A review by cinnamonfox
Bad Influence by Charleigh Rose

emotional funny reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.0

 I was craving a light romance, without a particularly complicated story, so I went through my TBR and chose Bad Influence by Charleigh Rose. But it turned out not to be a simple romance at all, and that pleasantly surprised me.

We meet Allie, who, a year ago, on her birthday, lost her father. Allie loved him deeply and still can’t get over the loss she suffered. When she starts college, she tries to get through this period unnoticed, but her encounter with Jesse changes everything. The campus star, Jesse is the classic bad boy—popular and handsome, always surrounded by girls—whose life takes a turn when he throws away his only chance of success in the competitive sports world. Their first meeting is far from love at first sight—Allie despises Jesse and sees him as a shallow, arrogant guy, while Jesse considers her a weirdo trying not to be like other girls. But as they start interacting more and getting to know each other better, both uncover old traumas and fresh wounds.

Although the love story itself isn’t particularly complicated, the characters were complex. I appreciated the depth of their emotions—not just for each other, but also for other important people in their lives. The author portrays them in a way that makes you want to understand them, empathize with them, and offer them advice. Neither of the protagonists is a “good” person in the classic sense of the word, but the fact that they’re human—with their traumas that shaped them, and their occasional mistakes—made me like them even more. I’ll definitely read more books by this author—this one is part of a series but can be read as a standalone.