Pre-read: I may not be reading "Down London Road", but I think I'll give this a try, just to see how the extra story suits. I'm going to try this to give another eye to Young's writing.Post-read: Typical of the genre, but I thought it was okay. Probably moreso considering it was as short read, but I wish there could've been more to the story than what it was. For what it's worth, though, I liked Ellie's voice more than Joss's.Full review:This book struck me only slightly better than "On Dublin Street", but not by much. It's interesting that this felt like more of a cohesive story to me despite the fact it was novella length, but at the same time there was still more that I expected from it in terms of the development of the characters and going beyond common cliches of its respective genre.Ellie was one of the main characters of "On Dublin Street", and "Until Fountain Bridge" was the story of how her relationship with Adam came about. It's told in a series of journal entries that started when Ellie was only 14 years old and had a crush on Adam, though Adam wasn't necessarily aware of her attraction. I thought that the story established Ellie's character well - that was the part of the story I liked, alongside the character intimacy of her narrative - her voice was authentic. I had trouble with Adam's character since it seemed that he only realized his interest in her shortly after her 18th birthday when she lost her virginity to another guy, and the conflicts between them seemed to stem on his protectiveness of her (it wasn't just the fact that he was an Irish alpha male, but rather he was so stick thin and unlikable that I had a hard time following him in this brief narrative). The two embark on a rocky road to their relationship, including a health scare that rocks Ellie's world. There were times when I could say I stood by Ellie's grief, but the relationship never pulled me because I thought Adam disregarded Ellie's sentiments on several accounts, and the narrative somehow dragged its heels in places where it could've been streamlined better for both sentiment and development. Plus there were too many sex scenes - some of those could've been cut out and focused on actually giving Adam a little more development - Ellie's was there and it had the connection, Adam's wasn't - I couldn't get past the fact that he was just a superficial jerk most of the time and he ruined the narrative for me. Braden and Joss are briefly showcased in the story, but are more of a backdrop (which I was thankful for, because Ellie was more likable than Joss to me, even in her role in "On Dublin Street").I felt like I wanted more from the narrative than it provided, in sum, but at least it was a short read.Overall score: 1.5/5 starsNote: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Penguin Group.
 - Samantha Young)
