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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
3.5
I have to say that this one I am kind of on the fence. So here it goes.
I absolutely love Sabin! The banter between everyone at some parts is just the best!
There is quite a bit that goes on. There is hurt, heartache, sadness, healing, love and hate.
I had fun following along with the crew and just feeling like I was there hanging out with everyone.
The broken relationship between Blythe and her brother James is so sad. But after going through what they did how could that relationship not be strained?
I absolutely love that Jessica Park added in the last names of some awesome authors mixed into the book. :) Hoover, Reber, Webber, McGuire. I'm not sure if there are more but those were the ones that stuck out when I was reading!
The only thing that I didn't care much for is how predictable it was. I had most of it figured out before I even got half way through the book. I don't usually have an issue with books that are predictable but I love when I finish with an OMG or NO WAY, this didn't have that. At least it didn't for me.
But I do have to say that the wittyness that comes from Jessica is one of the best! I said it before and I will say it again. I loved the banter, but there is a sadness mixed in there that just breaks your heart!
I have to say that this one I am kind of on the fence. So here it goes.
I absolutely love Sabin! The banter between everyone at some parts is just the best!
There is quite a bit that goes on. There is hurt, heartache, sadness, healing, love and hate.
I had fun following along with the crew and just feeling like I was there hanging out with everyone.
The broken relationship between Blythe and her brother James is so sad. But after going through what they did how could that relationship not be strained?
I absolutely love that Jessica Park added in the last names of some awesome authors mixed into the book. :) Hoover, Reber, Webber, McGuire. I'm not sure if there are more but those were the ones that stuck out when I was reading!
The only thing that I didn't care much for is how predictable it was. I had most of it figured out before I even got half way through the book. I don't usually have an issue with books that are predictable but I love when I finish with an OMG or NO WAY, this didn't have that. At least it didn't for me.
But I do have to say that the wittyness that comes from Jessica is one of the best! I said it before and I will say it again. I loved the banter, but there is a sadness mixed in there that just breaks your heart!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overall, I really did enjoy this book. However, during intimate scenes, I really hated the dirty talk. It didn't seem believable. That may have been because I was listening to the audiobook. But it seemed almost annoying to me.
I had read a compelling review of this book, and my appreciation for Park's other books is deep and genuine. I enjoyed the Gourmet Girl mysteries, and Flat-Out Love was delightful. But this one just left me wanting to reformat my entire SD card and somehow start over.
Blythe McGuire is in her final year of college at a small Wisconsin liberal arts school. She is clinically depressed, much of which seems to stem from a fire that left her parents dead and her brother badly injured. In the book's initial pages, we are privy to a tragic scene that reveals Blythe stumbling drunkenly into her college dorm room. It becomes apparent that this night is not unlike most of the nights in Blythe's week. She drinks to kill the dreams, anesthetize the rawness of her emotions, and still the disorganized restlessness of her troubled mind.
She ventures to a nearby lake one day where she watches a fellow student skipping stones, and she is captivated. There's something calming and restorative about the boy's actions. He soon involves her in the activity, and a friendship is born that ultimately morphs into a sometimes-troubled romance.
Blythe soon meets the other members of Chris Shepherd's family, and for the first time in a long time, she feels a sense of belonging. But the family, like Blythe herself, is deeply troubled and in need of healing. That's especially true of Chris. Park skillfully weaves Chris's story with Blythe's, but this is not a typical formulaic romance. There are emotional highs and lows that are accentuated by the difficulties the two experienced in their respective earlier lives. You come to at least feel a diffident appreciation for Chris and the other members of his family who play important parts in the book. Blythe is mostly likable, and I found the plot tolerable enough.
