Crossing the Line audiobook

Simone, you did me DIRTY!!!!!I got so lost in this book and was so into it...and then the ending comes. *sigh* I honestly should have seen it coming. - Action Packed --- I could see this being turned into a movie.- Tons of romance- Steamy -- super emotional sexy time scenes. - Friendships and Family issues...... but horrible ending.....I would still recommend this book, especially to those who love Simone Elkeles, but jump into it knowing that Simone Elkeles twisted things around with this book and will pull every emotion out of you that you did not even know you could feel. Even though I hate the ending, I devoured this book and cannot wait to see what writes next.

Damn, this book broke my heart into millions of pieces... 😞I loved it, with all I have: my heart, my soul and my mind. But the ending was not what I expected. At all... First of all, I love those books which have Spanish sentences as parts of a conversation. Spanish makes a book more interesting from my point of view. And this one had a lot of them. Second, Ryan and Dalila (such an interesting name as well) had a unique love story. One that you could feel from their first kiss. Pablo... such a good friend. Each character needs a friend like him. Even in the darkest moments. I also loved the idea of cartels in this book. Usually cartels and mafia make the action better. The suspense, the fear, the guns, the bad guys etc. But that ending! Yeah, I know I’ve said it before... but damn that ending! Why?! Just why?

OMG je ne m’attendais pas du tout à ça!

Usually an escape across the southern border has the person coming north, but Ryan has already made one huge move south, from Chicago to a tiny town in Texas after his alcoholic mom married an overbearing sheriff who can't stand Ryan. Boxing is his salvation, especially after his dad vanished before he was born and other kids bullied him. Life at home is ugly, what with Mom taking his stepfather's side and his two stepbrothers delighting in making him the scapegoat for everything. After deciding that there's no reason to stick around, Ryan takes what little money he has and hops into his junker car. He heads into Mexico where he believes a retired boxing champion might be his salvation...If he can convince the reclusive man to train him. Enter Dalila, daughter of a powerful Mexican lawyer who feels trapped herself, but for different reasons. The guy who her family thinks she should be interested in, introduces her to boxing and after she sees Ryan in the gym, the attraction grows until it's so powerful, nothing, not her father, not the jealous would-be boyfriend, not rival Mexican gangs, not even Ryan's evil stepdad, can stop them from colliding. However, there are plenty of roadblocks standing in their way including secrets, corrupt officials and uncertainty about who's trustworthy. All of it leads to a shocking conclusion that I certainly didn't expect. Simone is one of my favorite authors and she certainly hit the sweet spot with this book.

Review to come!

“Sometimes you never know what’s missing in your life until it’s right in front of your face. I never thought I needed a hero, until I met Ryan Hess.”The initial premise of this novel drew me in with the quintessential bad boy meets rich girl and they fall in love despite their circumstances story. The romantic rags to riches saga is always a joy for me. Ryan Hess redefined the standard for the bad boy genre. Ryan’s inner monologue completely broke my heart and made me fall in love with him along with Dalila. He was open and vulnerable without being whiny or annoying. His journey from troubled teen to respectable man was just the right pace. His transformation was believable because it wasn’t a transformation. He’s a good guy from page one. He just won’t admit it. Five stars for this young man alone! Dalila also broke the mold, for me, as far as the spoiled, damsel in distress stereotype goes. She was strong and willing to admit when things were wrong in her royal, designer world. She wasn’t disillusioned to the evils behind the upper class and worked hard to expose the demons, even if at her own expense. The novel was more moving than I had expected. I laughed. I cried. And I thoroughly enjoyed joining Ryan and Dalila on their journey. My only critique, is all the Spanish. I speak Spanish, so it was fun for me to see Spanish on the page, but the dialogue wasn’t always explained and it could leave some readers wanting a little more clarity. However, in life, we don’t often get resolution, so it may have been a brilliant tactic on Elkeles part, to further bring the reader into the Mexican cartel war that Ryan and Dalila are fighting through. Great read!

Pour tout dire, Crossing the line fut une excellente lecture ; une excellente surprise même ! La plume de l’autrice est toujours aussi prenante et ses personnages attrayants. Malgré un univers sombre, elle arrive à faire ressortir le meilleur de ses héros, elle ne part ni dans la surenchère ni dans les détails. L’histoire de Dalila et Ryan a également des airs de Roméo et Juliette. Ils vont se retrouver mêlés à une guerre qui les dépasse sans savoir comment ils en sont arrivés là. Mais Ryan est un personnage intègre et fort, un véritable héros.Je pensais lire une simple romance young adults et finalement j’ai eu beaucoup plus. J’en suis ravie. Ma chronique complète sur Songe d'une nuit d'été : https://songedunenuitdete.com/2019/01...

