Chasing Red is so addicting, be prepared to read from start to finish because this is one you won't put down.

*2.5-3 Stars*
This story was uneven for me. I liked the premise but I think the execution could have been better. I was kinda bored through some of it, the characters were underdeveloped, and while I felt like the ending was where it got interesting the reasons were silly. I'm gonna mull it over and then write my final review.

***
I want to preface my review by saying this is my opinion. There are many readers who have enjoyed Chasing Red so if you're interested don't let my opinion dissuade you from checking it out. The story just didn't work for me. Here's my opinion of what sort of worked and what could have worked better:

*Premise
The premise was intriguing. I mean, it drew my attention and made me want to read the book. However, the execution was lacking. The story was uneven and I was often bored.

*Characters
The characters were underdeveloped but did have their moments. Seeing Veronica with her girlfriends, Beth and Kara - who were both a hoot - and Caleb with his friend Cameron and even with his longtime girl friend - whose name escapes me. Hmm... These interactions enabled me to learn a little bit about who Veronica and Caleb were, something that didn't happen when they were together. Despite sort of liking the characters, I felt they were mostly one-dimensional. There wasn't any real character development so I never felt a connection to them, which makes it difficult to engage with their story.

*Tension & Climax
The last quarter or so of the story might have been the most exciting. The "villain" was rather evil-minded and I liked the tension she created. But it was silly and melodramatic reasons behind that tension.

Maybe it was just my mood but Chasing Red was an uneven read for me. I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping I would. I'm not sure I'll read the next installment since I'm not really invested in the characters enough to care what comes next.

Plenty of drama and an added star for not having scenes that I didn't want to read. Red and Caleb are interesting. They are dreadfully immature, but we all were once. There's a great deal of romantic drama/tension. It is basically a clean read, and I was thankful for the multiple points of view.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
After trying to read this book, I am going to be more careful of books I request and get free in exchange for an honest review.
Couldn't read the first 2 chapters without thinking that it might get better, but for me, it never did. A rich boy trying to save a poor girl for the right reasons but had too much explicit language and sexual tones for me, definitely more of a Y/A book.
Sorry, couldn't finish it, so I skipped through the chapters and read the ending which is a cliff hanger......

It was tough for me to get through this one. I didn't like anything Caleb had to say and I disliked Veronica more. These two meet at a club, she foes home with him, he asks her to move in with him as she is homeless. Uh... What? These two characters seemed toxic for one another. I didn't feel anything towards either, nor did I care about their story arc. Most of the story was spent introducing side characters that have very little do to with this story. They have a bigger role in book two but took up most of book one.

The story line was bad, characters were bad, pacing bad, just all over bad. I wish I had DNFd.

I was really unable to get into this book. The story felt really juvenile and a little immature. I couldn't connect with the characters, so it was a bit of a struggle. I had to DNF.

Some of this book is said, some super funny but most of it is I wish she liked me the way I like her with different couples. It's a young adult drama that carries on too long.

Beautifully written. I loved Caleb and Veronica. I loved the dynamics between them.

Veronica was a virgin, quite and shy yet she had her moments when she was confident and outgoing. I loved everything about her including her being a virgin.

Caleb was the rich cocky playboy every girl wanted. He seemed cold and blunt, but he was just always waiting for a girl that showed him more. I loved how sweet he was with Veronica and how protective he was.

The romance was pretty damn awesome. Quick, yet slow. It all seemed fast, but that revelation at the end between the two of them made everything make sense. I loved the sexy time scenes as well.

Camilla, Cameron, Beth, Theo and Damon were also. I loved how much they helped create such a great story. On the flip side, I hated Justin for acting like jealous douche bag. I wanted to kill Beatrice because she was clearly insane.

Overall, this was such a phenomenal read

A Wattpad phenomenon, Chasing Red, is a college love story that's garnered over 130 million reads online. It revolves around the romance between Caleb, rich college playboy, and Veronica, a gorgeous college student who is left homeless.

Caleb offers Veronica a place to stay until she gets back on her feet because he's intensely drawn to her, and he's starting to have strong feelings he's never experienced before. But winning Veronica's heart is not as easy as he may think.

I actually first read this book on Wattpad before requesting the published version to read and review on NetGalley. (You can still read it online on Wattpad free here.)