But here's the thing: The sexual scenes are so graphic and flaming that they served merely to distract and tire me. That little forward-by-seconds button on my audiobook reader saw some serious and hard use. This book has convinced me that there must be something seriously wrong with me. The sizzle stuff is clearly designed to pump up everything from one's heart rate to one's anticipation for what lies on the next page. It just didn't work for me at all. Instead of being swept away by the scenes, I found myself wondering with no small amount of irritation how many times Park could drop the F-bomb in a single sentence. I really was afraid by the time I finished the book that I would need to send my book reader to Canada for repairs, so heavily and constantly did I lean on that little forward by granular units button.
If you read the description for this book on Goodreads, you'll note that it cautions would-be readers about the language, etc. I don't see that often in a Goodreads description, and I might have reluctantly put the book aside unread if I'd seen it first. But if detailed sexual descriptions and profanity aren't your thing in a book, let this one slide and glide on past your library checkout or Audible/Amazon purchase button.
But don't give up on Park's writing; that would be a sad thing to do indeed. She is a master at creating memorable characters, and her dialogue is well written and worth the time and effort you'll put into reading it. If Park were a less-talented writer, it would make sense that she would need to resort to some of the techniques she employs here. But she's not someone lacking in talent by any measure. Because of that, I found a lot of those scenes were simply gratuitous and unnecessary.
In an attempt to be fair to her, I have to say that her descriptions of Blythe's clinical depression were so gut-knotting real that you almost felt as if you, too, suffered with Blythe in every way. I just question the credibility of whether a romance--even a stellar one--can bring someone out of the depths of clinical depression as apparently deep as Blythe's was. Maybe it can, and maybe I'm not giving love enough credit, but it just felt a bit artificial to me. Of course, I hope I'm wrong. But the whole premise felt a little plastic.
Blythe McGuire is in her final year of college at a small Wisconsin liberal arts school. She is clinically depressed, much of which seems to stem from a fire that left her parents dead and her brother badly injured. In the book's initial pages, we are privy to a tragic scene that reveals Blythe stumbling drunkenly into her college dorm room. It becomes apparent that this night is not unlike most of the nights in Blythe's week. She drinks to kill the dreams, anesthetize the rawness of her emotions, and still the disorganized restlessness of her troubled mind.
She ventures to a nearby lake one day where she watches a fellow student skipping stones, and she is captivated. There's something calming and restorative about the boy's actions. He soon involves her in the activity, and a friendship is born that ultimately morphs into a sometimes-troubled romance.
Blythe soon meets the other members of Chris Shepherd's family, and for the first time in a long time, she feels a sense of belonging. But the family, like Blythe herself, is deeply troubled and in need of healing. That's especially true of Chris. Park skillfully weaves Chris's story with Blythe's, but this is not a typical formulaic romance. There are emotional highs and lows that are accentuated by the difficulties the two experienced in their respective earlier lives. You come to at least feel a diffident appreciation for Chris and the other members of his family who play important parts in the book. Blythe is mostly likable, and I found the plot tolerable enough.
But here's the thing: The sexual scenes are so graphic and flaming that they served merely to distract and tire me. That little forward-by-seconds button on my audiobook reader saw some serious and hard use. This book has convinced me that there must be something seriously wrong with me. The sizzle stuff is clearly designed to pump up everything from one's heart rate to one's anticipation for what lies on the next page. It just didn't work for me at all. Instead of being swept away by the scenes, I found myself wondering with no small amount of irritation how many times Park could drop the F-bomb in a single sentence. I really was afraid by the time I finished the book that I would need to send my book reader to Canada for repairs, so heavily and constantly did I lean on that little forward by granular units button.
If you read the description for this book on Goodreads, you'll note that it cautions would-be readers about the language, etc. I don't see that often in a Goodreads description, and I might have reluctantly put the book aside unread if I'd seen it first. But if detailed sexual descriptions and profanity aren't your thing in a book, let this one slide and glide on past your library checkout or Audible/Amazon purchase button.
