This is a spoiler-free review! This is War is currently available for free on iBooks and Kindle.
I love a good brother's best friend and roommate romance, and this book checked all of my expected boxes -- they hate each other, bickering all of the time, forced to stay in the same house, and driving each other up a wall at every chance they get. Travis is just a few years older than Viola, but the man acts like a man-child whereas Viola wants nothing more to study and get out of the house as soon as possible. It is basically a match made in heaven.
My man Travis is an absolute animal, and I could not even tell you if that is a good thing or not. When his ego isn't leading him around the office or his house, he is like a cat in heat with a girl in his bed every other night. Meanwhile Viola is doing everything in her power to tame him while she stays at his place, but this lingering childhood resentment is definitely poking a hole in her plan. There is so much unresolved tension between the two of them, I am honestly surprised that no one else even noticed that they definitely did not hate each other the way that everyone thought.
There are so many Harry Potter references in this book, it almost made the story unbearable at points. Understanding that this book came out six years, I will give it a pass, but certainly puts the dating of the story on thin ice for me. I have never been a fan of book, movie, or music references in books because I always feel like the story is stuck in whatever year it was published and does not have a chance to move along with current trends.
For someone who cannot get Viola's name out of his head, Travis sure does love screwing anything with a pulse. In the beginning of the book it was expected and definitely played into his character, but two thirds into the book and nearly nothing has changed except him now thinking about Viola when he is with other girls but not doing anything about it made me start to lose interest in him. He gets insanely possessive of Viola when other guys are around her -- which I actually really enjoyed, because it made his character start to have more personality -- but his constant torment of her in the house went from playful to annoying fairly quick.
The sex scenes were mediocre at best, and at times even just flat out unrealistic. They were fun at first because of the built up tension between Travis and Viola, but when they finally did more, it fell kind of flat. It is definitely on the tamer side of being categorized as erotica, so if you are looking for something fun and quick, this certainly will meet your expectations.
I really enjoyed how Travis and Viola's relationship developed -- the lingering childhood betrayal or miscommunication was always there in the background for the both of them, and of course they both had their own sides to the story. It definitely had that enemies-to-lovers feel as much as a contemporary romance can have, so the bickering if off the charts, but not so over the top that it feels too much.
This series consists of three duets, so you only need to read the first two books in order to wrap up Travis and Viola's story before moving onto Viola's brother, Drew, and her best friend, Courtney. I am intrigued on how the remainder of Travis and Viola's relationship plays out, so I may pick up the second when I have a spare minute in between tackling my TBR pile. I would recommend this to romance readers who are looking to move on from early-college contemporary romance and turn toward new adult college romance with a touch of spice. While we only see a few glimpses of Viola's college life, she is just about graduated.
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