I've changed very much as a person from the time I first read it to now. Before, I would have probably given this 5 stars, but a lot of my views and preferences have changed since then.

This is primarily a new-adult romance, which is why it's definitely not as much of my alley as a YA sci fi, for example. It centers around the romance of Veronica and Caleb.

My favorite part of this novel was the passion between the characters. It's definitely the part of the story I found executed the best--the characters managed to have a delicious chemistry without an actual sex scene happening.

But, there were a lot of things that irked me that didn't annoy me before.

Although the plot and pacing were done well--despite the large number of pages, I was still able to read through it quickly--I found the sheer number of clichés to be almost too overwhelming.

I don't mind clichés; I'm a sucker for particular ones (movie star boyfriends? yes please! popular girl and good boy? be still my beating heart!). But this had quite a lot of the more common clichés done in a predictable manner. I could pick out what was going to happen (the first time I read it, mind you) because I had read dozens of books just like it on Wattpad before.

Popular boy falls for pretty girl (cliché #1) and she moves in with him (cliché #2) and they fall in love--but wait! Jealous ex-girlfriend comes to play (cliché 3) and then there's more problems for the star crossed lovers.

A lot of the times I have to search through my Wattpad library when I read books like this to check that the book I was reading wasn't plagiarized off of someone else just because of how similar the plots are.

I wanted something more than this--what happens if the pretty girl has ulterior motives, like stealing from the popular boy? Or if the popular boy was actually a terrible person and the girl learns she better off without him? Something besides the usual.

This leads me into my next point. Because of all the clichés, I felt like Ronin didn't effectively use foreshadowing as well as she could have.

Around 200 pages (halfway) in, we're suddenly introduced with a couple of chapters of foreshadowing about the new plotline: jealous ex-girlfriend.

This book was originally written as serial fiction, which makes it understandable that foreshadowing is considerably harder. But I felt like during editing more hints should have been added near the beginning.

This sub plot kind of jumped at us like a jack-in-the-box, coming out of only a few chapters of hints.

Because Sourcebooks decided to split the original novel into two books (Chasing Red & Always Red), the jealous ex-girlfriend plot hadn't been resolved yet. Likewise, the story ended somewhat awkwardly as the next book would pick up right where the first left off.

In the same highway as foreshadowing, I found Ronin's occasional (2 or 3 times) use of points of views other than the main characters Veronica and Caleb to be unnecessary.

If Ronin effectively utilized foreshadowing, I think the information that was blatantly conveyed in the alternate POV chapters (the ex girlfriend once and smarmy guy twice) could have been told in Veronica and Caleb's POV.

I think the under usage of foreshadowing was one of this novel's greatest pitfalls.

From time to time, I did get a little frustrated at the plot and the characters' decisions that led them to come to nearly meaningless arguments. Communication is important in relationships and the chemistry between Caleb and Veronica wasn't enough to stop me from getting annoyed at them sometimes.

I'm also a little confused on the justification of why they like each other. It seems to me a stranger offering someone a place to stay, even if you know who they are, is a little sketchy. I wouldn't have taken up on the offer and I do find Caleb's motivations somewhat questionable.

Veronica tries to be an independent woman by doing some stuff, but Caleb undermines this at the same time. The balance between the two of them and the give-take between them was a little foggy for me and I wasn't a huge fan of it, unsure if Veronica did or didn't want to be more independent.

The last idea I wanted to talk about was the actual premise of the book. It's a very cliché novel, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but when you look at the amazing novels about POC and touching on deep, meaningful ideas, it makes me somewhat sad to see another heterosexual white romance when another story could have been told.

People are allowed to write about whatever they want, but I feel like I would have enjoyed this much more if it wasn't purely a romance about Veronica and Caleb and had other deeper themes--even if it wasn't about being a POC, it could have been part of a myriad of other social issues.

So although Chasing Red is a somewhat superficial novel, it is enjoyable if you're looking to read a passionate, fast-paced romance.

The links will go live on Nov. 11th.

First of all, I want to thank Sourcebooks for giving me a copy of the ARC via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

This was supposed to be an ARC review. But then I got caught up with school and got busy with training for the sports fest. Thank God that’s all over now. Now, I’m still busy but I got time to spare to read my overdue ARCs and write reviews of them. Meh-heh.