But don't give up on Park's writing; that would be a sad thing to do indeed. She is a master at creating memorable characters, and her dialogue is well written and worth the time and effort you'll put into reading it. If Park were a less-talented writer, it would make sense that she would need to resort to some of the techniques she employs here. But she's not someone lacking in talent by any measure. Because of that, I found a lot of those scenes were simply gratuitous and unnecessary.
In an attempt to be fair to her, I have to say that her descriptions of Blythe's clinical depression were so gut-knotting real that you almost felt as if you, too, suffered with Blythe in every way. I just question the credibility of whether a romance--even a stellar one--can bring someone out of the depths of clinical depression as apparently deep as Blythe's was. Maybe it can, and maybe I'm not giving love enough credit, but it just felt a bit artificial to me. Of course, I hope I'm wrong. But the whole premise felt a little plastic.
*I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads*
I really liked this book. It was poignant, emotional, realistic, and skillfully written. Even from the very beginning of the book I felt drawn to the main character and I wanted to know more about her plight. I love YA fiction, and I was happy that this story took place in college so I could relate more to it (than high school settings). I found myself relating a lot to many of the things that happened on the college campus, including the need to be alone and feeling apart from the party kids. I highly recommend this. Easy to read yet wonderfully complicated.
I really liked this book. It was poignant, emotional, realistic, and skillfully written. Even from the very beginning of the book I felt drawn to the main character and I wanted to know more about her plight. I love YA fiction, and I was happy that this story took place in college so I could relate more to it (than high school settings). I found myself relating a lot to many of the things that happened on the college campus, including the need to be alone and feeling apart from the party kids. I highly recommend this. Easy to read yet wonderfully complicated.
Este es el tipo de libro que me quita el sueño, de esos que tienen tanta carga emocional que se hacen difícil de leer a ratos.
Se acerca casi a la perfección, tiene todo lo esencial, o lo que por lo menos yo considero esencial en libros de este género; romance, tragedia, drama y lo mejor de todo, enseñanzas.
Y es que al principio del libro la autora nos anima a que luchemos contra nuestros problemas y pasado y sigamos adelante. Por eso más que todo me encantó.
Cada personaje del libro trae consigo un problema, pero también tiene cada uno personalidades diferentes y singulares que complementan la historia.
Y de vuelta a lo emocional, es tan desgarrador, las dos historias, los dos personajes principales, todo sobre su pasado es tan doloroso, que logra que uno se imagine en el lugar de ellos, y entienda todas sus decisiones y sufra junto con ellos.
En fin, lo amé, y a cada uno de los personajes y toda la historia en sí.
Se acerca casi a la perfección, tiene todo lo esencial, o lo que por lo menos yo considero esencial en libros de este género; romance, tragedia, drama y lo mejor de todo, enseñanzas.
Y es que al principio del libro la autora nos anima a que luchemos contra nuestros problemas y pasado y sigamos adelante. Por eso más que todo me encantó.
Cada personaje del libro trae consigo un problema, pero también tiene cada uno personalidades diferentes y singulares que complementan la historia.
Y de vuelta a lo emocional, es tan desgarrador, las dos historias, los dos personajes principales, todo sobre su pasado es tan doloroso, que logra que uno se imagine en el lugar de ellos, y entienda todas sus decisiones y sufra junto con ellos.
En fin, lo amé, y a cada uno de los personajes y toda la historia en sí.
This story was very emotional all the way through for me. Some parts making me shaky sad. some of it was unbelievable, but yhat makes fiction fun, right?!
I absolutely loved this book!! I have been looking for a really good book lately that would keep me up all night reading and this was it! When i first read the synopsis I figured it would be the typical damaged boy meets damaged girl story, but this story was truly original and kept surprising me until the very end. It had everything I look for in a book, and I would recommend this book to anyone, especially if you liked Colleen Hoover's Hopeless.
This book was amazing. This book made me feel really emotional and happy that I have a pretty normal family, not an abusive one. I think this book is deep and very beautiful.