Seeing Night Reviews: {Release Day: Review + Giveaway} of I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre

We are absolutely thrilled to bring you the Release Day Launch for Ann Aguirre's I WANT IT THAT WAY! I WANT IT THAT WAY is a New Adult contemporary romance and is the first book in the 2B Trilogy Series, published by Harlequin HQN. We are already in love with this series and Ann's characters! Read the excerpt, then go grab your copy today!!

I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: New Adult
THEME: Mature, Romance, And Contemporary
RECEIVED: Tour

BLURB:

Nadia Conrad has big dreams, and she’s determined to make them come true. But between maintaining her college scholarship and working at the local day care to support herself, dating’s the last thing on her mind. Then she moves into a new apartment and meets the taciturn yet irresistible guy in 1B….

Daniel Tyler has grown up too fast. Becoming a single dad at twenty turned his life upside down—and brought him heartache he can’t risk again. Now, as he raises his four-year-old son while balancing a full-time construction management job and night classes, the last thing he wants is noisy students living in the apartment upstairs. But one night, Nadia’s and Ty’s paths cross, and soon they can’t stay away from each other.

The timing is all wrong—but love happens when it happens. And you can’t know what you truly need until you stand to lose it.

REVIEW:

This was a different New Adult for me, after reading some reviews I feel the message was lost to some. I read an article a couple days ago about a single mom trying to support her young son while working and going to school. It’s a tough life, you can reach your goal but it’s a slow process. I feel this story was trying to hit on the points of not judging by someone’s life situation and also try to look at the good life can bring even if its not what you expected.

I Want It That Way, isn’t a story about the Backstreet Boys (Sorry just had too say it, since it’s been in my head the whole book) but a story about Nadia Conrad. Nadia is moving forward in her college life, with hopes of becoming a teacher and making her parents proud. When she and her new roomies move into their new apartment she meets the broody and very handsome Ty aka Daniel Tyler who live right below her. With chance meetings of both of them enjoying the peace and quite of the night sky, they began to a friendship. Nadia enjoys the small talks with Ty and adores how much he loves his young son Sam. Their friendship becomes something more but Ty’s fears about what Sam’s mother did to them keep him at a distance. Can Nadia get Ty to drop his shield or will she end up with her first broken heart?

Nadia is a tough and hardworking young woman, who is ready for the next challenge in college. She also works part time at a local day care to support herself, a job that she enjoys. What I liked about Nadia is how transparent she was, sometimes its not always good, but as the reader you can see how sweet and open-minded she was. Her love for education and children was honest and lovable. Her personality and compassion was also shown towards her friend and helped during times they needed her. I feel that’s a huge reason why I connected to her so much was because she had such a big heart. She’s also not perfect, her home life is good but there are things that affect her and she finds a way to work around that.

Ty is a tough one, I adored his love and sacrifices he made for his son, it makes him a good father. But after being hurt in the past it blinded him to the good around him, it also made him shield away because of the awful guilt he carries with him. Though I enjoyed his character and absolutely loved his adorable son Sam, I couldn’t connect to him as much as I did Nadia. He felt sorry for himself half the time, while I know others in the Ty’s situation fight through the hardship and succeed in their goals. It made him a little too mopey for my liking. This is just my opinion though. I did love the scenes with Nadia and Ty, their chemistry was sweet and hot, they do get off on a rocky start. As well as some things may not be ideal for a relationship that they decide on, but Ty was a tough cookie to crack. Nadia does a good job handling his persona and makes some sacrifices herself.

Overall this was a great start to a new series, I think some may not understand the underlining message but I feel this one should be giving a chance. Plus Sam is such an adorable little boy, its hard not to love him! Sam isn’t the only great secondary character; the readers are introduced to Max, Angus and Lauren, Nadia’s three roomies who have some interesting side stories of their own. I’m excited to be continuing with Lauren in the next book.

RECOMMENDATION:

This is a new adult novel with sexual content suited for mature readers 18 and up. Fans of Love, In English by Karina Halle and Be With Me by J. Lynn will love I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre.

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"A tender, sweet, and sexy story about how life—and falling in love—can never be planned."

—Jennifer L. Armentrout, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You

I WANT IT THAT WAY on Goodreads

Read the First Chapter HERE!

EXCERPT:

“Where are you from?”

Ah, an actual question. That means I can ask one back.

“Nebraska, toward the South Dakota and Wyoming side, if that helps.”

“I’ve never met anyone from there.”

Michigan was a long way from home. “I usually get ‘not in Nebraska anymore’ jokes, and then I have to decide if I’m going to remind them that’s Kansas or play along.”

“What do you usually do?”

“Play along.”

“You don’t like conflict, huh?” He sounded normal tonight, as if talking to me wasn’t an unpleasant chore anymore.

That was a relief since I’d come to look forward to these moments with him so much. More, maybe, than I’d like to admit.Right. Friends. I distracted myself by considering his question. “Not if it can be avoided. I’m not what you’d call pugnacious, no. But I like to think I don’t back off important issues. What about you?”

“No.” His voice was bleak and quiet. “I don’t. Even when I should.”

Wow, that took a dark turn.

If I could’ve jumped onto his patio without breaking an ankle or waking Sam, I’d have been down there like a shot. The distance between us seemed intolerable, and from the knot in my throat, I didn’t see how I could live another second without touching him, finding out if his hair was as soft as it looked or what he smelled like. I wanted him in a way I never had before.

In high school, I had a boyfriend who played basketball, and we broke up when I left the state. It was a rational decision, and I didn’t miss him that much once I was gone. My freshman year, I went out with a lot of different guys, one date here, two dates there, but I never clicked with anyone enough to focus on them. Sometimes there were hookups with no strings, no expectations. Classes, friends and work seemed a lot more important. The intensity of this attraction was foreign and frightening, if exhilarating. I might already be backing off if I had the faintest sense that Ty was jerking me around on purpose.

Wish he didn’t make me feel this way. It’d be so much simpler if I could friend-zone him.

I realized I still hadn’t touched his verbal grenade. “We all have things we’d do differently in hindsight.”

“What is it about you?” he asked in a wondering tone.

“Huh?”

“You make me…better. Calmer.”

“Like a sedative?” I snickered. It was the least sexy thing a guy had ever said to me, including a junior high squeeze who said my face wasn’t actually that bad.

He laughed, too, a sheepish sound. “I didn’t mean it like that. Just…I’m worried pretty much all the time that I’m dropping the ball somewhere, about to face-plant, but when I come out here and hear your voice, everything backs off like ten steps. I can breathe again.”

About Ann Aguirre:

Ann Aguirre is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author and RITA winner with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. Ann likes books, emo music, action movies, and she writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens, published with Harlequin, Macmillan, and Penguin, among others.