This is a difficult one. I'm going with 2.75 stars.The background:Nate and Grace were pen-pals for years. He was deployed in the military, her initial letter was a required school project. A strong friendship evolved. And something stronger. But when Nate was discharged, he worried that he wasn't good enough for Grace, and his final letter made it clear that he thought they should just be friends.The story:Grace is an Undeclared major in college, still 'broken' over Nate's rejection. Nate has recovered enough to realize that he needs to get Grace back into his life, so he's enrolled in her college with a plan to get her back. But will Grace let him?So...The good things. My favorite style of writing is 1st person POV. Even better when it's done from both POVs, both hero and heroine, as this book is. It allows the reader (me) to see the inner workings of the characters more clearly, and usually, to empathize more fully.The writing is decent, a few errors here and there, but not overly intrusive (plus, this was an ARC, and the author offered a more edited version that I did not read as I was over 80% through this one), so it was an effortless read as far as grammar/editing goes.Now, the less 'good.' This took me a long time to get through. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan of this new 'New Adult' genre, but the main reason is the trite and completely unoriginal and overdone traumatic reasons for massive angst (same themes over and over again). This book is NOT that. On the contrary, the 'angst' is so understated that it's basically non-existent (I feel like a total hypocrite now). It was not difficult to put down because I has no sense of urgency to get to the next scene because not much was happening. In other words, I got a bit bored. I kept waiting for the 'point' of the story.Don't get me wrong. It's not bad. Not bad at all. But to compete in the NA genre, and keep the attention of the NA readers, there needs to be SOMETHING that readers anxiously anticipate. There just isn't a huge climax in this. It's more of a blush romance, with minor drama.Additionally, the characters felt a bit cardboard to me. I liked Nate, but he was not particularly aggressive, and Grace was very wishy-washy (which was the point of the story, I guess). I just didn't get a lot of PASSION out of their relationship.I think the author has potential, but needs to develop a story with a bit more punch to it and with less mundane, day to day super reality to it.**disclaimer - I received a free ARC from the author for an honest review.
HJL Reviews and Musings
I have a book addiction that began with Nancy Drew in kindergarten. I've read pretty much all genres, to exclude non-fiction because I love to read for the escapism. I only review books that I feel strongly about, whether for good or bad. I think of truthful, honest, reviews as being there as a 'pay-it-forward' for others.
This is a difficult one. I'm going with 2.75 stars.The background:Nate and Grace were pen-pals for years. He was deployed in the military, her initial letter was a required school project. A strong friendship evolved. And something stronger. But when Nate was discharged, he worried that he wasn't good enough for Grace, and his final letter made it clear that he thought they should just be friends.The story:Grace is an Undeclared major in college, still 'broken' over Nate's rejection. Nate has recovered enough to realize that he needs to get Grace back into his life, so he's enrolled in her college with a plan to get her back. But will Grace let him?So...The good things. My favorite style of writing is 1st person POV. Even better when it's done from both POVs, both hero and heroine, as this book is. It allows the reader (me) to see the inner workings of the characters more clearly, and usually, to empathize more fully.The writing is decent, a few errors here and there, but not overly intrusive (plus, this was an ARC, and the author offered a more edited version that I did not read as I was over 80% through this one), so it was an effortless read as far as grammar/editing goes.Now, the less 'good.' This took me a long time to get through. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan of this new 'New Adult' genre, but the main reason is the trite and completely unoriginal and overdone traumatic reasons for massive angst (same themes over and over again). This book is NOT that. On the contrary, the 'angst' is so understated that it's basically non-existent (I feel like a total hypocrite now). It was not difficult to put down because I has no sense of urgency to get to the next scene because not much was happening. In other words, I got a bit bored. I kept waiting for the 'point' of the story.Don't get me wrong. It's not bad. Not bad at all. But to compete in the NA genre, and keep the attention of the NA readers, there needs to be SOMETHING that readers anxiously anticipate. There just isn't a huge climax in this. It's more of a blush romance, with minor drama.Additionally, the characters felt a bit cardboard to me. I liked Nate, but he was not particularly aggressive, and Grace was very wishy-washy (which was the point of the story, I guess). I just didn't get a lot of PASSION out of their relationship.I think the author has potential, but needs to develop a story with a bit more punch to it and with less mundane, day to day super reality to it.**disclaimer - I received a free ARC from the author for an honest review.
Currently reading
Daughter of Smoke & Bone
The Lost
Betrayed: Days of the Rogue
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