REVIEW: With These Hands by Daryl Banner

With These Hands by Daryl Banner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book Description: 

This is the third book in the College Obsession Romance series. This book is a standalone but has recurring characters from the first two books.

~ DMITRI ~
I want to put my hands all over her body.
But they’re too busy writing my fantasy instead of living it.
I’m so used to spinning love stories in my head that I’ve lost track of the one in my heart.
Doesn’t she see that my strength begins and ends within the four corners of the page? 
I may be a writer, but with her, I’m a romantic. I want to pin her against every wall on this campus and devour her – lips to lips, skin to skin, hand to hand. I want to feel her heart race against mine and her body quake under my touch.
I’m finished being a loveless prisoner to the page.
Now I want the real thing – and I think she’s it.

~ SAM ~
Everyone thinks I’m just a weirdo, the quiet girl, the music nerd. No one sees me for who I really am – except him.
He watches me with those dark, sensitive eyes of his, melting me. He knows my pain. Maybe he shares it. He brushes the hair out of my eyes with his soft, skillful hand and it drives me insane. I think he’s the music I’ve been looking for all along. You can’t make harmony with just one voice. I need another – and I want it to be his.

The College Obsession Romance series centers around a group of friends and the relationships they form during their time at a small-town Texas school. They are angsty, steamy new adult novels with HEAs and NO cheating. Although they are obsession-themed romances, there are no stalkers or psychos!

I’m seriously in love with Daryl Banner’s writing. He just knows how to bring the characters to life and make them real.

Sam was so adorably painfully awkward. Lol. She actually reminded me of me except I’m nothing but painfully awkward. There were times that I felt so bad for Sam that I had to put the book down for a moment and regroup. I’ve been there (hell, I’m STILL there)…and I just felt for her!

I loved Dmitri it’s as simple as that. I loved watching him grow, watching things circle back to Sam on more than one occasion. I loved their friendship and how they were able to pick things up like no time had passed. I was constantly rooting for them. I kind of wish that Sam hadn’t stayed with Tomas for so long. She totally deserved better (DMITRI!) and he was always around (and I don’t mean in a good way). As for Dmitri’s journey…I really hated Riley. I just did. I didn’t like how she treated him and how she reacted to finding out certain things about Dmitri. She was awful (and not Sam).

It was awesome to see Clayton & Dessi, Brant & Nell and see pieces of their stories through someone else’s experiences. I loved seeing the group of friends and how they all impacted Dmitri & Sam’s story.

I think one of the things I loved most was that this was a slow burn romance for Dmitri and Sam. They met when they were both freshmen but it took years for them to actually get together. They built a friendship first (with some bumps in the road) but they always “got” each other and they were always on the same wavelength. I have to say that one of my favorite scenes was a) when she invited him home with her (I totally loved the way she just blurted that out) and b) when she FINALLY played the piano for him.

I admit that I’m not a M/M reader. I just haven’t found the book to really get me into the genre. But after reading this book, I’m thinking Daryl is just the author to give it a shot with. This book does have some M/M scenes as well as a M/F/M scene.

This book was complete awesomesauce and I can’t recommend it enough!