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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
I'm not one to write many reviews because I can never think of the right words to say about how I felt about a book. Every once in a while a story comes along and just blows your mind..this is one of those books. I rank this one right up there with The Edge of Never, Hopeless, Slammed...you get the point. Honestly, this is one of the best books I've read..ever. Just when I thought I had things figured out, nope. I was wrong. I can't remember the last time I wanted to kick a character's butt like I wanted to do Chris. Good grief men can be so dense! Anyway, let me just reiterate what a gem this story is. You wont regret reading it!
I loved this book and even hated it a little at times which is why I have to give it 5 stars. If you want a happy-go-lucky romance novel, this is not your book. On the other hand, if you want a book full of raw emotion, both joyous and heartbreaking parts, characters that you fall in love with, and a twist that you may think you see coming but you don't know the half of it, then this book is for you.
I had a feeling that I would like this book when I first heard about it because of the plot and the author-who I already loved from reading Flat-Out Love, but I didn't know the half of it. Once I started this book, I had a hard time stopping (you know, to do normal things like eat and go to work). Once I got to the dreaded 68%, I found it impossible to put down (after my angry sigh and dramatic slamming the cover of my kindle of course). After that, I was all in.
The further I got into the book, the more questions I had. By the time I was almost finished, I was wondering if the author could possibly answer my questions before the ending, but she did it.
This is one of my all-time favorite new adult books and I am anxious to read more by this author (hint, hint-come out with a new book NOW, haha!).
I recommend this book to all of those lovers of NA romance or even just contemporary romance novels with some steamy scenes. This book was fabulous!
I had a feeling that I would like this book when I first heard about it because of the plot and the author-who I already loved from reading Flat-Out Love, but I didn't know the half of it. Once I started this book, I had a hard time stopping (you know, to do normal things like eat and go to work). Once I got to the dreaded 68%, I found it impossible to put down (after my angry sigh and dramatic slamming the cover of my kindle of course). After that, I was all in.
The further I got into the book, the more questions I had. By the time I was almost finished, I was wondering if the author could possibly answer my questions before the ending, but she did it.
This is one of my all-time favorite new adult books and I am anxious to read more by this author (hint, hint-come out with a new book NOW, haha!).
I recommend this book to all of those lovers of NA romance or even just contemporary romance novels with some steamy scenes. This book was fabulous!
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*
Left Drowning was actually not the next book in my TBR pile, but after hearing some great things, I moved it all the way up. Well it's been a few days after I read it and I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about this one.
Some parts I really liked, but others, not so much.
The writing was amazing, the characters had depth (even the secondary ones), and the emotions were spot-on. I laughed. I cried.
So why did I give it 4 stars? Well the whole thing did not click with me. Also, I was expecting this book to be AMAZING so I was expecting a lot MORE than what I got.
Even though I did have a couple of problems with this book, I still want you to read it. I will definitely be reading whatever Jessica comes up with next.
Left Drowning was actually not the next book in my TBR pile, but after hearing some great things, I moved it all the way up. Well it's been a few days after I read it and I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about this one.
Some parts I really liked, but others, not so much.
The writing was amazing, the characters had depth (even the secondary ones), and the emotions were spot-on. I laughed. I cried.
So why did I give it 4 stars? Well the whole
Spoiler
"fate"Even though I did have a couple of problems with this book, I still want you to read it. I will definitely be reading whatever Jessica comes up with next.
The connections between the characters were hinted at relatively early on in the book, but not all of the detail was revealed until the end. Not many intimate scenes, but they were graphic in the reveal. I enjoyed the read, but the story was perhaps a little too similar to other books that I've read recently....
Initial reaction: This book had a lot of caveats to it with respect to elements that I think could've been presented better and fleshed out. I really didn't like the heroine much - whereas the surrounding cast of characters were a little more tolerable, and the fact that the ending came full circle bumped this up to a higher rating than I was initially going to give it.
This is probably going to be a solid 2.5 to 3 stars, depending on how I sort through how to explain what this novel did well and what it didn't.
Full review:
For a book I requested on accidental terms, I did not expect to be somewhat taken by Jessica Park's "Left Drowning." In the scheme of New Adult reads I've picked up as of late, this knocked many of its peer reads in the group in terms of plausible character development, conflict, real world tangibility, and connectivity.
