Genre: NA Contemporary 16+
The second time, I kneed him in the balls.
The third? I kissed him.
Why? Because Carsen needed it.
Angry and full of hate, Carsen is a lost soul, searching. Since the death of his mother, he’s cold and isolated, needing someone to fill the gap she left wide open, someone to kiss the anger from his soul.
That’s where I come in.
I’m restless, on the search for a new adventure, something to make me feel…well, anything. I’m certain I’ll find a permanent fix soon, but in the meantime, I have this summer job and Carsen to keep me going.
But the summer is only temporary, and so is the fix.
We are imperfect.
We are mismatched.
We are the stars.
I feel like I should begin this review with some
explanation….or full disclosure. This was a very
difficult book to rate. And it isn’t because upon receipt of the ARC from the
PR company, I received an email indicating that “If you find that you can't rate this novel 3.5 stars or
higher, please let us know prior to your posting date” because I don’t
partake in that practice of delaying or withholding reviews if the book doesn’t
rate a certain number of stars. It’s a borderline unethical stipulation that disrupts
the integrity of the review system. It also places too much importance on the
rating when an analysis of a story can be far more helpful. And while at one
point I considered letting the star rating blank because I think different
audiences would rate this differently, ultimately I decided that the rating
should reflect the reviewer’s overall feeling and mine was pretty meh.
I’m not entirely sure
who the primary intended audience for this story is. The blurb lists it as an “upper YA/NA contemporary novella.” It’s being marketed in a romance market. I
read plenty of adult contemporary romance including new adult romance, but this
doesn’t feel new adult. This feels very
young adult in a teen way. Specifically, young adult fiction with limited romance—low
heat (i.e. no sex but yet not what I’d call “clean” romance).
As far as the character go, Elliot—the heroine (and
don’t get me started on the names here) claims she’s smart, but she’s almost flunked
a few classes because she’s bored. Blah, blah, blah. In only the first chapter,
the teen angst mood comes on strong. And
I get it; the teen years are often angsty and that’s appealing to teens. But
once you get past that stage of life, it’s usually not appealing anymore. Or
you realize the things you thought were boring are nothing compared to the responsibilities
of adulthood.
“Everything is a routine that never deviates, an endless cycle of classes, study, party, laundry every other week, and then home. All. So. Boring. Nothing is giving me a zing anymore.”
And see here is where Elliot’s character will probably
either appeal to readers because they are currently that age range and feel the
same way or it won’t appeal because they are not that age and
they’ll be remembering those days, shaking their head thinking ‘if that girls
thinks her life is boring, wait till she replaces classes with a job, takes partying
out of the equation, and *gasp* does laundry every other day!’
And while Elliot Mathers is actually 20 years old and
half way through college, technically a “new adult,” make no mistake—this girl
projects a young adult vibe (i.e she acts more like she’s fifteen).
Enter the hero, Carsen Wheatley, 20, who Elliot is
so drawn to. He’s stormy and brooding, the world wants to judge him, but Elliot
accepts him for who he is.
Anyways, there’s a little “suspense” surrounding
Carsen, which gets derailed for quite a few pages in the beginning by the
inclusion of some mind-numbing family sitcom like dialogue with Elliot’s family.
But then the “romance” starts to get back on track as Carsen and Elliot officially
meet. And as their building friendship and budding romance developed, I started
to get engrossed in the story. It set up an interesting dynamic, and I started
the think the appeal of the story was widening.
Then Elliot freaked out after a simple kiss.
Now keep in mind, Elliot is a twenty year old, non-virginal, college student
yet she reacts like a pre-teen peer pressured into playing spin the bottle at
this point. And the story continues like this. One minute it has potential (and
it really did, especially with Carsen’s character and his roommates); but then
it returns to this awkward teen stuff where they go from having meaningful
conversations to only talking via text. In addition, there are character traits
that are undeveloped, plot points that are lacking, and an almost abrupt ending
following the climax which diminishes the already lacking romantic tone.
Bottom line—if enjoy young adult reads then this
will probably work for you. But if you are a reader looking for what is generally
core to the contemporary romance genre—two characters who all in and finding ‘the
one;’ smutty scenes; and a happily ever after epilogue future; this book will
not fit your reading criteria because what you get instead are…
- Coming of age themes: ‘This is how it is meant to be’ and ‘Self discovery’
- Immature depictions of love where it’s okay to use the person you think you’re falling in love with because you’re bored or they fill a void but hey you learned a life lesson so it was worth it!
- An ending that ironically lacks closure when the heroine’s own mother was just stressing that very thing in the chapter before.
I’ll close this review with two quotes that I think illustrate
issues that are uncool in a book meant
to be a romance because romance stories are supposed to be positive depictions
of love. But taking someone for granted or dating someone for what they do for
you is not real love. It might sometimes be real life and it might be young
adult angst, but it’s also why this story (and specifically those messages) left
me, a romance reader, feeling ‘meh.’
“It was a relationship of convenience. We were two people who didn’t have any business getting into something, yet we did.” –Carsen
“‘I’m still bored. It didn’t fix me like I wanted it to. I used Carsen as a distraction.’” –Elliot
PS One note on
Elliot’s mother and her advice that rubbed me the wrong way. Mrs. Mathers is
described as a no-gossip, open-minded person, yet she spreads a myth to her
daughter when saying:
“You know what everyone says about that degree [in English Education] and obtaining a steady job after graduation.”
Not only did this feel like a continuity error on
the part of Mrs. Mothers’ character, but it’s a bit derogatory. So let me share something a wise English
professor once told one of my graduate classes—an English degree qualifies you to
do anything a Communications degree requires; whereas a Communication degree
does not necessarily qualify you to do the same things required of those with
an English degree.
I’m a romance cover artist by day and a writer by…well, every free moment I get. I currently live in North Carolina with my US Marine husband where I spend my days bugging him about getting a cat so our puppy won’t be alone (he keeps saying no). I survive off coffee, pizza, and sarcasm. When I’m not writing, you can find me binge-watching various TV shows, especially Supernatural. I like cold weather, I buy more paperbacks than I’ll ever read, and I never match my socks—unless they’re fuzzy. I’m weird. It’s kind of my “thing.”
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