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jen286's review against another edition
2.0
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookend
Give Me Love was felt like it was trying to be a few different books, but didn't really succeed at any of them. It starts off as a romance, Jared trying to win Evie over and get her to admit she has feeling for him. That worked okay, but Evie could be frustrating. I didn't really understand why she was so adamant about keeping away from Jared. Sure when she was young and acting out she made two really bad decisions with guy and she got hurt, but they were bad people. Jared is not. She is best friends with his sister who keeps trying to push Evie to give him a chance. Mac, the best friend, knows all about Evie's past, so she should know if Jared was a jerk like the other guys. I don't know. It was just...I didn't understand. So you got your heart broken twice you are just going to give up? Date "safe" guys who she likes, but not really like that.
When Evie first met Jared she was instantly drawn to him, and that hasn't changed since then. She used to live a plane ride away, but as this book opens she is going to be moving to the same town as him. How will she ever keep him from hurting her? Annoying. She obviously really likes him and he her so why not see what happens? She was really frustrating to read and I didn't like her much.
*Spoiler alert*
Then suddenly she decides okay, we are doing this, and then it is like they are living together right away. Okay, way to move like lightning speed. Fine, but the book is not even halfway over yet. So what is the rest of the story? Well some not so good suspense story. Someone is after Evie to hurt her because Jared and crew where there when bad guys brother got killed or something. It was a bit ridiculous in the way it played out. I just...it didn't seem realistic especially if Jared and crew had a company where their job was hunting down bad guys and such. They just can't find this one, he keeps causing trouble and getting away. It was a bit too unrealistic and underdeveloped I think. If it would have been the main focus of the story with Jared and Evie falling in love at the same time it might have worked. As it was it felt like two different books neither of which I really loved.
There are a lot of characters in this story and it can be hard to keep everyone straight, especially with all of the nicknames. I think my biggest issues, the thing I liked the least, was that they all felt very immature. All the names they called each other and such I didn't really like. I felt like I wanted to tell them all to grow up already. That and the "retard" name calling is not cool.
Oh and there is plenty of extra drama added for no reason. Like ton of guys getting thrown at Evie that make Jared freak out that she is cheating and stuff. By the end I got to the point where it was like really? This is what we are doing now? Why not throw in a few more things just for fun? It was all a bit much.
I did like that Evie was the female lead singer in the rock band. I don't see too many books where it is a female rock star as the lead. But overall it was not my favorite read.
Give Me Love was felt like it was trying to be a few different books, but didn't really succeed at any of them. It starts off as a romance, Jared trying to win Evie over and get her to admit she has feeling for him. That worked okay, but Evie could be frustrating. I didn't really understand why she was so adamant about keeping away from Jared. Sure when she was young and acting out she made two really bad decisions with guy and she got hurt, but they were bad people. Jared is not. She is best friends with his sister who keeps trying to push Evie to give him a chance. Mac, the best friend, knows all about Evie's past, so she should know if Jared was a jerk like the other guys. I don't know. It was just...I didn't understand. So you got your heart broken twice you are just going to give up? Date "safe" guys who she likes, but not really like that.
When Evie first met Jared she was instantly drawn to him, and that hasn't changed since then. She used to live a plane ride away, but as this book opens she is going to be moving to the same town as him. How will she ever keep him from hurting her? Annoying. She obviously really likes him and he her so why not see what happens? She was really frustrating to read and I didn't like her much.
*Spoiler alert*
Then suddenly she decides okay, we are doing this, and then it is like they are living together right away. Okay, way to move like lightning speed. Fine, but the book is not even halfway over yet. So what is the rest of the story? Well some not so good suspense story. Someone is after Evie to hurt her because Jared and crew where there when bad guys brother got killed or something. It was a bit ridiculous in the way it played out. I just...it didn't seem realistic especially if Jared and crew had a company where their job was hunting down bad guys and such. They just can't find this one, he keeps causing trouble and getting away. It was a bit too unrealistic and underdeveloped I think. If it would have been the main focus of the story with Jared and Evie falling in love at the same time it might have worked. As it was it felt like two different books neither of which I really loved.
