Novel Review: LoveSick by Jake Coburn

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Realistic Romance

Publisher: Speak (Penguin)

Release Date: 2005

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ted's drunk-driving accident has ruined his life. it cost him his basketball scholarship, ended his plans for college, and forced him into AA. But just when Ted has resigned himself to his new life, Michael appears. The wealthy father of a bulimic Manhattan rich girl has a tempting proposition. He has agreed to pay for Ted's college tuition, but there's one catch. Ted has to secretly keep tabs on his benefactor's daughter, Erica. A seemingly simple task, with only one minor problem: Ted never expected to fall in love.

The Cover:

This cover is just okay. It's average, not eye-catching, and gives just the feel of the book, not really an idea of what it's about. It's pretty meh.

Review:

This book was mostly meh.

Erica is finally going away to college with her father’s permission, since she’s supposedly recovering from an eating disorder. Ted is a recovering alcoholic starting college just out of high school, and he’s been hired to watch Erica.

Given this plot line, of course this book is going to be dark. I expected Ted’s problems, what with not drinking in general, let alone as a college freshman living in the dorms. I didn’t expect Erica’s problem, or the detail in which it was going to be described. The detail was rather off-putting.

I liked the way that the book was written, though. With alternating points of view, as well as the emails exchanged for Ted’s job with Erica’s father and IMs between Erica and her therapist. I liked the ending, where the characters were at that point. The romance, though, and the actual writing, was pretty meh, though. I didn’t feel much chemistry between the characters, or why they were supposedly feeling more than simply attraction. The writing didn’t pull me in.

This book was average in the end. I didn’t love it, didn’t hate it.

Teaser Tuesday[75]: Just One Day (Just One Day, #1) by Gayle Forman

Just One Day (Just One Day, #1) by Gayle Forman

Genre: YA/NA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Speak (Penguin)

Publish Date: January 8th, 2013

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay

Allyson Healey's life is exactly like her suitcase—packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem. A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she’s not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform Allyson’s life.

A book about love, heartbreak, travel, identity, and the �accidents” of fate, Just One Day shows us how sometimes in order to get found, you first have to get lost. . . and how often the people we are seeking are much closer than we know.
  The first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!

Excerpt:

“‘The first three months of college are the most action you’re supposed to get in your life. Have you so much as blinked at a guy?’

‘I’ve mostly kept my eyes closed during all the wild orgies.’” (Paperback, pg. 166-167)

Reading anything good?

Novel Review: Salvation by Anne Osterlund

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Speak (Penguin)

Publish Date: January, 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A smart, unexpected romance from an award-winning author.

Salvador Resendez--Salva to his friends--appears to have it all. His Mexican immigrant family has high expectations, and Salva intends to fulfill them. He's student body president, quarterback of the football team, and has a near-perfect GPA. Everyone loves him.

Especially Beth Courant, AKA the walking disaster area. Dreamy and shy, Beth is used to blending into the background. But she's also smart, and she has serious plans for her future.

Popular guy and bookish girl--the two have almost nothing in common. Until fate throws them together and the attraction is irresistible. Soon Beth is pushing Salva to set his sights higher than ever--because she knows he has more to offer, more than even he realizes.

Then tragedy strikes--and threatens to destroy everything that Salva has worked for. Will Beth's love be enough to save him?

Thoughtful and romantic, this is a beautifully written story about following your heart and fulfilling your potential.

Something Specific:

Quotes:

• "'According to me.’ She smiled. ‘And I’m the only one who matters.’” (Paperback, pg. 42)
•  "...nothing was too ‘out there’ or ‘over her head.’ Or too deep. She seemed to operate on a plane of feeling.” (Pg. 111)
• "Which was so Beth. Telling him to read a poem. As if real people could just work out all their problems through literature. Like the characters in a book.” (Pg. 112)
• "Except she did. Not like a puzzle piece attached to his side, but like a part of his soul that had always been within him.” (Pg. 169)

The Cover:

 I actually rather like the cover of this book. The couple look nice and similar to the characters. They have a happy feel, but also like there might be something else going on. It's a little embarrassing, but not hugely. Overall I think it's cute and fitting.

Review:

I didn’t really know what to expect from this book. I thought it would be a lighthearted, find yourself, romantic story, similar to Simone Elkeles’ books (like her Perfect Chemistry series). And I was right, in a way, because I was also wrong.

This is a romance between Salva and Beth, both of whom need to find themselves a little more, both of whom needed each other and are very good for each other. I liked both of these characters, and believed them. They’re both in bad spots, they’re both good people. They got along really well, and helped each other along really well, which I liked.

Their family and school lives played big, important roles, and it evened out with the very nice kissing romance. Which, the kissing part, was very nice, and responsible, and they had a nice outlook on it. My only real problem with the story was the ending. It just took a huge curveball near the end, and I was not expecting it, and am still kind of wondering what the point of it was, or at least what the meaning behind it was. It did some good things for Salva and Beth and their families, I guess, but it was also really outlandish and maybe unneeded. But maybe I just don’t understand the purpose well enough yet. 

So overall, I rather enjoyed this book. It was good, sweet, I liked the characters. I will probably pick up another of Osterlund’s books in the future, although I’m not sure when (mainly because her other books are more on the historical side, I believe).