Unfortunately, I can't rate this book higher than 2 stars. A London Affair by Jan Ellis was a light read, maybe too light as not much happened.
In a nUnfortunately, I can't rate this book higher than 2 stars. A London Affair by Jan Ellis was a light read, maybe too light as not much happened.
In a nutshell: The main character was a girl who lived in a small town and decided not go to university. Instead, she found a job in London in a place called "Delish Organics". There, encouraged by her co-worker, she started going on dates and that was pretty much all that her life in London consisted of. Well, that and lusting for her friend's boyfriend.
I would've liked this book more if something actually happened. Instead, all we saw were the dates and then the romance that came completely out of the blue. It was poorly developed and I didn't feel anything between the couple that eventually ended up together.
All in all, for a chick-lit, it wasn't a bad book, but it was kind of dull and the romance didn't have the spark that it should've had.
I can count on my fingers the New Adult books that I liked and The Score by Elle Kennedy is now one of them. All of the Off-Campus books are.
I doI can count on my fingers the New Adult books that I liked and The Score by Elle Kennedy is now one of them. All of the Off-Campus books are.
I don’t have a high opinion of the genre so I was really surprised when I read The Deal and then actually liked it. Then came The Mistake and it wasn’t as good as the first book (which is a shame because I was hoping Logan’s story would be my favourite) but it was still decent. With The Score, Ellen Kennedy once again proved that you can write a very good New Adult book that is not the same as 90% of the book in the category.
The story is not cringe-worthy, it’s got some great and funny dialogues, the characters actually are interesting and complex, they don’t think about sex 99% of the time (yes, even Dean!) and have other passions. Plus, there’s no instalove.
Dean is the type of character that you know you shouldn’t root for but you can’t help it and soon he becomes your favourite. Ally is a heroine that is Hannah’s-level fun and lovable. Together D & A make a great couple, their interactions are everything but boring and, despite their little arrangement, their relationship isn’t unhealthy as it often happens in NA books - it’s honest from the very beginning and transforms into something more very naturally.
All in all, I’m really glad there is the Off-Campus series because it gives me hope that it’s possible to find real gems in the genre I’m not particularly fond of. ...more
If I Forget You by Thomas Christopher Greene is a story that I would've liked more if I hadn't read it a couple of times before.
It all starts withIf I Forget You by Thomas Christopher Greene is a story that I would've liked more if I hadn't read it a couple of times before.
It all starts with two ex-lovers who meet each other randomly after 20 years since they've last seen each other and it's the moment that makes them recall their young love.
And then we go back in time to their youth: a boy from a poor family meets a wealthy girl, they fall in love, she hides her lover from her parents because they'd disapprove but they find out eventually and things only go down from there - they break up and don't see each other until two decades later.
Doesn't it remind you of something? I've watched The Notebook too many times not to notice the similarities. I'd lie if I said there weren't also many differences in the plot but I just couldn't help not thinking about the famous movie when I read the book (there even was a canoe...). Besides, there's just too many stories where a rich girl falls for a poor boy and their only obstacle are their families, it's all become too predictable. I don't mind authors using a storyline that's been used thousand times before as long as they make it really interesting and outstanding and it didn't happen with this book.
What did I like? The retrospection - it's always a nice way to make a book more interesting (although I wish they showed a different story). Although there were many clichés in the book, I appreciate that the ending wasn't one of them. Moreover, it was a fast book and really nicely written so that's a plus as well.
Unfortunately, this book didn't have that "something" for me and I'll probably forget about it very quickly so I'm giving it only 2,5 stars. ...more
The thing is, I'm not particularly fond of whiny female protagonists who suddenly fall head over heels for some I have mixed feelings about this one.
The thing is, I'm not particularly fond of whiny female protagonists who suddenly fall head over heels for some boy and from then on everything they do is driven by that other person. So when Allyson decided to go to a foreign country with a boyshe only just met, fell in love with him after just ONE DAY, got dumped and then spent half a year being depressed because of him, I was really frustrated with the book and I thought I wouldn't finish it.
But then the story got better, and even though Allyson's decisions still weren't completely her own (e.g. choosing Shakespeare classes because of a BOY, learning French because of a BOY etc.), I liked her a little bit more because she wasn't so passive about her life anymore.
What I liked the most was her trip back to France, still in search of a BOY but also, along the way, to find herself. And I really appreciated the fact that there wasn't any grand romantic reunion at the end. We didn't get all the answers and I'm okey with that so I don't intend to read the sequel.
Rating: About half way through the book I thought I would give it 2 stars but then the rest of the story was so much better and deserved a solid 4 so I'll go for 3 stars....more
I'm really tempted to write a review of this one because I don't like many NA books, they all seem the same to me but this book was actually somethingI'm really tempted to write a review of this one because I don't like many NA books, they all seem the same to me but this book was actually something different. I'll see if I have some spare time to write a proper review though...more
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