Anyways, let’s start!


First thoughts about this book, this book is awesome!

When I started reading I couldn’t seem to stop! It made me want to smack myself for not reading this awesome book sooner! And by sooner I meant when it was still in Wattpad.

I’ve seen this story in Wattpad a couple times. I’ve even seen it when it was still on-going. But then I kept saying to myself that I will read this as long as it will be completed. And then I forget about it because I only put it in my mental TBR in Wattpad. And I regret not reading it that time! I could’ve gotten the privileged to say that this book is awesome way before it was even discovered and published!

I seriously wanna cry!

*insert crying gif*

But that’s all in the past now. And I am really thankful for the publisher for giving me a chance to read and review it.

First, let’s talk about the characters. Let’s start with the hero, the gorgeous, Caleb Lockhart.

He was described in the book as a man-whore; a man with a drive-thru sex. However, while I was reading the whole story, I didn’t see him that way. Sure it was said that he used to be that before he met his Red but then still, he’s personality is so sensitive to be a man-whore. And yes, Caleb Lockhart is gorgeous. I think my list of book boyfriend just got longer.

I like his character. He’s got a bright and sunny personality. And he made me laugh a lot of times. I would seriously crack up whenever he just says things to Red. And bes, this guy made me feel a lot of kilig moments while reading! I experienced a lot of kilig moments that I would sometimes just shake like a person electrocuted and curse so hard Aelin Galathynius would be proud of me. Haha!

Anyway, I seriously love Caleb. He stake his claim on Red even though she doesn’t want it. It was so sweet and so kilig! (I know. There’s something wrong with me for finding that part really, really cute and feels worthy. But, hey, I’m weird and proud of it.)


Let’s go to our heroine, Veronica Straffort. She’s also known as Red because that’s what Caleb calls her.

Oh this girl is a damsel in distress. She’s not the typical damsel in distress though. Her distress are her monsters of her past. She’d been through a lot and because of it, she put up a wall around her so high that the wall of Castle Black in Game of Thrones or the one in Shingeki no Kyojin would be shy.

And because of that wall, she tend to push Caleb away. And I understand her reason for pushing Caleb away. I understand that she just wanted to protect herself and avoid ending up like her mother. But, bes Veronica, there’s this thing called “too much”. Her pushing Caleb away all the time was too much for me sometimes. Like I said, I understand her but come on. How can she be so blind to all the things Caleb do for her? Only for her? How, bes? How?

Like I said, I understand her reasons but sometimes it getting on my nerve. She needs to loosen up! Eh!



Let’s go to Kara Hawthorne, Veronica’s best friend, now. This will just be small. I just want to have a special mention of her.

This girl seriously has a lot of words of wisdom. And the kinds of words that will get you cracking up in laughter and giggles. This girl made me laugh just as much as Caleb did. Of all the side characters, Kara’s my favorite.


Second, let’s go to the story.

The story is awesome! It has the reality feel to it. It deals with real problems, real emotions, and real decision makings. I would seriously throw a freakin party if this book turns into a movie!

I love how the narration was in the first person point of view and it alternates between Caleb and Veronica. Around the end part of the book, there’s also a point of view of Justin and Beatrice-Rose, both were the villain in the story.

(Note: They make a very good villain because I fucking hate them both. Lol)

Though there’s this one part in the book that got me a bit triggered.

You know that situation where two boys would get into a fight because of the girl? And then the girl would stop them? Yeah, that kind of situation. That happened around the end of the book. Caleb got into a fight with Damon, another side character, because Caleb got territorial towards Veronica. He doesn’t want Damon touching his Red so he went berserk. After the fight, Veronica suddenly went away with Damon.

*cue rant*

Why would the girl always go to the other guy? Why can’t she just go alone? Why? Is it so hard to go away and not seek comfort of another guy? Like seriously! Those two guys were fighting because of the girl but what if the girl left and let them kill each other? Why does every time this kind of situation happens, the girl would leave with the other guy and not with her guy?

I seriously need to write my own story, put this situation down, and then not let the girl chose between the two guys. Just let them kill each other.

