Title: At Any Price
Author: Brenna Aubrey
Series: Gaming the System #1
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Slow
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2013

I started reading this novel quite a while ago, and then I put it down. Actually, I went through a few attempts with this. Firstly I didn’t necessarily want to read it because I was worried that there was too much emphasis placed upon virginity (again). But then, I read the first part which contains Mia’s manifesto. And I was completely hooked – I mean, yes to pretty much everything she says and rants about there! But then the male lead was introduced and I felt pretty Luke Warm. So I stopped reading. But, eventually I realised that I still had to know what happened next! So I picked this up again, and I’m really, really glad that I did. Once I got over the hump of that first meeting, I actually really loved this story. And I ended up being really happy and comfortable with this novel and the many ethical moments throughout.

I think one of the things I really loved about this is that there are a lot of uncomfortable moments throughout the quite fun and sweet romance. I kept feeling a bit odd about some of the things in this story – a woman selling her virginity because it’s a socially pressured construct, prostitution, secret identities, addiction, there were so many discussions and moments that actually made me stop reading and pause. It’s hard for stories to do this in a manner that made me uncomfortable (enough that, as previously mentioned I did stop and start this a bit), but also made me want to keep reading. Aubrey does such a great job of highlighting some of the issues and impressions that society puts upon us. And reminds us that there are a multitude of ways to look at such things.

I must admit that I did guess the ‘twist’ at the end of this story. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, but I did like how this helped to further evolve the characters. It was nice that both leads were able to go through some serious growth and change. They both make mistakes, and stupid decisions, but they find a way back to one another. Plus, it just made the journey all that much more exciting – you already knew there was a secret that was going to make things unravel, so it was exciting to experience this!

For a book that had a bit of a rocky start for me, I actually really loved this. It was beautiful and fun. And, unlike many other romances that I read, there are more stories featuring this couple. Once they decide to take the plunge to happily ever after, they will still have challenges to overcome! Which, lets face it, is a way more realistic romance than just riding off into the sunset together. I can’t wait to read more stories by Aubrey.

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Image source: Amazon