When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.
Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex's frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night--but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.
When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he's hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.
(Mature Young Adult/ New Adult)GOODREADS
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The reason I picked this book up. 1. the cover, 2. I'm girl and I occasional love a mushy-romantic-predictable-dramatic love story. 3. The "mature young adult/new adult " tag got my attention as well.
The book starts off when Jackie leaves a party and almost gets raped and she's then rescued by the guy, Lucas. This is very predictable: guy saves girl, they fall in love. Yes, it is mushy and I'd have initially given it a 3. But the book doesn't overly surround the romance it also addresses the college situation and life. Jackie almost got raped and didn't report it . Later on the potential rapist rapes another girl. Jackie didn't tell her friends because she thought they wouldn't believe her. She later does and her best friend/room mate turns out to be really supportive , they take defense classes provided at the college.
The heroine is likable and at first a bit annoying.
""The whole thing was a competition to see who could get how far, and I could never figure out if there was more luck or skill involved, or some unknowable combination of the two. People rarely said what they thought, or revealed how they felt. No one was honest""
These are her thoughts on dating. I agree you like a guy, so you don't tell him you like him and pretend you're interested in someone else or play some other game. come on! Although she plays the stupid game she redeems herself and her character becomes likable and normal .
The there's Lucas, the hero. Pierced and tattooed Lucas. Lucas has a traumatic past and carries this guilt around. He's a great hero in the story. and he can cook! too good to be true!
Lucas/Landon frustration!
In the book Jackie misses out on 2 weeks of economics class and has to make up for it. So her professor makes her get a tutor so she can get up to date on the material she missed. She has a busy schedule so she and the tutor, Landon correspond through e-mail. She likes Landon too,they kind of flirt a bit. It reminded me of that movie with Tom Hanks and that chick (you've got mail?). This was new for me: to read these correspondences between the characters (a new kind of dialogue between them). It was also annoying because she likes Lucas but was also curious about Landon. It was so annoying I stopped to go look for spoilers to make sure it was one person (becauseI hate the triangle thing!).
This is a refreshing book to read and an easy one. It (slightly ) reflects the way young men and women socialize ( text ting/e-mailing) and also the hazards of college live for girls. So it's not just a mushy romantic love story and that's what gives it the 4/5.
Grade:
I'm glad you liked it, but I'm not sure I'd pick it up. LOL. The girl sounds a bit annoying. :P
ReplyDeleteShe was a bit at first when she kept over thinking things
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