Gallery Books/MTV Books, 2011
243 pages
YA; Contemporary
3/5 stars
Source: Received a free egalley through Simon and Schuster's GalleyGrab program.
So conflicted! While I've loved Echols' writing for a while now, I've increasingly disliked the characters and plots of her books. Forget You had the incredibly stupid Zoey and Love Story has Erin and Hunter, incredibly dysfunctional and manipulative people.
The book opens with an excerpt from Erin's creative writing story, which is a loosely fictionalized version of her life with herself cast as the heiress to a horse farm and Hunter as her hunky stable boy. Then he actually shows up in her class and their backstory is revealed: Erin was supposed to inherit her grandmother's horse farm but she was disinherited for wanting to major in English rather than in business. Instead Hunter gets everything: the farm, the money for college, everything that Erin had expected for herself. She's understandably upset and spends about eight chapters hating on Hunter while still feeling attraction until she starts to soften. This is a very quick change and I barely had time to warm up to Hunter because he continually does hurtful things.
Yes, Hunter's hot (seriously Echols can write steamy YA scenes like no one else I've read) but he's pretty cold, controlling, and extremely manipulative. And Erin herself was so hot and cold about him. I think I could have been more sympathetic if the story were told in alternating perspectives between Erin and Hunter because then his side of the story would have been told and I probably wouldn't have found him so cold. Because Erin was narrating, I like her more but I also thought she was pretty whiny and that she thought she knew way more about what everyone else was thinking than she actually did.
Besides the main characters, there are lots of fun classmates, notably Erin and Hunter's roommates, who I loved. Summer, Jordis (don't know how to make the slash), Brian, and Manohar were not the focus but they added a lot of humor to the story. I wonder if the story could have been stronger if we had actually met Erin's grandmother. Erin sees her but never confronts her or talks to her after the disinheritance, leaving a bit of a gap in the understanding of Erin's life.
Overall: Yay on the writing, nay on Erin and Hunter.
Read for E-book challenge.
I got this one too, but I couldn't get into the story. It was justn too hard. I didn't like the characters and at times the story line was just boring. ;)
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ReplyDeleteGreat review! I liked the Erin that was all about her career and education. Loved how hard she was working to make it without her grandmother's help. Loved Echols writing! Hated the Erin who was obsessed and stalked Hunter. Hated Hunter, period.
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Truly Bookish
I've heard that Echols is a great writer, but I haven't read any of her books before. I really hate when girls in books become obsessed with the guys:P Thanks for the review!
ReplyDelete-Danna
I didn't care for the main characters either. Hunter really came off as a jerk, and while Erin started strong, she gave up way too easily. Echols does have a way of writing steamy scenes though! Great review!
ReplyDeleteYou said everything I would have said, but so so much better than I could say it. You nailed my feelings exactly--from your first paragraph to the last.
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