There are a lot of characters in this story and it can be hard to keep everyone straight, especially with all of the nicknames. I think my biggest issues, the thing I liked the least, was that they all felt very immature. All the names they called each other and such I didn't really like. I felt like I wanted to tell them all to grow up already. That and the "retard" name calling is not cool.
Oh and there is plenty of extra drama added for no reason. Like ton of guys getting thrown at Evie that make Jared freak out that she is cheating and stuff. By the end I got to the point where it was like really? This is what we are doing now? Why not throw in a few more things just for fun? It was all a bit much.
I did like that Evie was the female lead singer in the rock band. I don't see too many books where it is a female rock star as the lead. But overall it was not my favorite read.
afretts's review against another edition
2.0
If I was giving out stars for potential, I would give this a 4, BUT I'm not so this gets a 2.
This is me:
I give the author props for an extremely original idea. The whole aspiring rockstar meets Blackwater badass thing had the potential to go very poorly or be very exciting. Unfortunately, the author didn't execute it very well. This book is a fracking mess.
But there were a couple of things I liked about it:
1. The description of Jared at the beginning was super hot. Jared was a tolerable hero. He could be kind of an idiot, but at the beginning he had me swooning.
2. Henry. He was a good friend and the ONLY memorable supporting character.
That's all. That's all I liked.
I HATED the way this was written. Here is a gigantic list of everything I hated about this book.
1. The random asides and foreshadowing. This book spoiled itself CONSTANTLY. It was infuriating. Reading this book was like having this conversation:
Person 1: Have you seen The Sixth Sense?
Person 2: No. Is it good?
Person 1: Yeah. Really good. The kids sees dead people. Bruce Willis's character is dead the whole movie! Do you want to watch it?
Seriously. The author would flat out state that something major happened and then have Evie "flashback" in her mind to fill us in. Why couldn't we experience everything as it was happening?
2. The way time passed in this book was bizarre. Sometimes entire weeks would pass with no warning at all. A major event would occur and then 3 weeks would pass and it was all better, but the reader has no idea what happened and why it's better. We're just told that it is.
3. There was moments where I was extremely confused. Sometimes I just did not understand what was happening in the book at all. There was an entire chapter that was total nonsense to me. Additionally, things would happen that were never explained and did nothing to progress the plot. For example: Evie gets sick. For no reason. She's just randomly ill and goes to the doctor. There are pages written about Evie being sick for no apparent reason. She doesn't miss any shows, nothing bad happens, etc. Evie is just sick... to add to the word count? Then some guy from the record label requests to meet with Evie alone. He INSISTS that no one else comes with her, but it's never explained why. No reason given.
4. A lot of times it felt like this was 2 books smashed together. It felt like the author couldn't decide if she wanted this to be a thriller or a romance so she just mashed the two together and half-assed both. There was no development of Jared's job or company. The subplot involving the search for the bad guy was extremely underdeveloped and was only mentioned whenever it was convenient for the main character. It was almost as if the author should have just cut this entire arch. Plenty of conflict could have been created without involving the heroine in the drama. Honestly, this aspect of the book was incredibly boring.
5. The random switch to Mac's POV at 80% for one chapter gave me hives. I cannot express the depths of my fury over this.
6. Every single outfit that Evie wore was described in EXCRUCIATING detail. Here's the thing: I DON'T CARE! I don't care how her aqua shorts elongate her legs or how her tank top highlights her chest. I don't care at all. You've already described her. I know what she looks like. It was like the author thinks the reader is so stupid that they can't assume Evie changes her clothes every day. We need a play by play every time the woman gets dressed.
7. I am usually the first person to defend unlikeable characters. I don't think authors are obligated to deliver likeable or even redeemable characters. There are awful people in the world so it makes sense that they're represented in literature. That being said, I found the casual homophobia in this book unacceptable. The characters repeatedly say things like "You're not turning twink are you?" and "If they could turn gay for each other, they would." Not okay with me. The universe doesn't need anymore of this garbage.