*end rant*
Anyways! Wow, I’m sorry for that. I just need to let that out. I seriously don’t like it when I see that kind of situations in a romance book. It is so cliché and predictable and freaking annoying.

The ending of the book was a very nice cliffhanger. Wahaha! Surprise, surprise! It’s a cliffhanger, bessies! Now you know the ending, would you still read it?

I kind of like the ending though. It made me want to read the next one. I’ve sent a request for the ARC of the Always Red and I am so glad they approved it! Ahh! I’m already on the 70% of the book and I just started it. I think the review of the second book will come sooner than later. XD


To wrap this up, this book is amaze-balls! If you are the kind of reader who wants to read a book that is so close to reality it hurts, this one is perfect for you. I seriously recommend it! As for me, I will surely hunt Isabelle Ronin on Wattpad and add all her books in my library. Haha!

The book started off being promising, and I persevered with it, but i was not happy with the ending, and felt I wasted my time reading it. It was probably more appropriate for the teenage market.

It all seemed very shallow and repetitive and was hyped up as being much more interesting

I heard a lot of this book before and I can say I liked it alot.

I love to read a story from different POVs, like from Caleb and Red here. I expected to get a story with a little humor and to be it romantic, but it was much more. It´s a heartwrenching story not so much about Sex, but about love and trust and learning to find a way to be together.

I loved Caleb - he´s so sweet and gives Red the time she needs to think and decide what she wants.

Sometimes the story was a little slow, but altogether I liked the story alot and after the huge Cliffhanger I want to know what happens in the next book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book or this author, as I hadn’t heard of her before. I was VERY pleasantly surprised! Once I started, I had a hard time putting this book down! This interaction between Caleb and Veronica as awesome! The chemistry is off the charts! Veronica is a down on her luck college student who meets the rich star basketball player Caleb in a club one night. He asks her to move in once he realizes that he can help her out. Sparks begin to fly and their friends are all crossed as well. The subplots are well woven and fun too! This is a book not to be missed!

I'm going to be honest and say that I was prepared to not like this book. I don't enjoy the New Adult Genre, so I thought, well: Here we go again. And there was a little bit of that, because I don't like reviewing series since I don't know if I'll get to review the next book. However, this was such a compelling story, I was hooked. I could see myself in Veronica, growing up too soon, unable to trust. And I could see Caleb's side too, being a child of divorce. I could not stop reading all the way til the end. And you won't be able to stop either!

This was a DNF for me. I picked it up several times but never made it far before I deleted off my Kindle.

**I've actually read the Wattpad version of Chasing Red forever ago, and I remember being incredibly invested in Caleb and Veronica for whatever reason cliché-loving Ann had. Only somewhat wanted to read the published version, but I got the Netgalley ARC for it; procrastination and the archive date led to a lost and not-downloaded ARC though. Much to my surprise, I found out that the ebook is currently available for free on Amazon (thanks Isabelle Ronin!!). Marathoned it in the last few hours, and here I am now.**

ANYWAYY, let's get started then. Chasing Red is the sweet ish first book of the Red series by the wonderfully talented Isabelle Ronin that introduces the story of Veronica aka Red and Caleb. Red's in a tough spot, and they chance upon each other. Caleb falls hard and it's love at first sight I guess (???) but naturally, drama happens and it's bad news for their relationship.

Isabelle's writing is really good. As in beyond most of the books I've read good. Not sure if this is the best way of explaining it, but even if I absolutely hated the plot, characters, and all, I'd definitely be drawn to reading and finishing her work.

That said, the plot was a little much, and the characters were all kind of not my thing. I remember being all "OMG CALEB LOCKHART" and all when I first read Chasing Redbut I really can't deal with him now. Though his actions may come off as sweet, I feel like he's way past overprotective and possessive, and doesn't give Veronica her space. At all. She says no. He says fine and leaves, but not without reminding her that he's so into her, not to mention impatient. Fine then. Nothing even happens to make him realize how ridiculous he's being at times, so looking for character development is difficult.

I didn't know what to think of Veronica; she was just there . Usually, at least one thing about an MC sticks out to me, but Veronica didn't really strike a chord. I feel like her backstory was, although sad, not really impactful on her. She was just occasionally withdrawn and had the whole"anti-male because of my past" thing. While I get that this book is intended to be of the romance genre, I think Isabelle Ronin could've given more to Veronica, especially because she's one of the MCs and it'd be nice to be more invested in what happens with her for motivation to read the next book.

