Read for: Mount TBR Digital
Synopsis: "A year after graduating from high school, nineteen-year-old Emma Ward feels lost. She has spent most of her life trying to please her frigid, miserable mother - studying hard, getting good grades, avoiding the whole teenage rebellion thing - and now she feels she has no identity beyond that. Because she spent so many years working hard and planning every moment of her life, she doesn't have any friends, has never had a boyfriend, and basically doesn't know who she is or what she really wants from life. Working two part-time jobs to save money for college hasn't helped her make decisions about her future, so she decides it's time for a change. She leaves home to live with her free-spirited, slightly eccentric Aunt Daisy in a small town that makes Emma feel like she's stepped back in time.
When Emma meets Nicholas Shaw, everything changes - he's unlike anyone she's ever met before, the kind of man she didn't even know existed in the 21st century. Carefree and spirited like Daisy, Nicholas teaches Emma to appreciate life, the beauty around her, and to just let go and live. Between Daisy and Nicholas, Emma feels like she belongs somewhere for the first time in her life, and realizes that you don't always need a plan - sometimes life steers you where you're meant to be.
Life is wonderful, an endless string of blue sky days, until Nicholas is diagnosed with cancer, and life changes once again for Emma in ways she never thought possible. Now it's time for her to help Nicholas the way he's helped her. Emma will have to use her new-found strength, and discover along the way if love really is enough to get you through."
My Review: I have this shelved as a young adult book, while it is more in the new adult realm it is clean enough to be a young adult book in my opinion. I am having a hard time rating and reviewing this book. I will do the best I can without spoilers. I enjoyed most of this book though a good portion of it felt cliché and something I had read many times before. The instant love followed by a supposedly slow developing relationship felt a little fake to me, but I know a lot of people do enjoy this style. Also, the issue with the mother at times felt forced, almost like it was an afterthought to add some unnecessary drama to the book. Now with for the good part, the book definitely improved the last third or so, it was nice to see the change up of the guy needing the girl for support. And while I didn't think I was really emotionally involved in the book or the characters, I definitely realized I was in fact invested as the roller coaster kicked into high gear. So while it is a book you feel like you read before, there are still some very redeeming qualities to the book.
When Emma meets Nicholas Shaw, everything changes - he's unlike anyone she's ever met before, the kind of man she didn't even know existed in the 21st century. Carefree and spirited like Daisy, Nicholas teaches Emma to appreciate life, the beauty around her, and to just let go and live. Between Daisy and Nicholas, Emma feels like she belongs somewhere for the first time in her life, and realizes that you don't always need a plan - sometimes life steers you where you're meant to be.
Life is wonderful, an endless string of blue sky days, until Nicholas is diagnosed with cancer, and life changes once again for Emma in ways she never thought possible. Now it's time for her to help Nicholas the way he's helped her. Emma will have to use her new-found strength, and discover along the way if love really is enough to get you through."
My Review: I have this shelved as a young adult book, while it is more in the new adult realm it is clean enough to be a young adult book in my opinion. I am having a hard time rating and reviewing this book. I will do the best I can without spoilers. I enjoyed most of this book though a good portion of it felt cliché and something I had read many times before. The instant love followed by a supposedly slow developing relationship felt a little fake to me, but I know a lot of people do enjoy this style. Also, the issue with the mother at times felt forced, almost like it was an afterthought to add some unnecessary drama to the book. Now with for the good part, the book definitely improved the last third or so, it was nice to see the change up of the guy needing the girl for support. And while I didn't think I was really emotionally involved in the book or the characters, I definitely realized I was in fact invested as the roller coaster kicked into high gear. So while it is a book you feel like you read before, there are still some very redeeming qualities to the book.
My Rating: This was a so so book for me for the majority of it, but clearly the ending really got to me. So it is hard for me to decide a rating for this one, there are almost equal parts that I liked and parts I didn't like but the fact that it made me emotional marks something very good. I give it a rating of Three Paws and Stump Wag.
I'm a terrible blogging buddy because I haven't read Marie's books yet. I will read them though. When I read this one ill remember to stick with it for the good ending.
ReplyDeleteI think I have read 2 of hers so far and they are both a long the lines of feel good, chic flick style books. While those aren't always my cup of tea, I certainly enjoy them from time to time. Definitely hang in there for this one, it takes until at least 2/3rds of the way through to really start moving.
DeleteI read this when I was seventeen or eighteen and loved the heck out of it. I liked reading realistic fiction about people my age. :) And the fact it's clean new adult, and she *SPOILER ALERT*
ReplyDeletechooses a different path than college, I found it all very interesting and since I wasn't going to college either easy to relate to. Very difficult to find a book like that.