Review: Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

This book was recommended to me by a friend. She loved it and told me it was definitely a book for me! And when I first started it, I thought so too. The characters in this book were so funny! I would open it on my iPad in class and read (because my classes are BORING) and I would struggle not to burst out laughing. It was hysterical. But then I got halfway in and kept expecting some big twist or some kind of drama. And it just wasn't there, so I kept reading thinking there had to be some kind of conflict to keep the book as long as it is... and there wasn't. I had a really hard time rating this book because I loved the first half so much, and the second half was just ehhh..

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Book: Wallbanger by Alice Clayton
Published: November 25th 2012 Omnific Publishing
My rating: 4/5 Stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Goodreads Summary:

"Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O.

Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O.

Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick…

In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight."

Things I enjoyed about this book:

- The characters had me literally laughing out loud. I mean this guys, I would be sitting with my boyfriend (who will be known as BF from now on) reading while he was watching baseball or whatever other sport is on TV. And I would just bust out laughing. BF kept asking me what was so funny, wanting in on the fun, and I would just say "nothing." Finally he got so frustrated, I was like "It's my book! You won't care." Then he lost interest. 

But for real guys, these characters are so witty and straightforward that pretty much everything out of their mouth (or in their thoughts) is hysterical! This what really pulled me into the book. 

-There is so much sexual tension, I could feel it. From the second Caroline and Simon meet you can feel the pull between them. You are constantly rooting for them because you can tell how badly they want each other. The whole first half of the book they are making all these sassy, smart ass comments to each other that really build up the tension. I loved it!

- Unlike some romance novels, they don't just jump right into bed with each other. They actually take the time to build a relationship. This is so uncommon (at least with the books I have read) and I wish it was not. I love building the relationship because it really helps me connect with the characters. You see them move from hating each other, to building a friendship and more. It actually felt authentic. 

Reasons I only like, not love, this book:

-As much as I hate to say this, I got bored. I never would have thought I would based on how funny and entertaining the first half of this book was. I felt like there was so much going on in the beginning and it was so well thought out and the second half was just thrown together so the book would have an ending. I'm still not sure if it was me or the book, but it was just mehhh. There was so much exciting tension in the first half and I expected the second half to have some kind of big drama, but it was not there. I don't know how else to say it without really telling you the whole book so I'll leave it at that. 

-The other thing that got me was how in the beginning there were so many different characters and once we got to the second half of the book, they kind of fell off the face of the Earth. Eventually they were mentioned, but they seemed so important, and then once I loved all the characters they were gone. 

Overall: I know I had a lot of negative to say about this, but I loved Caroline and Simon and their witty banter so much that I can't dislike this book, but I can't say I loved it as a whole either. Which really makes me sad, because I want to. If I have not completely turned you away from the book, please read it! Even thought it kind of dragged out in the end, I think its worth it. And maybe I'm the crazy one and everyone else loved it! If you read it let me know your thoughts!!

Did you read this book?? What did you think??