But I could argue it had several caveats that I outright didn't like, and I would say don't completely shed the coat of stereotyping that typifies this age group. There is some (male) slut shaming, the heroine is pretty unlikable in spurts (including one measure where she jokes about "sexually assaulting/molesting" her lover), and there are times when I'd like to say that the college environment could've been more vivid, but as far as the conflict and character dynamic were concerned - this was much more plausible than some of the other reads I've had thus far.
I would give a warning about the strong sexual content that's in this book, and note it could easily fit under adult contemporary erotic romance. It personally didn't bother me (perhaps with exception for the repetitiveness and long, drawn out nature of such scenes - I've read better in the scheme of some writers), but I get that this is a read for anyone 18+. It is clearly NOT for children/YA.
To take a brief tangent, I think one of the other reasons I liked this story so much is because it reminds me of a Sundance film I saw many years ago (whose name eludes me now). It was one of the titles I picked up back when I used to rent movies from Blockbuster (yes, it was a while ago) and the movie was under the heading Youth Restricted Viewing, or YRV. It was my freshman year of college when I watched it. The storyline revolved around a bunch of college friends who fell in and out of love in their relationships and dealt with a lot of tough subjects (including parental deaths, personal tragedies, growing pains) for the friends they highlighted, a group of three. It had strong sexual content, but none of it felt exploitative or for the sake of providing a conflict vehicle - it was just showing their lives and the conflict was contained in real world context with respect to things that directly impacted the relationships and personal lives of the characters in the story. It never felt that the conflict was thrown in willy-nilly.
"Left Drowning" is evocative of that, telling the story of college senior Blythe McGuire. She's six months away from graduation, living her life in a fog of sorts. She starts off the novel drunk, depressed, and pretty much stuck in a rut, which I'll admit made me worry about where the story would go. Her parents are dead, her brother hates her for a tragedy that remains unspoken of until a good way into the novel (and by that time, I understood where her grief originated). She then meets rather odd personalities - first Sabin (whose over the top personality may make or break some readers) then Christopher (Chris). Chris actually has a nice introduction scene where he engages in a skipping stone lesson with Blythe, though there are some awkward moments of drama I felt that did eventually smooth themselves for the better in terms of the character development.
I am happy to say that this book had absolutely no male characters (with the exception of an obvious antagonist) that were abusive jerks and glorified for the sake of that abuse. I was starting to think that every NA book I picked up would have a protagonist that I would either not care enough about to follow in the story or that I would absolutely loathe to the point of oblivion. The characters in this actually felt...normal. Flawed yes, problematic at times, yes, but ultimately - they were normal people dealing with some tough situations. Blythe actually comes to terms with meeting Chris and Sabin's family (they're brothers), and ultimately the story is kind of a coming to terms for Blythe in that she learns what it means to come outside of her grief and remember the things that hurt her.
What kept this from being a higher rated read for me personally were some measures that I couldn't really look over as the story transpired. I felt that the narrative was a slow burner - sometimes it worked, sometimes it was a little dull and overly introspective. I also think the two shifts in POV (from predominantly first perspective to third) were awkward and may have been better if it had kept to one POV throughout the narrative. I've read some stories that toggled between the POV in a great way (see my thoughts on Sophie Hannah's "Little Face"), but this actually threw me out of the story when they came up and I didn't - at first - know what they were leading up to. I also wasn't really fond of the long passages of religious bargaining, though I understood where it was coming from and why - I just thought it took me out of the novel for frequency.
I thought the vast majority of the characters in this novel were worth following, though Blythe got on my nerves more often than not. I had a hard time with her in turns of the story - though I think in the moments of her grief and coming to terms with certain things - I realized why she acted that way and could sympathize for the magnitude of the reveals. The dramatic elements were punctuated well in certain turns of the story (especially with respect to personal grief). I really wasn't expecting to be blindsided by a twist with respect to the relationships that came within 5% of the novel's end. I have to admit that was well done and I didn't see it coming.
On the other hand, there were dramatic points that really weren't followed that well, including a point where Blythe suddenly forgives Chris of a pretty darned major transgression. Could I see that happening in real life? Sure. Do I think the coming to terms would be that quick? Absolutely not. Some of the interactions between characters - both intimate and casual interactions - were fluffy, but I actually handled that better than some of the awkward turns where the emotional recuperation time just didn't mesh.