8. This book has about 8,000 characters. I couldn't keep everyone straight. Who are: Cam, Casey, Dean, Tim, Frog, Travis, Mitch, Steve, Peter, Jake, Gary? The number of minor, male characters- who are all incredibly hot, of course- is astronomical. I felt like I needed a flow chart.
Yeahhhhh. So this book is free on Amazon right now if you want to torture yourself.
This is me:
I give the author props for an extremely original idea. The whole aspiring rockstar meets Blackwater badass thing had the potential to go very poorly or be very exciting. Unfortunately, the author didn't execute it very well. This book is a fracking mess.
But there were a couple of things I liked about it:
1. The description of Jared at the beginning was super hot. Jared was a tolerable hero. He could be kind of an idiot, but at the beginning he had me swooning.
2. Henry. He was a good friend and the ONLY memorable supporting character.
That's all. That's all I liked.
I HATED the way this was written. Here is a gigantic list of everything I hated about this book.
1. The random asides and foreshadowing. This book spoiled itself CONSTANTLY. It was infuriating. Reading this book was like having this conversation:
Person 1: Have you seen The Sixth Sense?
Person 2: No. Is it good?
Person 1: Yeah. Really good. The kids sees dead people. Bruce Willis's character is dead the whole movie! Do you want to watch it?
Seriously. The author would flat out state that something major happened and then have Evie "flashback" in her mind to fill us in. Why couldn't we experience everything as it was happening?
2. The way time passed in this book was bizarre. Sometimes entire weeks would pass with no warning at all. A major event would occur and then 3 weeks would pass and it was all better, but the reader has no idea what happened and why it's better. We're just told that it is.
3. There was moments where I was extremely confused. Sometimes I just did not understand what was happening in the book at all. There was an entire chapter that was total nonsense to me. Additionally, things would happen that were never explained and did nothing to progress the plot. For example: Evie gets sick. For no reason. She's just randomly ill and goes to the doctor. There are pages written about Evie being sick for no apparent reason. She doesn't miss any shows, nothing bad happens, etc. Evie is just sick... to add to the word count? Then some guy from the record label requests to meet with Evie alone. He INSISTS that no one else comes with her, but it's never explained why. No reason given.
Spoiler
He doesn't want to sign only her. He isn't interested in assaulting her. He doesn't ask her out. NO REASON FOR THE ALONE TIME. They had a totally normal conversation that could have been done in front of literally anyone and everyone.4. A lot of times it felt like this was 2 books smashed together. It felt like the author couldn't decide if she wanted this to be a thriller or a romance so she just mashed the two together and half-assed both. There was no development of Jared's job or company. The subplot involving the search for the bad guy was extremely underdeveloped and was only mentioned whenever it was convenient for the main character. It was almost as if the author should have just cut this entire arch. Plenty of conflict could have been created without involving the heroine in the drama. Honestly, this aspect of the book was incredibly boring.
5. The random switch to Mac's POV at 80% for one chapter gave me hives. I cannot express the depths of my fury over this.
6. Every single outfit that Evie wore was described in EXCRUCIATING detail. Here's the thing: I DON'T CARE! I don't care how her aqua shorts elongate her legs or how her tank top highlights her chest. I don't care at all. You've already described her. I know what she looks like. It was like the author thinks the reader is so stupid that they can't assume Evie changes her clothes every day. We need a play by play every time the woman gets dressed.
7. I am usually the first person to defend unlikeable characters. I don't think authors are obligated to deliver likeable or even redeemable characters. There are awful people in the world so it makes sense that they're represented in literature. That being said, I found the casual homophobia in this book unacceptable. The characters repeatedly say things like "You're not turning twink are you?" and "If they could turn gay for each other, they would." Not okay with me. The universe doesn't need anymore of this garbage.
8. This book has about 8,000 characters. I couldn't keep everyone straight. Who are: Cam, Casey, Dean, Tim, Frog, Travis, Mitch, Steve, Peter, Jake, Gary? The number of minor, male characters- who are all incredibly hot, of course- is astronomical. I felt like I needed a flow chart.
