Ever since Cali's parents told her she would amount to nothing, she has felt entirely inadequate. Friendless and alone, she takes on the mean girl role in hopes it will make her feel better--and Logan serves as the perfect target. He infuriates her with his obnoxiously long lashes, his all too perfect dimpled smile, and his complete lack of personality outside of his intelligence. It doesn't hurt that he's part of the reason her brother is dead, either. So Cali hates him, and he returns the favor. Thus, their prank-filled, insult-driven rivalry is born, and torturing Logan quickly becomes the highlight of her life.
But when Cali's parents set them up on a blind date, she begins to realize Logan might not be as boring as she always thought. He shares her love of poetry, takes a sadistic pleasure in making fun of crepes, and he makes her blush when he calls her smile pretty.
And hey, maybe those long lashes of his aren't that obnoxious after all…
Two Roads is New Adult Romance about finding love, standing out, and learning to embrace who you are. It contains some language and mild sexual content.
And so I loved Logan Waters. He’s smart, loves poetry, wears t-shirts with clever math double entendres—he’s a loud-and-proud geek to the core and he had my heart from the word go. He rambles on about the most ridiculous things (like crepes) and you know he’s actually given these things a lot of thought—but it’s not annoying, it’s kind of intriguing and very funny. He’s that guy that you might have gotten “stuck with” as a lab partner, but he just gets cuter and cuter the more time you spend with him. Not everyone is so enamored, though. Meet Cali, our narrator, heroine and arch nemesis of Logan Waters (and I’m not being overly dramatic for once—arch nemesis is totally accurate!). She hates Logan Waters with a passion few of us ever experience. Nothing makes Cali happier than making Logan miserable; but it’s difficult to make him truly miserable because he enjoys their little war just as much as she does. And their battles are fun—from Einstein posters to pictures of Cali drunk-kissing randoms to legions of cups of lemonade lined across a dorm room—these two can’t get enough of torturing each other—and it’s fun! I enjoyed every minute of watching them try to one-up each other. They do it with such passion!
Why do they do it, you ask? They have quite a history, these two. Once upon a time Logan and Cali’s big brother, Ben, were best friends, and they seemed to bring Cali into their equation pretty often, judging by Cali’s memories. In fact, once upon a time, Cali had a crush on Logan. I think it’s fair to say she even loved him. He was a fixture in her home and in her life, but a few years ago something happened—Ben was suddenly gone and Logan dropped out of her life, leaving Cali to pick herself up and re-invent, not just herself, but her life. Now, Cali is cool, a self-proclaimed mean girl who sleeps around (theoretically), is flunking out of college and wears her rebel-without-a-cause status like a freaking Olympic gold medal. Logan seems to be constantly popping up and she knows that she probably can’t sustain this act; Cali wants out of it, she wants to be herself and she wants to be a poet. So, she writes on the sly and becomes somewhat obsessed with a poetry blog.
It’s clear from the get-go that something’s got to give with Cali and Logan. No one can maintain this level or anger and aggravation, and I honestly looked forward to seeing where this relationship was going to go and how Cali would evolve. I was pretty sure from the get-go that Logan just is who he is, and I was right. It’s Cali that has the most growing to do.
I’m guessing that the mysterious L.M. Augustine is a young writer, and I think he’s a young writer with a lot of potential. He has a talent for creating characters that wedge themselves right into your heart and imbuing them with a sweetness and sincerity that feels real and right. I enjoyed watching this relationship unfold (and the crepes were a nice touch.;)).
If you’re looking for heat though (read SMUT), keep looking. This is a love story, absolutely, but there will be no buttons flying—and if there were, it wouldn’t work, it wouldn’t feel real. Maybe one day when he’s a little older, Logan will be able to brandish a silver tie and make me believe it, but that day is not here yet. I absolutely believed that Logan was older than Cali, but no amount of advanced math for Logan or hook-up lingo out of Cali’s mouth could make me believe these two were grown-ups. Making a break into the world of NA might be great, but so is a well-done story marketed to the right group, which I really believe is YA in this case. I hope this isn’t discouraging to Mr. Augustine; I would point out that great books defy their genre, they exceed them, and they reach beyond the borders of their labels to all sorts of eyes. Think Hunger Games, The Book Thief, and Game of Thrones, just to name a few. And how many women (not just girls) gave up sleep to spend their nights with Edward Cullen? Write your story, market it to the appropriate group, and the work will do the rest.
And one more thing: Mr. Augustine has a rather snarky, fun online personality (yes, I’ve Twitter stalked); I’d love to see him take that a step further and give readers a story from a male point of view—a snarky, fun point of view. A little Emma Chase-like but done as only L.M. can do it. Mr. Augustine has a kind of innocent charm that doesn’t strike me as NA material (yet), but he’s worth the read—and he’s worth watching! Keep your eye on him.
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