I'll admit the sex scenes and self pleasure scenes made this book longer than it should've been. I'm not knocking them for inclusion because they didn't feel exploitative and out of context with the novel, but I'm pretty sure that there was a good 10% of this novel that had nothing but one sex scene after the other. In some of the better erotic romance novels I've read, these are balanced with more anticipation, but in this some of them were repetitive and likely because they were in too close proximity.
In the end, I think if I took this novel for what it had to offer, it was fine, and I was appreciative of the experience when it was all said and done. It's one of the better examples of developed storylines I've seen in NA. I would classify this more as adult contemporary erotic romance more, but I think I see the NA classification because it does invoke a college environment, it does invoke a proper coming to terms for the age range it's depicting, and it does carry its respective themes with some weight and maturity compared to the vast majority of stories I've perused here. It was worth the time and I think some might end up liking this more than I did.
Overall score: 2.5/5
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Amazon.
This is probably going to be a solid 2.5 to 3 stars, depending on how I sort through how to explain what this novel did well and what it didn't.
Full review:
For a book I requested on accidental terms, I did not expect to be somewhat taken by Jessica Park's "Left Drowning." In the scheme of New Adult reads I've picked up as of late, this knocked many of its peer reads in the group in terms of plausible character development, conflict, real world tangibility, and connectivity.
But I could argue it had several caveats that I outright didn't like, and I would say don't completely shed the coat of stereotyping that typifies this age group. There is some (male) slut shaming, the heroine is pretty unlikable in spurts (including one measure where she jokes about "sexually assaulting/molesting" her lover), and there are times when I'd like to say that the college environment could've been more vivid, but as far as the conflict and character dynamic were concerned - this was much more plausible than some of the other reads I've had thus far.
I would give a warning about the strong sexual content that's in this book, and note it could easily fit under adult contemporary erotic romance. It personally didn't bother me (perhaps with exception for the repetitiveness and long, drawn out nature of such scenes - I've read better in the scheme of some writers), but I get that this is a read for anyone 18+. It is clearly NOT for children/YA.
To take a brief tangent, I think one of the other reasons I liked this story so much is because it reminds me of a Sundance film I saw many years ago (whose name eludes me now). It was one of the titles I picked up back when I used to rent movies from Blockbuster (yes, it was a while ago) and the movie was under the heading Youth Restricted Viewing, or YRV. It was my freshman year of college when I watched it. The storyline revolved around a bunch of college friends who fell in and out of love in their relationships and dealt with a lot of tough subjects (including parental deaths, personal tragedies, growing pains) for the friends they highlighted, a group of three. It had strong sexual content, but none of it felt exploitative or for the sake of providing a conflict vehicle - it was just showing their lives and the conflict was contained in real world context with respect to things that directly impacted the relationships and personal lives of the characters in the story. It never felt that the conflict was thrown in willy-nilly.
"Left Drowning" is evocative of that, telling the story of college senior Blythe McGuire. She's six months away from graduation, living her life in a fog of sorts. She starts off the novel drunk, depressed, and pretty much stuck in a rut, which I'll admit made me worry about where the story would go. Her parents are dead, her brother hates her for a tragedy that remains unspoken of until a good way into the novel (and by that time, I understood where her grief originated). She then meets rather odd personalities - first Sabin (whose over the top personality may make or break some readers) then Christopher (Chris). Chris actually has a nice introduction scene where he engages in a skipping stone lesson with Blythe, though there are some awkward moments of drama I felt that did eventually smooth themselves for the better in terms of the character development.
I am happy to say that this book had absolutely no male characters (with the exception of an obvious antagonist) that were abusive jerks and glorified for the sake of that abuse. I was starting to think that every NA book I picked up would have a protagonist that I would either not care enough about to follow in the story or that I would absolutely loathe to the point of oblivion. The characters in this actually felt...normal. Flawed yes, problematic at times, yes, but ultimately - they were normal people dealing with some tough situations. Blythe actually comes to terms with meeting Chris and Sabin's family (they're brothers), and ultimately the story is kind of a coming to terms for Blythe in that she learns what it means to come outside of her grief and remember the things that hurt her.
