e-ARC, 256 pages
Release Date: June 5, 2018Published by: HarperCollins/ HarperTeen
Read from: June 9-12, 2018Stand-aloneSource: PublishersTW: Physical and Emotional Abuse
For fans of: Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction,When Betts meets Aiden at the candy store where she works, their connection is like a sugar rush to the heart. Betts already knows the two of them are infinite. Inevitable. Destined to become an us.
Betts has only ever kept one secret from her best friend, Jo, but suddenly there’s a long list of things she won’t tell her, things Jo wouldn’t understand. Because Jo doesn’t see how good Aiden is for Betts. She finds him needy. Possessive. Controlling.She’s wrong. With a love like this, nothing else matters.
*MY THOUGHTS*
For the most part, these types of books are usually hard for me to read. But knowing that some teens out there may be experiencing these things, I try to stay in the loop to know what to recommend and what not to recommend. And this one, though it has its faults, I would still find myself recommending this one.
“The way to a girl’s crotch is through her taste buds,” I advised.“21%
Betts and Aiden meet by chance at Betts’ job. They are drawn to each other like a moth to a flame. But Betts has been keeping a huge secret about him. But her friend Jo sees right through him… She sees what kind of person he really is. It’s up to Betts to show Jo that he’s not needy, possessive, and controlling.
“Eric looked at me. “What happened to your face?” “What? Oh.” I touched my chin. “I scraped it.” He squinted. “On what?” Jo turned back around. “On her new boyfriend’s tonsils.“22%
One thing I wasn’t a fan of was the writing style. For the most part, it was ok, but at other times it felt a bit choppy. There were a couple scenes where she was mad with him and didn’t want to be around him or anything like that, but then a sentence later she was wanting to be in his arms again without anything happening to change her. I’m sure someone going through this may have a similar thought process, but I don’t feel that Rissi did a great job of portraying it. She did a lot of telling vs showing, if that makes sense.This hurt me getting to know the characters as well. I felt like I never got to know Betts and Aiden, and the main focus of the story was on them. It just seemed like it skimmed over the top of them. There was so much backstory to Aiden and we never saw any of it.
“The storm had blown over, but I still felt the wreckage from the winds.“59%
As for the message in the book, I was happy that someone actually tackled this subject. It’s a bit of a taboo, but after Bad Romance came out and everyone (including myself) loved it, I was happy that more authors are opening up and helping people see that things like this do happen in real life. (I’ve heard a parent say that these things don’t happen anyway so why should their child be reading it…)
“I couldn’t let myself think of the future. I couldn’t let myself think of our past. I was spinning in the now, now, now of endless questions my brain didn’t want me to ask.“93%
For the most part, this was an interesting story. It played on my emotions and I swear it was like reading a train wreck- it hurt the more pages I turned, but I just couldn’t stop reading it. This is one book that I hope to see people reading for years to come!
Overall, I give this
I totally agree that there needs to be more books about this subject!! I also LOVED Bad Romance– and after being in a relationship like this one and the one in BR, I definitely wish I had had these books before I met that guy. Maybe I would've seen the red flags and not gotten in so deep. Glad you liked this one. I thought it was great– definitely could've delved deeper, but it got the point across. Great review!
I was excited about this one, it sounded really good! Unfortunately, I've been seeing a lot of reviews along the same line as yours–the book is a bit of a mess. I'm glad the topic is being published more and more but if it's not written well then what's the point (eek, harsh!)
Great review!