Book Review: The One That I Want

The One That I Want
by Jennifer Echols
ebook, 256 pages
Published December 6th 2011 by Simon Pulse

Summary:

Gemma can’t believe her luck when the star football player starts flirting with her. Max is totally swoon-worthy, and even gets her quirky sense of humor. So when he asks out her so-called best friend Addison, Gemma’s heartbroken.

Then Addison pressures Gemma to join the date with one of Max’s friends. But the more time they all spend together, the harder Gemma falls for Max. She can’t help thinking that Max likes her back—it’s just too bad he’s already dating Addison. How can Gemma get the guy she wants without going after her best friend’s boyfriend?

Review:

Gemma and Addison have been the best of friends since they were ten. Having lost both their fathers in a divorce, Gemma’s mom thought it would be nice for her daughter to have someone to confide into. So ever since then, they did everything together. Or more like, Gemma did everything Addison wanted her to.

In other young adult books, it’s usually the richer ‘BFF’ who gets to order around the other less richer ‘BFF’. But in Gemma and Addison’s case, it’s the other way around. Partially it’s because Addison has always been the more outgoing and pretty one while Gemma has always been ugly, fat friend although she’s lost so much weight now that they’re older. But more than that, it’s because since Gemma’s father left her family, she’s been afraid of being left alone again, so she puts up with Addison no matter how horrible her attitude is.

Gemma and Addison might call themselves bestfriends but inside, they’re best enemies too. They are very competitive with each other. Like when they were kids, they had baton lessons together. When Addison grew tired from it, she quit. But sometime later, when she found out that Gemma was trying out to become a majorette, she did so as well. Addison is also extremely selfish. She says embarrassing things about Gemma in front of her and other people. There’s also a scene where she purposely hit (though not entirely obvious) Gemma on the nose with her baton to embarrass her in front of two hotties. She later dragged Gemma to the boys and started flirting with the guy Gemma had her eyes on. Addison never apologized for hitting her, or for other horrible things she did. She also appears to be extremely ignorant and mostly, just shrugs off the horrible things she’s done.

I think Addison’s attitude is too extreme to be real. It seems as if she was created for the sole purpose of annoying the readers. Gemma, on the other hand, is an okay character. But she isn’t all that easy to like nor was she a relatable character. Though I appreciate the romance between her and Max. The development was smooth and just at the right time. Max’s family is probably one of the very few likable parts in the book. They are very fun and you’ll just want to read more about them. I think the ending is also very fitting for the book. Oh, and did I mention about that hot and heavy scene between Gemma and Max? Well, it was just that. Hot and heavy. But, I’ve always known Jennifer Echols is awesome at writing sexual tension and hot and heavy scenes.
As always, Echols’s books are easy and quick to read. I love her books even though some of them have struck a nerve. I just wish she would start writing about lovable characters instead of dislikable, annoying ones.

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Book Review: Love Story (ARC)

Love Story
by Jennifer Echols
243 Pages - Paperback
Expected publication: July 19th 2011 by MTV Books
Source: ARC from S&S Galley Grab

Summary:

SHE'S WRITING ABOUT HIM. HE'S WRITING ABOUT HER. AND EVERYBODY IS READING BETWEEN THE LINES.

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true.

Review:

As an heiress to a wealthy millionaire, Erin Blackwell’s grandmother wants her to pursue business course. But Erin has other plans for herself. She wants to be a writer. As a result, she is stripped off of all her inheritance. Worse, her grandmother had to give it to Hunter; the stable boy from her childhood. Now, Erin has to balance life from work and college. It’s already hard enough that she has to study and work her butt off. The only place she could relax is in the creative writing class. So when Hunter enrolled in the same class, all hell break loose. It doesn’t help that Hunter has to read the story she prepared on his first day, inspired by the same stable boy she met from childhood.

The story opens with a short story written by Erin about a forbidden tryst between a stable boy and his lady. I pretty much enjoyed this short story as well as the others. Though between Erin and Hunter, I enjoyed the latter’s works much better.

The plot is quite predictable, but what I love about Echols’s works is that no matter how predictable the plot is, you just can’t help anticipating the next events. However, no matter how much I liked how the events were unfolding, I gotta say that I was seriously disappointed with the last quarter of the book. Erin and Hunter had an argument. And although both parties were responsible, I was disappointed by how fast the fight ended. Without a single apology from either of them. It was a WTF moment for me. That said, I think the ending is rushed. I felt like it could still go on for 20 more pages, but unfortunately, it was cut short.

