him and maybe waited a day or two before meeting up in London). Then he got drunk on vodka, which might of been his way to help with the emotional and physical pain he was feeling. Then he met Salvatore, who he dislikes and reminds him of his brothers, which doesn't help his negative state of mind. Salvatore made the bad decision to touch Garrison when he just got beat up by his brothers and is still very on edge and is fresh in his mind because of it, so he ended up punching him on instinct, as that is what he wanted to do to his brothers. Which added onto his negative feelings and how he doesn't think he is good enough for Willow, when Willow is just extremely concerned about him. I do agree with Garrison that she probably thinks it has to do with his family, especially with how he even rejected her touching him. I am also glad that Willow stood up to him about not wanting to break up. I will say that maybe to an outsider, that might have been kind of possessive or pushy or some other word that I can't think of to refuse to break up with someone, but between Garrison and Willow it was right for Willow to refuse. She could tell he wasn't thinking right because he was intoxicated and something was clearly bothering him enough that he wanted to run away. They are meant to be together. Sorry for my rambling.

2 people found this helpful

Yes 5 STARS WORTHY

As one would expect from KB RITCHIE's work this book was fantastic. Simply put if you have read and loved the Addicted & Callaway series then this book is a must read.

1 person found this helpful

Love this couple

Willow and Garrison own my heart and soul. I’ve been waiting for this books for years, I kid you not. As you can imagine, my expectations were high.

I find Willow entirely too relatable. It’s like the authors managed to get into my head to create Willow Hale. We see Willow’s first semester of college throughout the book, and I saw my own experience at college here. She’s quite and a bit awkward, but she also has this quiet bravery that I hope and strive for.

Garrison Abbey is so full of self-loathing. He’s a guy who has made a lot of mistakes in his young life, and while he strives to make better choices, he feels like he’ll never be worthy of anyone’s forgiveness.

This book is told through Past and Present scenes, which I thought worked really well. My one peeve was that all the “Past” scenes in this book were straight from the web series. So if you read the web series, you’ve read about half of this book already. However, the “Present” scenes more than make up for it.

The “Past” scenes show you how Willow and Garrison met, and their evolution from strangers to friends. The “Present” scenes follow Willow in college, Garrison working at Cobalt Inc., and them trying to maintain their long distance relationship.

My heart was so full after reading this. I cannot wait for the next book. This does end in a bit of a cliffhanger, so the 28th cannot get here soon enough. I’m expecting a few things for book 2, and I hope it delivers.

I recommend this to anyone who likes their angsty romances. Also, if you’ve read and enjoyed a K.B. book, you will love this one!

1 person found this helpful

You'll love this listen

If you're a fan of the Addicted and Calloway series. This finally gives us Willow and Garrison's story plus you get some more glimpses of out favorite couples. I do not recommend starting here its much better read as a companion to the other series. Narration is done really well.

Nothing happens, but a lot of angst and feels

Well, I liked this story till the end. This book made me smile and feel. But MMC was so miserable and anxious, I felt sad for him. It was tragic that he destroyed his own relationship because he believes he don't deserve happiness and cursed. Also it's bad that he isn't completely honest. I didn't read previous books, I started this one first, so sometimes it was hard to connect with other characters, to understand what is going on. Who are all those people. Narrators was perfection. It seems to me that book was too short, nothing really happening, it's more about what going on in head of one wretched guy.

confused

there was too much jumping back and forth present and past him and her I got to the end and I understand the book better but I see where 2nd book goes easily there should've just been a before chapter in the beginning I had to keep rewinding and listening again because I realized it was past or present and I thought it was opposite it was just frustrating albeit this was the first of these authors I have read and I found out in the end there was a bunch of previous books might have been better if I had known I really should have read the other books first to understand why the jumping was necessary so now I have to look it up and find out exactly where it all begins and start there

Not what I expected

Soooooooooo if your like me you probably picked up this book because you loved the “like us” series and you wanted more of that. Well this book does have some of the characters and sorta the same story structure the issue for me is the teenage angst is to much and if you have read/ listened to the other series I find it hard to put myself in a world were Lo Hale is 25 and FaceTime and tumbler is a thing

A heart-tugging read!

I read this book when it first released, before reading the "Core 6" books, so Whatever It Takes was my first real introduction to Willow and Garrison. And let me tell you, I fell hard for these 2! I have since listened to all the Addicted/Calloway books so I was excited to revisit these characters, after seeing how they were introduced into the world K&B created.

Whatever it Takes tugged at all my heart strings. Willow and Garrison each have pretty crappy family lives, so it was awesome to see how they embraced each other, and were embraced by Loren and Ryke, and the rest of the "core six". I loved seeing the relationships grow, especially Willow and Garrison's- they were 2 people who really needed each other.

My poor heart broke for both 17yo Garrison and 20yo Garrison. I didn't understand his family, at all- they made me so angry, so so angry! I'm going to be honest, I had to forward through parts of the scenes with his brothers, knowing what was coming, Reading it was bad enough, but listening to Garrison as he was going through it, that pretty much killed me.
I just felt so sad for him, he was troubled but such a sweetheart. He was so wonderful with Willow- you could just feel how much he cared.
Willow was a sweetheart as well- these two really were made for each other. While my heart broke for Garrison, I felt really bad for Willow when it came to her family. Finding out that pretty much everything you knew about yourself was a lie, well that would be a lot for someone to handle, let alone finding this out when you're just a teen-ager. I have to hand it to Willow though, she was so brave. She might not have thought she was, but I tip my hat to her!

While certain parts of this story were definitely angsty, I'm looking at you Garrison's brothers and you, last chapter, overall I feel like this was a really heart-warming story. I've loved Willow and Garrison's journey so far, and I cannot wait to see what is to come for them!

I really enjoyed the performances by Cooper North and Charlotte North. They both brought such emotion and life to Garrison and Willow, it made it easy to feel everything they were going through. And I appreciated how age appropriate they sounded. A lot of times I'll end up enjoying one narrator more than the other, in dual narrations, but in this case I liked them both equally.

Whatever it Takes

I love getting a deeper look into Garrison and Willow's budding relationship. I enjoyed the past and present scenes. Can't wait to start the next book.