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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Loved the book! Was heart broken at one point. Thought Ashlyn was dreaming but it turned out to be reality. :-( Highly recommend reading it.
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I really enjoyed Ashlyn and Daniel’s story. It definitely tugged on the heart strings so you may want to grab a box of tissues while reading. This was my first book but this author and I look forward to reading more of her work. 4 stars!
Well that was ... painful. My poor eyes are sore now due to the excessive eye rolling that took place as I read this book. Holy cow was this melodramatic! I felt like I had been dropped into a teenage version of The Young and the Restless. So much angst. So much drama. So many ridiculous inner monologues.
There are quite a few people who adore this novel ... and you might be one of them if your idea of an awesome book is totally cliched characters, unrealistic dialogue, and a hodge podge of teen drama themes that are thrown together willy nilly in order to create a romantic duo with more angst than an entire population of high school students in one school. This book can't just choose one or two tragedies/difficulties to stress. No, this book has it all ... death of a sibling, death of a parent (or two!), death of a best friend, absentee father (or mother!), drug use, danger from a drug dealing thug, homosexuality (to come out or not to come out), coming out as gay to your prejudicial hyper-religious parent, dating a cheating jerk, figuring out life after high school. Seriously. All of these are in this book ... and I'm sure I've already forgotten some of the angst causing themes.
And that doesn't even begin to touch on the HUGE theme of this book ... Ashlynn is in love with her TEACHER. And he loves her. And nothing's gonna stop their love. I really loved Colleen Hoover's Slammed, which tackled this same subject. This book felt a lot like that one ... expect not. It was not done nearly as well. I felt icky about this whole situation for the entire book in a way that I didn't in Slammed. Why? Well, I think I have to agree with the boy who said that Mr. Daniels was taking advantage of Ashlyn. She was a red hot mess ... and so was he. I get that they needed to have a rock in their lives, and each of them served that purpose. But I would be pretty wary of any relationships that have mutual depression and tragedy as the glue that binds them. I never could figure out exactly WHY these two were drawn to each other, other than their shared emo personalities.
And I'm going to have to start a whole new paragraph for this, but .... the over the top language of this book was soooooo irritating. No one talks like this, even in their head. No one. Well, okay, maybe that one kid who sits in the lunchroom with an eternal scowl on his face as he looks down on the common people with their shallow conversations and lives while he dreams of making it big as a slam poetry god on the college circuit. But no one else. I hate to say this , but I really feel like this is the sort of book I would have written when I was 15 and dreaming of writing a passionate romance novel that would be SO BEAUTIFUL. Seriously. This was a line in this book:
Seriously. What does that even mean? I'm sure lots of people loved these sorts of lines, but for me it was juvenile and syrupy ... and not the good kind of syrup.
I wonder if I would have found it as excruciating to read if I had not listened to the audio book. Maybe reading it to myself I would have appreciated all the gaudy language. Maybe. But hearing someone actually say the words out loud was laughable.
So, obviously I didn't like this at all. I wonder if I would have loved it more if I read it as a teenager. Probably. I was all about wishing for people who would quote Shakespeare (or Shakes as Mr. Daniels calls him?????) on the fly and carry me away to romantic paradise. But as an adult I found the whole experience goofy. Don't trust my rating, though. There are a ton of people who think this book is heaven. I'm obviously not the target audience here. One star for this one. I didn't like it.
There are quite a few people who adore this novel ... and you might be one of them if your idea of an awesome book is totally cliched characters, unrealistic dialogue, and a hodge podge of teen drama themes that are thrown together willy nilly in order to create a romantic duo with more angst than an entire population of high school students in one school. This book can't just choose one or two tragedies/difficulties to stress. No, this book has it all ... death of a sibling, death of a parent (or two!), death of a best friend, absentee father (or mother!), drug use, danger from a drug dealing thug, homosexuality (to come out or not to come out), coming out as gay to your prejudicial hyper-religious parent, dating a cheating jerk, figuring out life after high school. Seriously. All of these are in this book ... and I'm sure I've already forgotten some of the angst causing themes.
And that doesn't even begin to touch on the HUGE theme of this book ... Ashlynn is in love with her TEACHER. And he loves her. And nothing's gonna stop their love. I really loved Colleen Hoover's Slammed, which tackled this same subject. This book felt a lot like that one ... expect not. It was not done nearly as well. I felt icky about this whole situation for the entire book in a way that I didn't in Slammed. Why? Well, I think I have to agree with the boy who said that Mr. Daniels was taking advantage of Ashlyn. She was a red hot mess ... and so was he. I get that they needed to have a rock in their lives, and each of them served that purpose. But I would be pretty wary of any relationships that have mutual depression and tragedy as the glue that binds them. I never could figure out exactly WHY these two were drawn to each other, other than their shared emo personalities.
And I'm going to have to start a whole new paragraph for this, but .... the over the top language of this book was soooooo irritating. No one talks like this, even in their head. No one. Well, okay, maybe that one kid who sits in the lunchroom with an eternal scowl on his face as he looks down on the common people with their shallow conversations and lives while he dreams of making it big as a slam poetry god on the college circuit. But no one else. I hate to say this , but I really feel like this is the sort of book I would have written when I was 15 and dreaming of writing a passionate romance novel that would be SO BEAUTIFUL. Seriously. This was a line in this book:
“His lips alone had the power to make me live forever.”
Seriously. What does that even mean? I'm sure lots of people loved these sorts of lines, but for me it was juvenile and syrupy ... and not the good kind of syrup.
I wonder if I would have found it as excruciating to read if I had not listened to the audio book. Maybe reading it to myself I would have appreciated all the gaudy language. Maybe. But hearing someone actually say the words out loud was laughable.
So, obviously I didn't like this at all. I wonder if I would have loved it more if I read it as a teenager. Probably. I was all about wishing for people who would quote Shakespeare (or Shakes as Mr. Daniels calls him?????) on the fly and carry me away to romantic paradise. But as an adult I found the whole experience goofy. Don't trust my rating, though. There are a ton of people who think this book is heaven. I'm obviously not the target audience here. One star for this one. I didn't like it.
Little to no chemistry. Very little consequences for the characters.
2.5 stars
while I love romance stories so much - I crave it actually - this just wasn't my cup of tea, too sweet too perfect too in love with each other *rolls eyes* and I think the writing style played major role here where I just felt the author was trying so hard to make it beautiful and so meaningful? not my style
still it got its sweet moments
while I love romance stories so much - I crave it actually - this just wasn't my cup of tea, too sweet too perfect too in love with each other *rolls eyes* and I think the writing style played major role here where I just felt the author was trying so hard to make it beautiful and so meaningful? not my style
still it got its sweet moments