~*★Review★*~ Deviation (Defined Series #1) by M.C. Cerny

Title: Deviation

Author: M.C. Cerny

Genre: New Adult, Coming Of Age, Contemporary Romance

Release Date: July 27, 2015

Synopsis

Deviation: an action, behavior, or condition that is different from what is usual or expected; an act or instance of deviating; a noticeable or marked departure from accepted norms of behavior.

Edith Willows has escaped the drugs, abuse, and poverty of her early years, but the scars remain. She is imperfect and damaged. Eager to complete her college degree and leave the past behind, Edith doesn’t anticipate the return of a forbidden crush, threatening to destroy her carefully crafted peace…

Jack Hamilton has the perfect life…a woman who fulfills his needs, a successful business, and an adjunct position at his former school. However, a past indiscretion has haunted him for years and, now, the beautiful dark-haired girl he had no business getting involved with sits just rows away from his podium, all grown-up…

Edith and Jack deviate from the acceptable student/teacher relationship.

**** This is a full length novel of Edith Willows and Jack Hamilton's story of what happens after the fall semester. The original novella "Deviation" appeared in the Hot for Teacher Anthology published in October 2014. ****

**** This book contains graphic and mature material and is intended for adult readers 18+ ****

Title: Deviation

Author: M.C. Cerny

Release Date: July 27, 2015

Genre: New Adult, Coming Of Age, Contemporary Romance

Series or Standalone: Series (Defined Series #1)

Rating: ★★★★

Reviewer: Melyssa 

I have to admit. I had no prior knowledge of Edith or Jack before jumping into this. I have since become aware of them being part of an anthology (their first meeting), but hadn’t read it. Where in other instances that might affect how I read this book moving forward, it didn’t here.

The author did a very good job of incorporating the most important parts of that into this story so that what you’re getting as you read is a full Edie and Jack experience. Or at least that’s how it came across for me. I didn’t feel as though I missed anything not having that prior experience.

With that being said, I move into what this book is about (or rather, what it contains, what worked and what didn’t for me).

This is a forbidden romance. It is such because it takes place between a teacher and a student. Now I’m the first to admit that I don’t exactly go out of my way to read a ton of these types of books mainly because the idea doesn’t really jump out to me, but this one felt different as I was searching for something to read and also read differently as I started and now have finished it.

This isn’t in any stretch of the imagination like other forbidden books I’ve read. This is a whole lot more than a taboo relationship that’s expanded on. It’s even about more than two people falling in love. It’s about living through hell and coming out the other side, with a whole lot of falling and picking yourself up in between.

It’s about recognizing things in yourself and making the conscious effort to change them when you realize they are things that you want changed. It’s about coming to terms with and loving yourself, faults/flaws and all. It’s a story of love, sure, but also of growth and no two people grow more than these two within its pages.

Edith and Jack’s journey is not an easy one to stomach. There are quite a few issues that take place both on Jack’s end, and Edith’s that may be triggers for some, but the author put a lot more focus into their journey to healing from them than they did focusing even more on the darker road that could be taken.

Having met previously, neither one of them able to let go of what took place before, when they come across each other again, the attraction is there even more so than it was before. It’s still very prevalent and it doesn’t take long for Jack to throw caution to the wind and act on what he had spent years denying himself.

I liked the two of them together. Even in their darkest period, the devotion that he had for Edith astounded me. Melted me. Made me feel. He stayed by her side through it all even when the right move to make was taking a step back and letting her get her footing on her own. It was a beautiful thing to witness when often times, the guys do tend to give up and walk in books these days.

Edith for her part, based on the upbringing, and the hand she’s been dealt before even meeting Jack is resistant to any form of help. Even when it comes in the forms of her best friends, but there comes a point that when things are the bleakest, she had a moment of clarity and seems to come back to the land of the living and understanding what everyone had been trying to get her to see all along.

There are moments of violence within these pages and at times it gets quite visual, but it worked in terms of putting this reader on the edge of her seat wondering how it would all play out. As twisted as things became, I enjoyed the way it all worked out and came together.

There is a bit of an open end here (not cliff-hanger), which makes me believe that instead of this being a standalone series, it may in fact be a continuing one, which with the way it ended and me wanting to see how things truly do play out for all of these characters in the future, I’m happy about. There are unanswered questions for the friends and even though this one does lend to a HEA, I want more of one for both Edith and Jack. Especially with everything they lived through together.

Overall, this was a great read and one that was a lot different than I expected it to be. So my hat is off to the author for creating something different for the masses to get lost in.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author and all others involved in allowing me the chance to read this.