Erin also talked about the final story she wrote for the creative writing class before she and Hunter went back to the horse farm. The story is not featured in the book though, unlike her other stories. I thought that it was going to be an epic epilogue to the novel since it’s her and Hunter’s story. But all in all, I enjoyed reading Echols’s Love Story. Just not as much as her Going Too Far and Forget You.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Disclosure: This e-ARC was provided by Simon & Schuster (via S&S Galley Grab) for free in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Endless Summer

Endless Summer
by Jennifer Echols
587 pages - Paperback
Published by Simon Pulse
ISBN 1442406593 (9781442406599)

Summary:

TWO IRRESISTIBLE BOYS. ONE UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER.

Lori can’t wait for her summer at the lake. She loves wakeboarding and hanging with her friends–including the two hotties next door. With the Vader brothers, she’s always been just one of the guys. Now that she’s turning sixteen, she wants to be seen as one of the girls, especially in the eyes of Sean, the older brother. But that’s not going to happen–not if the younger brother, Adam, can help it.

Lori plans to make Sean jealous by spending time with Adam. Adam has plans of his own for Lori. As the air heats up, so does this love triangle. Will Lori’s romantic summer melt into one hot mess?

Review:

The story picks up right after The Boys Next Door ended. Adam and Lori are an official couple. But after spending one night out together without their parents knowing where they have been, it only took less than 24 hours for their relationship to suddenly become at stake. Lori wants to prove her dad that Adam is truly a good boyfriend by fake-dating ‘worse’ boys. However, this isn’t doing any good to their relationship other than making Adam extremely jealous and her brother, McGuillicuddy, as furious as ever.

I was wowed by how messy Lori’s summer has become. The fake-datings were already getting on my nerves in the first book, so I was mildly disappointed that Endless Summer has not one, not two, but three fake-datings in store. It was annoying, but it was also one of the aspects of this book that I liked because it made the plot messier, complicated, chaotic and all the more hilarious.

The only thing I didn’t like about Endless Summer is that, like its predecessor, it lacked a great deal of character development. It was also implied by one of the minor characters that there is a great possibility that Lori will always find a way to accidentally hurt Adam, and Adam being Adam, will hurt Lori in return. This is very probable considering no long-lasting maturity happened on both sides.

While I really enjoyed reading the two books, it makes me sad to think that even though the first book was given a sequel, the main obstacle in their relationship, which is Adam and Lori’s incapability of trusting each other, will always be there. I am actually kind of scared for them because their lack of maturity will make for an endless cycle of making up and breaking up until they completely get tired of each other.

Rating: 4/5 stars

 

Book Review: The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols

The Boys Next Door
by Jennifer Echols
317 pages - Paperback
Published June 26th 2007 by Simon Pulse
ISBN: 1416918310 (ISBN13: 9781416918318)

Summary:

Cute, available, and one cabin over....

Lori lives for summertime on the lake. She spends all season wakeboarding, swimming, and hanging with her friends—including the two hotties in the house next door. With the Vader brothers, Lori's always been one of the guys.

But while Lori and the "baby" brother, Adam, are inseparable friends, she can't deny a secret crush on Sean, the older Vader boy. This year Sean's been paying Lori a lot of attention, and not in a brotherly way.

But just as Lori decides to prove to Sean she's girlfriend material, she realizes that her role as girl friend to Adam may be even more important. And by trying so hard for the perfect summer romance, she could be going way overboard....

Review:

After 15 years of being treated as one of the boys, Lori McGuillycuddy has had enough. At 16, she decided that it was time to girl up and maybe, snag Sean Vader, the boy whom she has been pining after for more than 10 years. But with Adam Vade, the youngest of the Vader brothers, and his ex-girlfriend on the side, Lori’s summer was about to get more awkward than she already thought it was.

I wasn’t too fond of Lori’s character in the beginning. I know the whole point of girling up was for Sean to finally notice her, and maybe, for him to realize that she was a girlfriend material and finally, to hook up together. But I thought Lori’s obsession with this was a little too annoying. Most especially when I found out why she has liked Sean all those years.

Adam, on the other hand, was very adorable. Excuse my weirdness, but having ADHD and refusing to take medications because it would make you feel dead is adorable in my opinion. And he also bounces on his feet! He also never backs down on any dare even if it breaks every bone in his body. He was really adorable and brave, if not stupid. I guess he strikes me as adorable in the little-baby-brother sort of way.

One thing I never understood in the book though was how Lori (and even Mrs. Vader!) often mistook Sean for Adam and vice versa. Even though they have the same hairstyles and facial features, surely, there’s a way to tell them apart? Especially when they’ve been together since they were kids. It gets annoying whenever Lori mistakes one for the other.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed Echols’s Forget You and Going Too Far. But nevertheless, The Boys Next Door was still an enjoyable read and definitely worth a go.

Rating: 3/5 stars