Step Brother Dearest by: Penelope Ward

    

You’re not supposed to want the one who torments you.

When my stepbrother, Elec, came to live with us my senior year, I wasn’t prepared for how much of a jerk he’d be.

I hated that he took it out on me because he didn’t want to be here.
I hated that he brought girls from our high school back to his room.
But what I hated the most was the unwanted way my body reacted to him.

At first, I thought all he had going for him were his rock-hard tattooed abs and chiseled face. Then, things started changing between us, and it all came to a head one night.

Just as quickly as he’d come into my life, he was gone back to California.

It had been years since I’d seen Elec.

When tragedy struck our family, I’d have to face him again.

And holy hell, the teenager who made me crazy was now a man that drove me insane.

I had a feeling my heart was about to get broken again.

Stepbrother Dearest is a standalone novel.

Step Brother Dearest by Penelope Ward was REALLY good. I liked it from the beginning as I was introduced to Greta, who was a high school senior living with her mom and step father as she anxiously awaiting the arrival of her seemingly difficult and impossible to manage step brother Elec. Elec was supposed to stay with Greta, her mother, and her step father, who was Elec’s ‘father’ for the duration of his last year of high school as his mother went away. However, from the onset, his mission was to first and foremost make Greta’s life as miserable as he could manage. Conversely, from the moment Greta saw him, she was instantly attracted to him in a not-so-brotherly kind of way and thus the madness ensued.

But despite Elec’s harsh treatment from not speaking to her at school to stealing her underwear, Greta was still nice to him and the two began to form somewhat of a cordial relationship where they would text and play video games and eat ice cream. Elec seemingly took on the protector role fighting for Greta’s honor and she seemed to be one of the few people that understood him.Things seemed to be going swimmingly until it all changed, and with that change came shift forward seven years from the last time the Greta and Elec saw each other.

After this reunion which was more than weird and awkward and just short of uncomfortable to read, there is yet another shift in the story. This change in the story was the author changing the novel’s point of view by giving us Elec’s perspective through the words of one of the books that he was writing and chose to share with Greta. This part of the story brought everything full circle and filled in all of the missing pieces of the story like the reason Greta needed to step in and stop Elec’s 'father' from berating him by calling him a loser amongst other things.

I digress. I really enjoyed this novel even though Elec was kind of a jerk and corny all at the same time with his random anagrams and Greta was  an all around nice person who was extremely loyal. But together they were perfect. So my advice, is to not be an underhanded tart and run and read that Step Brother Dearest by Penelope Ward because it is a good story that is also well written. You will not be disappointed.  Job well done Ms. Ward. Job well done!!!

(Did you catch that anagram in there? Scramble the letters of underhanded tart and you get run and read that... I simply couldn't resist.)