Phase - Book Review

By Michelle Irwin

Synopsis

Living in the shadow of a legend has its drawbacks.

Every aspect of Phoebe Reede’s life has been defined by her father. Caught halfway between being a teen and an adult, she yearns to break free from the weight of expectations surrounding the Reede name.

Her desire for freedom sends her overseas on her first solo journey. There, she finds herself having an unexpected adventure with an unlikely person.

How can she learn who she wants to be and what is nothing more than a phase?

Review

You know, you can’t help but be scared for what you’re about to read when the author’s dedication at the beginning tells fans “I’m sorry”. Sounds ominous, right? Moving on. For those of you who’ve read the Declan Reede series, you’ll know who Phoebe is. For those of you that haven’t, that’s ok, because you can step into Phoebe’s series just fine. She was just four years old in Declan’s series, but in this series she’s an eighteen year old woman trying to figure out who she is away from her father’s fame and talent. She loves her family but is desperate for some alone time, so she embarks on a six week trip across America, which is where she meets Beau.

I liked Phoebe, who I thought was brave and not afraid to speak her mind, but there were times where I thought she was a little too sensitive because of how quickly she would fly off the handle. Like father, like daughter, I suppose. There were also times where I found her to be a little irritating, mainly when she was going on about trying to figure out who she was, or constantly talking about Beau’s accent. And as sexist as this will make me sound, I wasn’t a fan of her crude talk, given her age and the fact that she’s a girl. I know, I know. Feel free to shake your head at me. Now Beau on the other hand I really liked and found to be totally swoon-worthy because he was a true gentleman; perfect for rough-around-the-edges Phoebe. He’s super sweet and a real nice guy, at least up until the end when everything goes horribly wrong. I enjoyed reading their dialogue, which at times was funny, cute and awkward.

“How can I feel this way, Beau? We hardly know each other. It can’t be love.”
“Love don’t know nothin’ of time, darlin’. Or knowledge. It just is.”

PHASE is told only in Phoebe’s POV and is the beginning of a new series, one where the books will not be stand-alones. I would classify PHASE as an instalove, and be warned because it does end in a cliffhanger. While I thought the bulk of the story was nice and sweet and romantic, I also found it to be a little slow, probably because I was expecting the same intensity I found in Declan’s story. But when I got to the end, that changed because the ending was soul crushing and heartbreaking. It left me angry and upset, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days and days. I just kept wondering where Beau and Phoebe will go to from here and praying that they won’t do anything stupid in the next book/s. A book that has me getting emotional about it days later deserves the maximum rating. I can’t wait for the next book, PHOBIC, to come out January next year.