Stir Me Up by Sabrina Elkins

Title: Stir Me Up

Author: Sabrina Elkins

Publisher: HarlequinTEEN

Release Date: October 1, 2013

Source: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Cami Broussard has her future all figured out. She'll finish her senior year of high school, then go to work full-time as an apprentice chef in her father's French restaurant, alongside her boyfriend, Luke. But then twenty-year-old ex-Marine Julian Wyatt comes to live with Cami's family while recovering from serious injuries. And suddenly Cami finds herself questioning everything she thought she wanted.

Julian's all attitude, challenges and intense green-brown eyes. But beneath that abrasive exterior is a man who just might be as lost as Cami's starting to feel. And Cami can't stop thinking about him. Talking to him. Wanting to kiss him. He's got her seriously stirred up. Her senior has just gotten a lot more complicated...

With a lot of stories, all I really need to know is that it's contemporary. Once I know that, I'm almost guaranteed to read it. And that's how I found myself reading Sabrina Elkins' Stir Me Up. And like anyone who knows me could have predicted, I really enjoyed it. Maybe even loved it

Cami grew up in a kitchen. For as long as she can remember, Cami has been hanging around the kitchen at her father's restaurant. And when she was old enough, she started working as a line cook. Now, as she prepares to start her last year of high school, Cami knows exactly what she wants and she knows how to get there. But then Julian, a young and wounded ex-Marine war vet, comes to live with her family and Cami's life is turned upside down. Cami finds herself spending more and more time with Julian, letting her relationship with her boyfriend, Luke, fall by the wayside. Before long, Cami doesn't know what she wants anymore. The only thing she knows is that she can't stop thinking about Julian.

All I knew about Sabrina Elkins' Stir Me Up was that it's a contemporary romance. And that's all I really needed to know. Anyone who knows me well enough knows I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories, so it should come as no surprise that I pretty much loved Stir Me Up. It was exactly what I was in the mood for and exactly what I wanted it to be. I got sucked right into the story and the world of cooking. I got wrapped in the romance between Cami and Julian, even when it didn't really looking like romance at first. This as just a great romance story, and the best part was that the romance wasn't perfect, because Cami and Julian themselves weren't perfect. And because of that, the story, and the characters themselves, felt that much more real to me.

For whatever reason, I liked Cami straight off the bat. Maybe it's because Cami reminded me a lot of myself when I was in high school…minus the chef aspect of things. So I related a lot to Cami and that's in part what made me enjoy the story so much. But as much as I loved Cami, I didn't understand what she saw in Luke. He just seemed too needy and too pushy. Julian, though, I pretty much fell for right from the start. Who wouldn't want a hot ex-Marine in their life? But more than that, Julian was far from perfect and didn't pretend that he was perfect. And he was also hurting and lost and their were moments when I just wanted to hug him and hold him and tell him he would be okay. And Julian and Cami just worked together.

I'm always looking for great contemporary romances and that's exactly what Sabrina Elkins' Stir Me Up was. If you are looking for romance and a swoon-worthy love interest, then Stir Me Up is the book for you.