Yeahhhhh. So this book is free on Amazon right now if you want to torture yourself.
leabookjoy's review against another edition
3.0
French & English reviews
Boooooon ... La déception ><
Pour être honnête, j'étais prête à adorer ce livre. Elizabeth de mon KA fan group me l'avait conseillé et jusqu'à environ 30% du livre, j'étais fan : les personnages attachants, le style d'écriture hilarant, l'histoire avec des rock stars et des badass ...
SAUF QUE
J'adore les dramas dans les livres, j'adore pleurer, rire et hurler après les personnages ... Mais j'aime que ce soit cohérent et là, c'est devenu rapidement un grand n'importe quoi ...
Si Evie était plutôt attachante, Jared est devenu ultra pénible et cliché (je suis un badass mais j'ai un lourd secret qui m'a transformé ...).
J'avais l'impression de relire la même intrigue en boucle (Jared et Evie s'aiment, Evie se retrouve dans une situation compromettante, Jared est en colère, Jared et Evie se séparent, c'est la dépression, Jared et Evie se remettent ensemble)
Et puis mince, Jimmy le gros méchant était stupide mais ils ont mis je ne sais combien de temps avant de l'attraper !!!
Je crois que KA m'a ruiné pour ce genre de livres ><
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Weeeeeeeeeell ... The disappointment ><
To be honest, I was ready to LOVE this book. Elizabeth from my KA fan group had recommend it to me and up to about 30% of the book, I was a fan : endearing characters, hilarious writing style, story with rock stars and badass ...
BUT
I love the dramas in the books, I love crying, laughing and screaming after the characters ... But I like that it's coherent and there, it quickly became a big nonsense ...
If Evie was rather endearing, Jared became ultra painful and cliché (I am a badass but I have a heavy secret that transformed me ...).
I felt like I was replaying the same plot in a loop (Jared and Evie love each other, Evie finds herself in a compromising situation, Jared is angry, Jared and Evie split, it's depression, Jared and Evie get back together)
And then, Jimmy the big bad guy was stupid but they need I don't know how many weeks before catching him !!!
I think KA ruined me for this kind of books ><
Boooooon ... La déception ><
Pour être honnête, j'étais prête à adorer ce livre. Elizabeth de mon KA fan group me l'avait conseillé et jusqu'à environ 30% du livre, j'étais fan : les personnages attachants, le style d'écriture hilarant, l'histoire avec des rock stars et des badass ...
SAUF QUE
J'adore les dramas dans les livres, j'adore pleurer, rire et hurler après les personnages ... Mais j'aime que ce soit cohérent et là, c'est devenu rapidement un grand n'importe quoi ...
Si Evie était plutôt attachante, Jared est devenu ultra pénible et cliché (je suis un badass mais j'ai un lourd secret qui m'a transformé ...).
J'avais l'impression de relire la même intrigue en boucle (Jared et Evie s'aiment, Evie se retrouve dans une situation compromettante, Jared est en colère, Jared et Evie se séparent, c'est la dépression, Jared et Evie se remettent ensemble)
Et puis mince, Jimmy le gros méchant était stupide mais ils ont mis je ne sais combien de temps avant de l'attraper !!!
Je crois que KA m'a ruiné pour ce genre de livres ><
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Weeeeeeeeeell ... The disappointment ><
To be honest, I was ready to LOVE this book. Elizabeth from my KA fan group had recommend it to me and up to about 30% of the book, I was a fan : endearing characters, hilarious writing style, story with rock stars and badass ...
BUT
I love the dramas in the books, I love crying, laughing and screaming after the characters ... But I like that it's coherent and there, it quickly became a big nonsense ...
If Evie was rather endearing, Jared became ultra painful and cliché (I am a badass but I have a heavy secret that transformed me ...).
I felt like I was replaying the same plot in a loop (Jared and Evie love each other, Evie finds herself in a compromising situation, Jared is angry, Jared and Evie split, it's depression, Jared and Evie get back together)
And then, Jimmy the big bad guy was stupid but they need I don't know how many weeks before catching him !!!