What kept this from being a higher rated read for me personally were some measures that I couldn't really look over as the story transpired. I felt that the narrative was a slow burner - sometimes it worked, sometimes it was a little dull and overly introspective. I also think the two shifts in POV (from predominantly first perspective to third) were awkward and may have been better if it had kept to one POV throughout the narrative. I've read some stories that toggled between the POV in a great way (see my thoughts on Sophie Hannah's "Little Face"), but this actually threw me out of the story when they came up and I didn't - at first - know what they were leading up to. I also wasn't really fond of the long passages of religious bargaining, though I understood where it was coming from and why - I just thought it took me out of the novel for frequency.
I thought the vast majority of the characters in this novel were worth following, though Blythe got on my nerves more often than not. I had a hard time with her in turns of the story - though I think in the moments of her grief and coming to terms with certain things - I realized why she acted that way and could sympathize for the magnitude of the reveals. The dramatic elements were punctuated well in certain turns of the story (especially with respect to personal grief). I really wasn't expecting to be blindsided by a twist with respect to the relationships that came within 5% of the novel's end. I have to admit that was well done and I didn't see it coming.
On the other hand, there were dramatic points that really weren't followed that well, including a point where Blythe suddenly forgives Chris of a pretty darned major transgression. Could I see that happening in real life? Sure. Do I think the coming to terms would be that quick? Absolutely not. Some of the interactions between characters - both intimate and casual interactions - were fluffy, but I actually handled that better than some of the awkward turns where the emotional recuperation time just didn't mesh.
I'll admit the sex scenes and self pleasure scenes made this book longer than it should've been. I'm not knocking them for inclusion because they didn't feel exploitative and out of context with the novel, but I'm pretty sure that there was a good 10% of this novel that had nothing but one sex scene after the other. In some of the better erotic romance novels I've read, these are balanced with more anticipation, but in this some of them were repetitive and likely because they were in too close proximity.
In the end, I think if I took this novel for what it had to offer, it was fine, and I was appreciative of the experience when it was all said and done. It's one of the better examples of developed storylines I've seen in NA. I would classify this more as adult contemporary erotic romance more, but I think I see the NA classification because it does invoke a college environment, it does invoke a proper coming to terms for the age range it's depicting, and it does carry its respective themes with some weight and maturity compared to the vast majority of stories I've perused here. It was worth the time and I think some might end up liking this more than I did.
Overall score: 2.5/5
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Amazon.
VERY emotional. Very romantic. Didn't like the sudden time jumps(one month later etc). The climax was predictable but it still hit hard. Love Chris, Sabin and Estelle. All the characters were superbly written. 3 stars.
5++++++ stars.
I decided to read this book after really loving Flat-Out Love and let me tell you this book was even better!!! There was so much emotion and I could really relate to a lot of the feelings throughout. Blythe and Chris meet and you can just tell the chemistry is there from the beginning, but they both have some serious issues in their past that they still haven't quite dealt with completely. It seems as though fate has brought them together in many ways and Blythe ends up becoming friends with Chris's whole family. This helps her to start to deal with her issues from the past but still not enough for her and Chris to be more than friends, which seems to be working for them so it's okay, right? Wrong.
I really enjoyed how Chris helped Blythe with her running. I can relate to this because I just started running and for some of the same reasons that Blythe is running. I am really curious as to what the songs are that Chris gives her for her running playlists. Music is a big part of this but it isn't until the end that we find out what a few of the songs were.
The story progresses pretty slowly but not in a bad way, it gives you a false sense of security. Everything is going great and then BAM everything changes and it is in someways devastating. It was somewhat unexpected even though the ending itself was a tad predictable, but that might just be me. I over analyze everything in hopes of guessing the ending before getting there.
I really enjoyed this book a lot. I would recommend to anyone looking for a good read.
I decided to read this book after really loving Flat-Out Love and let me tell you this book was even better!!! There was so much emotion and I could really relate to a lot of the feelings throughout. Blythe and Chris meet and you can just tell the chemistry is there from the beginning, but they both have some serious issues in their past that they still haven't quite dealt with completely. It seems as though fate has brought them together in many ways and Blythe ends up becoming friends with Chris's whole family. This helps her to start to deal with her issues from the past but still not enough for her and Chris to be more than friends, which seems to be working for them so it's okay, right? Wrong.
