Did I Mention I Love You? (The DIMILY Trilogy #1)

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Did I Mention I Love You? (The DIMILY Trilogy #1)

Author(s)

Estelle Maskame

Publisher

Sourcebooks Fire

Genre(s)

Age Range

14+

Release Date

July 01, 2015

ISBN

9781845029845

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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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2 reviews

Stepsibling Romance

September 13, 2015

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3.0

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Did I Mention I Love You? is the first book in the DIMILY trilogy. That trilogy's name will be the death of me. I intensely dislike acronyms. It involves caps lock and/or the shift. But let's get back on track here.

Eden has dreams of LA's wonderfulness. As someone from LA, I'm too familiar with this wonder about the amazing Hollywood land. Take it from me. I have seen Hollywood too many times to count on all my hands, and the movies always, always make it look much more glamourous than it really is. It's like the China effect. After looking at Chinese characters for too long, you get bored of Confucius' home. Did I Mention I Love You? portrays LA more glamourous than it really is.

Drugs. Alcohol, weed, and even coke shows up in this book. I'm surprised by the absurd amount of it, and I don't recall SoCal being a drug-filled environment. Readers may feel alienated by the in-your-face presence of it. I certainly am.

Tyler. Tyler Bruce. He is (unfortunately) the love interest of Eden. On drugs, moody, and intolerable, Tyler acts and is the most typical male teenager. Okay, that isn't right. He is worse than the typical brooding male hero. I don't know exactly what Eden sees in him (at first), but I can't deny that he has good chemistry with her. Girls really dig bad boys, eh? But seriously. This guy needs years, years of therapy.

Despite the drugs and the amount of alcohol and partying, the plot is really worth paying attention to. Seeing Tyler and Eden's romance unfolds is amazing along with monitoring Tyler's character development. He does change.

The cast of Did I Mention I Love You? makes me facepalm a bit. "To alcohol poisoning," exclaims one such character. Oh, dear... I pray for these poor souls.

As awesome as the plot and romance (I admit it! It is pretty cool, but I don't like Tyler in the beginning), the ending is really the selling point. That epilogue makes me scream. I'm not amused, Estelle Maskame!

In conclusion, Did I Mention I Love You? is in between the territory of "no, I don't want to read this again" and "yes, this is an awesome book." Some moments make this book worthy while other parts make me run for the woods. I'm really torn over this, but in the end, I do want to see what happens next.

Rating: Three out of Five

Source: NetGalley

Alison Hong, Staff Reviewer and Tumblr Manager Top 50 Reviewer 125 reviews

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Suspenseful and Romantic

June 19, 2016

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I received this book in a Goodreads first reads giveaway.

Eden lives with her single mother and hasn't seen her father for years. When she's invited to spend the summer with him in California, she's not sure what to expect. Her two young stepbrothers, Chase and Jamie, seem nice enough and her stepmother appears decent, but her older stepbrother, Tyler, has a serious attitude problem.

She makes friends with the girl across the street, who introduces her to her own group of friends, which happen to include Tyler's girlfriend, Tiffani. Unable to avoid Tyler, she discovers concerning truths about what he does in his spare time, and why he remains in a relationship with a girl he doesn't love.

As Eden and Tyler begin to warm up to each other, they find themselves caught up in their own forbidden romance. Fighting their attraction for each other and desperate to keep their affections secret, Eden knows that more than just their reputation is at stake.

When I started reading this book, I worried that it might just be another cliche YA contemporary romance. The whole summer romance concept, the bad boy, and the friend next door are often overused, in my opinion. But this book worked with these ideas in a way that wasn't at all cliche, and which was thoroughly enjoyable.

Eden, the main character, was really likable. She had a distinct personality which really came through her narration. I did question her choices at times, for example her decision to keep hanging out with the annoying Tiffani. I couldn't stand Tiffani! But I also rooted for Eden throughout the whole novel, and I definitely hoped that she and Tyler would get together.

As for Tyler, I found him a complex and dynamic character. He wasn't the stereotypical YA bad boy. He truly had problems, found himself stuck in tough situations, and dealt with his past in the only way he knew how. His personal backstory was really sad and very raw, which is something I haven't read in many YA contemporary novels. His struggles really resonated with me and I can say that he was my favourite character.

The romantic elements in this book impressed me because they managed to be exciting yet realistic at the same time. Eden and Tyler's passionate moments didn't occur without consequence, which made the whole book suspenseful in a way I've never really read before.

This book is on my favourites list for sure, and I can't wait for book two!

I definitely recommend this book! Readers interested in YA contemporary romance should give this one a try. If you love forbidden romances you might like this author's take on the theme. Even if you don't usually read contemporary romances I suggest that you try this book out; it was unique to other stories of its genre and really surprised me.

You can also find this review at : http://fortheloveofbooksreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/did-i-mention-i-love-you-by-estelle.html

Good Points

Romantic without the cliches
Dealt with tough subjects
Absolutely recommended