As for Veronica's friends, as much as I like insta-friendship and people simply clicking, I feel like they were practically identical in personality, and their friend group's dynamics were a little odd to me in the first place. I was overall indifferent to them.

The ending was definitely excessively dramatic, not to mention that the whole book's dynamics seemed a bit off because things kind of rapidly picked up toward the end until the cliffhanger.

While I somewhat remember why I enjoyed reading Chasing Red so much in the past, I can't say that I'll ever understand why I did. It's a good read to say the least, but with the plot and characters' lack of depth, I was a little disappointed this time around.

Nevertheless, thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for bringing this book back to me, and Isabelle Ronin for being generous enough to give me a second chance!

So, I have to make a comfession: I had this galley and I didn't really open it until it was about tob expire. I had my reasons, but while this happened to a few galleys, this is the one I'm most sad and ashamed about.
I only got through the first three chapters, but I would have binged the whole thing happily if I'd had the luxury of time. I was instantly hooked.
This is exactly my kind of book - a young adult romance novel with nuanced characters - both of which I related to instantly - , filled with self-deprecating humor and clever dialogue.
I will read this fully, and I hope to get a chance at reading the sequel as well one day.

This book was so all over the place that it gave me whiplash. The two main characters had very specific personalities, as drilled into us by the author over and over throughout the book: Caleb is a big, clueless, goofy, popular "big man on campus"; Red/Veronica is a skittish, stubborn, holier-than-thou "damaged girl." Except...throughout the book, at random moments and without any seeming reason or prompting, each one would act in a way that was completely the opposite. Add to that the random characters that suddenly show up with their own separate plot lines (Kara, Cameron, Beth, Theo) but then those plot lines don't go anywhere...plus the curveball plot twists of Red's nightmare, Justin (is that his name? can't even remember and I just finished the book) suddenly becoming menacing; Beatrice-Rose's bunny boiler behavior...

All that aside, I think the main reason I didn't connect with this story is that the characters are just really unlikable. Caleb is clueless and brainless, Red is stubborn and annoying, I wasn't invested in either of them.

A quick, amazing read! A relationship that you want to follow through till the end to see what happens. Thank goodness this is #1 of a series! This is a great read for young adults that would be flying off your shelves with it's beautiful cover and the description that makes you want to read it right then and there!

It is possible that Wattpad is a source for good books that pull at your heart guts, like Did I Mention I Love You and Remember to Forget. Well, Isabelle Ronin has penned a Wattpad blockbuster according to reviews, and after reading Chasing Red, I see why it is hailed as addicting.

Caleb has finally met his match.

After bedding down nearly every blonde he knows, one night at a bar, he meets a girl whose dance moves are like a siren to him and on that same night he rescues her, calling her Red because of her red dress and red nail polish.

But he learns something about Red very quickly.

She is not like other girls he has dated. Besides her very long dark hair and independent attitude, she is reserved and fearful of something, but he can’t resist her allure. Their relationship becomes one of extreme need, doubt, and the burning passionate love only true love can ignite.

I enjoyed this book for two reasons: One, I like reading about strong, feisty women who are also vulnerable. It shows they are human. Second, a handsome Caleb who is a certified player, amazes me suddenly as his heart strings are getting snatched while he literally does everything for Red just to make her happy. I swear the swoon worthy moments were just as titillating as the sexy, scorching hot ones.


“I felt him lowering both of us onto the bed. I was drowning so deeply in his kiss that I hadn’t even noticed he had walked us to the bedroom.” (Chasing Red, Ronin, 2017).

Now, I did find a couple of things troubling and it could be because I over-read something or whatever the case may be.

For example, the plot thickens when another suitor arrives but who is he and is he for or against Caleb? How does he pop up conveniently everywhere Red goes?

Secondly, there was a POV concerning Caleb’s ex Beatrice-Rose(yeah, the name drips wealth)- I basically glazed my eyes over her words…until she mentioned some really interesting things. All in all I cared nothing for her point of view. Seriously.

The book was amazing though and the author shows great command of human psychology and character development.

*This book was provided by Netgalley for my unbiased review.