Wait For You

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout (J. Lynn)
Format: eBook
Pages: 332
Rating: 9 out of 10

Summary (never tired of waiting for Goodreads): Some things are worth waiting for…

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing…

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet…

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for…

What I think: I should warn you, there be some sex in this there book. It made me slightly uncomfortable to be reading this book while in class. I was constantly worrying about Kristen sitting next to me. She has this tendency to read from the books that I'm reading but she reads it out loud. It would have been the worst kind of embarrassing. Thanks Kristen for not doing the thing.

I felt so bad for Avery (but love the unique name). She was so brave. I also felt some really bad second hand embarrassment at times. I don't want all the bad stuff that happened to Avery but I really want one of him...like now. He was perfect. He was so caring and sassy. I loved the sarcasm and that he never gave up on her but that he was always respectful and just wanted her to be happy. Cam just wanted her to be herself and to feel loved and taken care of. I want someone to take care of me.

Did I mention that I love turtles and that turtles were involved in this novel. HOWEVER, if some guy is going to get me a turtle he better freaking be prepared to clean up after the damn thing because I babysat a turtle for a friend once and not only did it smell but it was a lot of work. This experiences means that this part of the novel loses all romantic value.

I was sad that I was a small step ahead of the novel as I went. I still loved it.

I wish that I had some things that I could talk about. I wish I could say that I hated something than rant about that for a while. I wish there was something that I could violently and mercilessly tear down but, alas, there is nothing of the sort to be found in this novel. Other than the surprise sexual content (not that I minded...shhhhh, don't tell my mother), this book was brilliantly perfect. Even the names were unique.

Oh! One last thing, there is swearing in this novel which usually bothers me because it's almost always done wrong. In this case, it was done perfectly. It was just how people speak. It didn't read as awkward or uncomfortable. It read as the speech of normal college students and I loved that. Sometimes no swearing is just as awkward as swearing but in this case it was perfect.

I think I may have found a new favourite writer (she says as she begins the search for every book ever written by this author).

To End: I loved, loved, loved this novel. I will be rereading it for sure. It was cute, quick, easy, and adorable. It is a great love story. I would recommend. Kristen...urg, I don't want to say it, has some good taste.

Making Faces

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Amy Harmon
Format: eBook
Pages: 405
Rating: 6 out of 10 (I'm being harsh lately)

Summary (from the face of Goodreads): Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore.

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.

Thoughts: I heard this was like Beauty and the Beast. I think that however said that lied. I didn't really think that it was much like Beauty and the Beast at all. I mean there were some similarities but none that make it stand out as some kind of story based off of it. The similarities were no more than any random book off the shelf. I was excited then torn down. I feel like my thinking it was Beauty and the Beast made me want to love it. I feel like I tried too hard and I may have even let that thinking get to me and stop me from realizing how good this book really was. It makes me sad.

Don't get me wrong. I did really like this book. I enjoyed that characters enough. It was an easy to read and understand story. It was even kind of cute. It was cute but also horribly predictable. I didn't like that I consistently saw where the story was going but I don't think that's how it should be. I think I should be a little surprised because that's half the fun. Maybe I'm too good at noticing foreshadowing. It's too bad that isn't what being an English major consists of or maybe I would have done a lot better. Alas, I digress...

There is a random love letter in the middle of the story from Jesse...I'm still not really sure where that came in. It just confused me a little bit so I didn't think too much about it.

I felt horrible for Rita but saw Bailey as the predictable, loving, helper, fixer friend. It's kind of an archetype. It made me sad but also really happy at the same time. He was great. He was a great friend and super smart. I love that he was insightful. I love that the other character realized what he was and how important he was. I felt the end to his part of the story-line went way too quickly. I think it maybe should have had a bit more story meat.

I am soooooooo tired of girls who think they are ugly getting the guy of their dreams. I'm tired of girls that don't think they are pretty but are actually beautiful. Just once, can the girl just be ugly? Just once, let her be ugly but let it not matter. Let the guy talk about how much he loved her for her. Don't even mention what she looks like. Don't mention her body images. I understand that it is realistic but please, for the love of God, can we care less about what the main character looks like. I'm not sure how we can accomplish this, I just want it done, okay? Thanks.

I thought that the ending for this novel was sufficient but that's the best I can say about it. That's actually kind of harsh. I think that it fairly wrapped everything up. I do, however, feel like there were two ending and that kind of bothered me. I was reading the last chapter thinking it was the epilogue but then I got to the epilogue and it was just weird. I wasn't sure how to take that. One book should only mean one ending.

So: It was quick, easy, painless ( just kidding, that's a bit of a lie ), and insightful. I love how Fern views the world. I love how good friends they all become. I love how it ended because everything was wrapped up and completed. I could see reading this again. Would recommend to those looking for a love story with some action and emotion.