REVIEW: Just a Little Crush (Crush #1) By, Renita Pizzitola

Good girls stay away from Ryder Briggs . . . or, at least, they tryto. In Renita Pizzitola’s emotional novel of heartache and seduction, one college freshman just can’t get enough.
 
Brinley Dawson doesn’t drink, she studies—and despite the accusations of her alcoholic mother, she’s still a virgin. But if Brinley’s life is so put together, why is she freaking out to be going to college with the gorgeous, green-eyed jerk she kissed on a stupid dare in high school? Ryder Briggs can have any girl he wants . . . and the rumors say that he does. So why, after publicly embarrassing Brinley four years ago, is he suddenly acting like he’s interested?
 
Ryder never forgot Brinley. In fact, those perfect seven minutes permanently raised the bar for what a kiss could be. The truth is, Ryder doesn’t dare get too close to anyone. He knows how that worked out for his parents. But when his roommate takes a shot at Brinley, Ryder can’t contain his jealousy. Now he must do the hardest thing he’s ever done: forget about sex and convince Brinley his feelings are real.
 
Brinley isn’t sure whether she believes Ryder, but for the first time, her body isn’t playing by the rules. Then she discovers that she’s an unwilling part of a cruel game, humiliating her all over again—and Ryder might be to blame. Has Brinley’s little crush turned into a huge mistake . . . or has she found the one guy worth trusting with her heart?

Ryder and Brinley’s story starts at a high school party. Brinley was the out of place, kind of nerdy freshmen and Ryder was the popular, hottest guy in school, bad boy. Enter spin the bottle. Ryder was Brinley’s first kiss. One that she will always remember. Not because it was prefect (which it was), but because Ryder made a fool out of her and made high school miserable. Now four years later they meet again…at a college party.

“My lips answered with a kiss, but my heart answered with forever.”

Brinley Dawson has finally made it to college. She is determined to put her home life and the high school Brinley behind her. Her life at home was spent with an amazing grandmother and an alcoholic mother. A mother that has always blamed Brinley for her existence. Brinley wants college to be different. She doesn’t go home to visit and she goes to parties and tries to make friends. She made it through the first semester without seeing Ryder but that all changed the night of the party. Now he seems to be showing up everywhere. Looking for her. She just doesn’t believe he is any different than the person he was in high school.

“I’ve never wanted a girl like I’ve wanted you,” he whispered, then moved his lips down my neck. “But you don’t understand what that means.” “Then tell me.” I cupped his cheek and forced him to make eye contact. “I want you. In my life. All the time.”

Ryder Briggs is the bad boy on campus. He has a different girl on his arm every week. But the truth is he’s afraid of having a real relationship. His parents divorced when we he was young. He’s keeping the secret that his stepdad is cheating from him mom. To save her from being left with nothing. Nothing good can come from relationships. Until he sees Brinley again. He hasn’t even forgotten their first kiss. No girl has ever measured up. Now he just needs to prove to her and himself that he can be the good guy that Brinley is looking for and deserves.

“Why are you taking me on a date tonight?” He sighed. “Because I can almost stand the person I am when I’m with you.”

Brinley is a character that I think women can be proud to read about. She is strong and knows what she wants. She is smart and serious about her school. She is also very responsible. She was able to be this way and not be a prude. She could be a good, strong, responsible, female character without being a slut or being a prude. She enjoyed her sexuality and that is a character younger readers can look up too. Ryder wasn’t the typical bad boy. There was a depth to him that showed you he was so much more than that. He genuinely cared about Brinley and her feelings. I felt both of these characters were true college kids. They had their problems but nothing was overdramatized.

“To me, it will always represent the girl who, thanks to a little game of chance, swooped into my life and tattooed my soul.”

I really liked this story. It was a little bit predictable but that didn’t make it bad in my opinion. My problem was that it was written a lot like Beautiful Disaster. There were a bunch of similarities that were quite obvious. So if you liked that book (which I loved) then this is definitely a book for you.

        

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