I really enjoyed how Chris helped Blythe with her running. I can relate to this because I just started running and for some of the same reasons that Blythe is running. I am really curious as to what the songs are that Chris gives her for her running playlists. Music is a big part of this but it isn't until the end that we find out what a few of the songs were.
The story progresses pretty slowly but not in a bad way, it gives you a false sense of security. Everything is going great and then BAM everything changes and it is in someways devastating. It was somewhat unexpected even though the ending itself was a tad predictable, but that might just be me. I over analyze everything in hopes of guessing the ending before getting there.
I really enjoyed this book a lot. I would recommend to anyone looking for a good read.
Favourite Quote: “Slow motion, I think decidedly. He can make things happen in slow motion. The rest of the room grows blurry while Chris stays sharply in focus.”
Jessica Park is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors! There’s just something so beautiful and real about her writing that I just can’t get enough! Just like her previous novel Flat-Out Love, Left Drowning recieves a 5/5 stars from me!
Let’s start with the plot, I find it really hard to like and relate to character-driven novels but Jessica’s Parks books just do it for me! Even though there is a loose plot (it’s mostly about the characters developing) I still really enjoyed it! However just like Flat-Out Matt, I guessed the main twist straight away but that never took my love for the plot away! All the story arcs are heartbreaking but sometimes you just need a good heartbreaker! Though I have to admit, I never cried at all in this so unlike Flat-Out Matt haha!
Onto the characters who just made this entire book! First there’s Blythe who I struggled to connect with in the first few chapters though I understant why she was doing what she was doing! But after that she really grew on me with her kind, caring personality. Then there’s Chris who was just my favourite, loved him so much! He was so broken that I felt broken along with him. He was strong, caring, selfless, honourable and so much more, the list is endless! And him and Blythe together? I thought it was kind of insta-love but that didn’t really bother me because of all their history, it’s the kind of love we all want. That love that is forever, that is fate, that proves soulmates exist. This relationship is one of my favourite ever! So real and heartbreaking!
As for the other characters, there were all brilliant and broken! Sabin, Estelle, Eric and James were all damanged in their own ways but they were fighting through it and they made the book that more touching and realistic! Liked them all a lot!
Overall this book is just touching and wonderful at the same time! Cannot recommend this enough! Cannot wait to read Jessica Park’s future books!
Jessica Park is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors! There’s just something so beautiful and real about her writing that I just can’t get enough! Just like her previous novel Flat-Out Love, Left Drowning recieves a 5/5 stars from me!
Let’s start with the plot, I find it really hard to like and relate to character-driven novels but Jessica’s Parks books just do it for me! Even though there is a loose plot (it’s mostly about the characters developing) I still really enjoyed it! However just like Flat-Out Matt, I guessed the main twist straight away but that never took my love for the plot away! All the story arcs are heartbreaking but sometimes you just need a good heartbreaker! Though I have to admit, I never cried at all in this so unlike Flat-Out Matt haha!
Onto the characters who just made this entire book! First there’s Blythe who I struggled to connect with in the first few chapters though I understant why she was doing what she was doing! But after that she really grew on me with her kind, caring personality. Then there’s Chris who was just my favourite, loved him so much! He was so broken that I felt broken along with him. He was strong, caring, selfless, honourable and so much more, the list is endless! And him and Blythe together? I thought it was kind of insta-love but that didn’t really bother me because of all their history, it’s the kind of love we all want. That love that is forever, that is fate, that proves soulmates exist. This relationship is one of my favourite ever! So real and heartbreaking!
As for the other characters, there were all brilliant and broken! Sabin, Estelle, Eric and James were all damanged in their own ways but they were fighting through it and they made the book that more touching and realistic! Liked them all a lot!
Overall this book is just touching and wonderful at the same time! Cannot recommend this enough! Cannot wait to read Jessica Park’s future books!
This was a very heartbreaking and emotional book to read. But I thought it was very powerful and I thuroughly enjoyed it!
I really loved this one by Jessica Park. I was a little worried after I read Clear because I was NOT a fan, but I do love her Flat Out Love series! This one was amazing! I loved the main characters and the hardships they overcome. I also love how connected they all turn out being in the end. I was able to predict it for the most part but it didn't take away from the story. It does get a little steamier than I am used to reading but it wasn't off putting. I will definitely be reading the next book!