I think KA ruined me for this kind of books ><
pbarnes's review against another edition
5.0
I seriously loved this book. Anyone who didn't love this book is crazy. I really liked the type of friendship all of the characters had. I was laughing throughout the entire book. That was one of the main reasons I gave this book five stars because it's really hard to find books where the jokes don't seem cheesy or too forced.
digitlchic's review against another edition
2.0
Made it to 67% but just couldn't finish. I love the cover, and I eventually got into the groove with the Australian phrasings and spellings, but the story just never managed to pull me in. It felt a bit rambly and chaotic, which I suppose mirrors the characters lifestyles, but I just didn't connect with it at all.
smitch29's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
I really enjoyed this book. It kept me interested the whole way through. My biggest complaints were in technical details were there were either grammatical mistakes or a few errors in logic for me.
This was about Evie, the hopeful rock goddess, and Jared, the badass mercenary. It basically comes down to a big conflict for each of our main characters to learn to trust each other and themselves. Overall, I liked their tale. I didn't think it was anything overly different, but it was just a slightly different timeline for the love story and its conflicts, that my interest didn't ever really wane.
In the beginning of the novel I really hated how after they had sex the first time and it was unprotected, they were a bit worried about pregnancy, yet they didn't seem to care how much Evie was drinking. That really irked me the whole time it was happening. There were also a few too many typos and grammatical mistakes for my liking. Those are really trivial, I know, but they detract from the story for me, they pull me back to reality, when I'm enjoying spending time in this fantasy story land.
The only other thing I have to mention about the book is the formatting of chapters. I don't know if it was just because I wasn't used to it or what, but Kate McCarthy seems to like to do a flash-back and/or teaser during the chapters a bit too much. Some chapters would start with a snippet of dialogue from the future, and then go backwards. Basically, it was a prologue for the chapter. Other chapters would be days or weeks after the last chapter, but then basically spend the whole chapter revealing what happened since the last chapter ended. Why do the flashback? Why not just make a chapter about the events that happened. Don't get me wrong, I can see that the author was trying to create more interest with teasers, where perhaps there wouldn't have been. And it's not as though it didn't work, but it also happened so frequently that I kept thinking about the tactics she was using more than I was the story. So again it was something else that detracted from the plot.
I really enjoyed this book. It kept me interested the whole way through. My biggest complaints were in technical details were there were either grammatical mistakes or a few errors in logic for me.
This was about Evie, the hopeful rock goddess, and Jared, the badass mercenary. It basically comes down to a big conflict for each of our main characters to learn to trust each other and themselves. Overall, I liked their tale. I didn't think it was anything overly different, but it was just a slightly different timeline for the love story and its conflicts, that my interest didn't ever really wane.
In the beginning of the novel I really hated how after they had sex the first time and it was unprotected, they were a bit worried about pregnancy, yet they didn't seem to care how much Evie was drinking. That really irked me the whole time it was happening. There were also a few too many typos and grammatical mistakes for my liking. Those are really trivial, I know, but they detract from the story for me, they pull me back to reality, when I'm enjoying spending time in this fantasy story land.
The only other thing I have to mention about the book is the formatting of chapters. I don't know if it was just because I wasn't used to it or what, but Kate McCarthy seems to like to do a flash-back and/or teaser during the chapters a bit too much. Some chapters would start with a snippet of dialogue from the future, and then go backwards. Basically, it was a prologue for the chapter. Other chapters would be days or weeks after the last chapter, but then basically spend the whole chapter revealing what happened since the last chapter ended. Why do the flashback? Why not just make a chapter about the events that happened. Don't get me wrong, I can see that the author was trying to create more interest with teasers, where perhaps there wouldn't have been. And it's not as though it didn't work, but it also happened so frequently that I kept thinking about the tactics she was using more than I was the story. So again it was something else that detracted from the plot.
mandy_pandy's review against another edition
4.0
I really loved the storyline of this book. It was well written and interesting. The epilogue was fantastic. I agree with other reviewers that it reminded me of Rock Chick. I did have a small problem with the language in this book. I hate the word retard and it was used so frequently in this book that I almost stopped reading it. I really don't like that word. All in all I would say this was a good book and look forward to reading more from this author.
sarahmarie094's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5