** spoiler alert ** I really ate up this book quick. With so much hope of a happy ending. Whyyyyy??? Did it have to end that way? I cried like a baby. Ryan deserved so much more. He fought to hard and long all his life to finally have it and them poof? Why Simone why?

Wut. Je ne l’avais pas vu venir. Nom d’une noisette.

Ce livre m’a tout simplement bouleversé (j’ai pleuré comme un bébé durant les deux dernier chapitre..)Comme toujours Simone nous aura vendu du rêve.

I loved this book! it only took me a day to read. I loved the characters, all of them where so well written and had deep personalities. I love the boxing aspect it gave the book character. I don't speak any Spanish but I love how all of books include Spanish. Ryan was so amazing and it was sad he didn't see it. the ending broke my heart but I love how all your suspicions finally come to light.

Anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with Elkeles (you can read my previous blogs if you want to know how much I loved everything Elkeles has ever written). So when “Crossing The Line” was released I had to get it right away.“Crossing the Line” follows the story of Ryan, a guy who wants to be a boxing champion and he’ll do anything to make that happen (including moving to Mexico to train with one of the all time greats) and the story of Dalila, the daughter of one of the most affluent lawyers in all of Mexico. Their meeting is chance (or fate?) and together they spend a wild summer trying to find out the truth about who their families are and what their future holds.I have to say this book got me. I couldn’t read anything for a solid two weeks after I finished it. I felt… I just felt and I couldn’t start into a new book like I always do. I tried I borrowed “Those Girls” by Chevy Stevens from the library but I returned it before I had a chance to read it. I just couldn’t bring myself to leave Ryan and Dalila yet. Elkeles always has a way of gripping you and no matter how standard a plot may seem (boy meets girl. Sweet girl bad boy etc) her characters are just so real and so full and you just end up caring about them. You get mad at them and you root for them and you want to help them. And let me tell you this book… it was good. I exploded the ending to my sister because I couldn’t contain it. I needed to talk about it, to have someone else feel it with me.If you’re a fan of Elkeles you’ve probably already read it but if not please do. If you haven’t read Elkeles yet I suggest starting with her first books and working your way up to this one, because her writing only gets better with everything she pens.Happy reading.

I was in the mood for an entertaining and binge-worthy read and this book gave me just that! A great forbidden romance story. I’m surprised this is not one of Elkeles more popular books. The beginning was a bit hard for me to get into and I found myself getting bored but it got better as I kept reading. I couldn’t put it down! There’s suspense, light romance, and definitely a thrill that is addicting. The ending was not what I was expecting. I’m not sure how I really feel about it. Is it bittersweet or simply not a great ending? I’m not completely sure and I seem to be stuck in between both conclusions.I also noticed many reviewers mentioned a cringe factor associated with the book. I did see a few moments where I cringed due to word choice but it wasn’t awful by any means. This book would make a great movie!

** spoiler alert ** Since I’ve been a teenager I’ve LOVED all of Simone Elkeles’s books... BUT WHAT WAS THE ENDING OF THIS NOVEL THAT JUST RIPPED MY HEART OUTI’m a sucker for the romantic relationships that Simone builds up and she did it yet again with this one, but WTF Ryan never caught a break, and then he DIED and never even got to have the happy ending he deserved?? I feel like for this I should give it 3 stars instead of 4, but it was unpredictable and something Simone hasn’t done before (well besides killing Paco in the chain reaction series but he was a side character...) Yeah I loved this story but the ending destroyed me so I don’t think I’ll be able to reread this novel knowing how it ends... hopefully no one read this review before reading the novel

** spoiler alert ** This was great! Took me a few chapters to really get into the story, but I liked how the chapters go back and forth from the main characters perspectives. As the main character, you have to feel bad for Ryan - this guy has been felt a bad hand in life and has a crappy mother who won’t/can’t stand up for her son, but he knows what he wants and goes after it! Dalila on the other hand lives the perfect life - rich father, nice house...but then you find out about her older brother who died and how she feels like she needs to be perfect.When these two meet - BAM! There are forces greater then Ryan and Dalila at work here and the ending of the book will make you gasp, read faster, and then through your chosen reading device across the room.