The Studying Hours (How to Date a Douchebag #1)

I chose this book as part of a read-a-thon I was participating in. One of the challenges was to read a hyped contemporary novel. With all the buzz this series gets in my bookish circles, The Studying Hours fit that criterion for me. This book has been on my TBR for quite some time, and I was excited to read it.

Unfortunately, this excitement was short lived. By 10%, I was ready to DNF this book, mostly due to a completely unlikeable male lead. Yes, I knew he would be somewhat of a jerk based on the title of the book, but I wasnt quite prepared for the active loathing I had for Sebastian Oz Osbourne.

I wasnt expecting much beyond the typical college sports romance, and I was OK with that. I read and very much enjoy those. However, this story was justnot good. Besides the clear need for another pass by an editor, the characters are underdeveloped and unlikeable, and there is only the barest hint of a plot throughout this book.

Lets talk about Oz. I didnt like him. At all. For a guy majoring in HR, he sure needed his own lesson in sexual harassment. I have no qualms with an aggressive alpha male, but Oz was just pushy and pervy and terribly unsexy. His Dont You Know Who I Am? routine became tiresome, and he had NO attributes beyond sports and sex. We know almost nothing about him.

Then theres James. Besides having a quirky name for a girl and a particular style of dress, she is a blank; a void. We know NOTHING about her. Moreover, what little we do learn, we learn much too late to actually become invested in her as a character. (And its only one paragraph worth of information, so youre not missing much) Shes pretty much there as a vehicle for Ozs machinations and to be a receptacle for the obligatory sex scenes this genre demands.

Additionally, I must mention the one POC character in this novel. Hes given one paragraph, and if Im being honest, its clearly thrown in there as an afterthought, a token character. His (very) limited dialogue is nothing short of stereotypical, and when I listened to the audio, was downright offensive. The narrator performed this dialogue as if he were auditioning for a Boyz In The Hood remake, and it really didnt sit well with me.

The side characters were pretty much a parade of jerks and bigger jerks, and I have no interest in following any of the antics of the students at this school. Do we even know the name of the school? I finished this book only a few hours ago, and I have no idea.

The narration was also a bit of a disappointment to me. While the Muffy Newtown did a fine job, I struggled with Josh Goodmans performance. His female voice didnt differ much from his male voice, so I had a hard time knowing who was speaking at times. The same holds true for Ozs inner dialogue. I couldnt always tell when things were spoken out loud and when they were part of his internal thoughts.

Overall, this book was disappointing to me on many different levels. Which honestly bummed me out, because I was really looking forward to reading this series. Sadly, it turned out to be cringe-y, super trope-y, problematic, and at times, completely offensive. I wont be continuing with this series.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a NA book, and this one was free and claimed to be funny (the free part was true at least). I read about 30% and this happened: after James repeatedly tells Sebastian she’s not interested, he scams his way onto her spring break trip and insists on sharing her hotel room. After that I said nope skimmed some of the rest.

Sebastian is majoring in human resources because his older sister was sexually harassed at work, yet he clearly doesn’t understand harassment. Other than being good-looking, he doesn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities. James was better, but I can’t with women who seem normal but turn stupefied when a hot guy is around. Rude? Jerk? Speaks abhorrently about women? Not cool! But he’s hot, so…

I finally finished this book yall! I tried before and DNFed it, but something in me wanted to see if I misjudged it too early. While I cant say its going to be a favorite or the best romance Ive ever read, it was okay. I’m been going back and forth between 2 or 3 stars. I’m going with 2 because of Sebastian’s behavior and the weird dream scenes.

Im so all over the place on how I feel about Sebastian. Sometimes he made me think that he a decent guy, but then he would always mess it up with a comment or looking at other girls. Also, if you are into safe romance, then don’t look at this one. So the big question is did he win me over? Meh, hes alright. Same about Jameson. She was just alright. Honestly, I probably wouldve just left Sebastian and his sexual innuendos alone a long time ago.

So, what did I like? I think that they did have a friendship first before they gave into any sort of relationship. They had so much sexual tension that it was steaming up my kindle. This is a book where I was shouting for them to just have sex already. I liked how Sebastian turned out in the end.

All in all, it wasnt terrible. It was just okay and I hope its one of those series where it gets better as it goes on.

I have only just stumbled across @saraneyauthor when I was scrolling through @demeriahhs Instagram feed! I feel like Ive been living under a rock to not have come across this author before! Anyway, this is the first book in Sara Neys How to Date a Douchebag series. The story is all about Sebastian Oz Osbourne and Jameson Clarke. Sebastian appears to be the classic jock, hes famous for being a student athlete, having a string of girls chasing him and he doesnt care what anyone thinks about him. Jameson is a very conscientious student, spending a lot of her time in the library avoiding douchebags. Douchebags like Oz.
Right, so I loved this. I loved the characters, the storyline, the ending, all of it. For me it was one of those books where I kept checking how many more chapters I had left because I didnt want it to end.
Oz is cocky and arrogant and sexy and you cant help but like him. He has such a swagger it practically comes off the page. Hes so sure of himself but deep down he has a different, softer side to him and you get to see a little bit of that around the major hes chosen and why. He pulls Jameson out of her comfort zone a lot and I loved their relationship. The chemistry is there between them from the start and it zings between them as theyre getting to know each other. Throughout the first half of the book the characters skirt around getting closer to each other and I loved the tension that came along with that. When they do finally get together it makes for great reading and if possible I fell in love a bit more with Oz.
I loved Saras writing style throughout. I felt like I was completely drawn in to the story, it was a great pace and at no point did my attention waver.
The next book in the series is about Zeke. Im feeling reserved about it but I know a lot of people really loved him so Ill be finding out about him next!

This was such an interesting book to read and I’m very happy that I I found it. I chose this book to read as I’m looking forward to meeting the author next year during a signing so thought I would read some more of her material and found this series. Sebastian “Oz” Osbourn is a major wrestling champion who can get anyone he wants, whenever he wants and he doesn’t even have to lift a finger. Him and his buddies are at the library one night and his best mate Zeke makes a bet with him to see if he can get a nerdy librarian type girl to kiss him. This is where we meet Jameson aka James and yes that’s her real name. She’s so used to having guys mistake her for a tutor she gives Sebastian a piece of her mind, talking back to him with her quick wit and telling him to move along (as technically she doesn’t know who he is) which completely shocks Sebastian. He’s never met someone quite as intellectual and mysterious as Jameson, which results in him hanging out with her constantly trying to get inside her head and becoming her friend, much to the displeasure of Jameson as she believes Sebastian is just another dumb jock who can’t have what he wants and that’s why he’s annoying her constantly.

But Sebastian does all that he can to break down Jameson’s walls and embedding himself in her heart and life. Making them quite The unlikely couple of the hour but their explosive chemistry doesn’t take them long to get together and form a bond. Sebastian is a super sexy wrestling machine Who is one of the guys but is totally serious about his future career and taking care of business. Jameson is a an intelligent cardian wearing female / sexy librarian type who is witty as hell and gives as good as she gets. She’ll show people that she’s not what they think her to be and that she goes against the grain in social standing.

I really enjoyed this book a point I could not stop laughing or chuckling to myself and it was really interesting I can’t wait to read Zeke’s book because seriously he needs a girl to sort him out.

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