A complimentary audio was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Review contains a lot of spoilers, and they are major. Continue reading at your own risk.
I am conflicted about this story. Overall I enjoyed it. There are parts though that are beyond ridiculous and dramatic. Lets start with the good/fun stuff first. 🙂
The meeting aka hot coffee meets strangers shirt. When Jules bumps in to Hunter and spills his coffee on him, in an effort to appease the (good looking) stranger he gives Hunter his favorite sweatshirt. Hunter is of course a jerk and Jules fears his sweatshirt is lost forever.
When Jules sees Hunter in school, wearing his sweatshirt like he owns it (the nerve!), Jules marches over and asks for his sweatshirt back. Of course Hunter says no, and a few other choice words besides, and Jules is left staring after him and wondering what he should do.
Their relationship gets off to a rocky start. Hunter is an out and proud bi-sexual, and has someone locking lips with him at every turn. For whatever reason, Jules – despite thinking Hunter is a jerk – can’t stop thinking about him. He doesn’t recognize his feelings for what they are until much later and after a few events take place.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story approaching the 50% mark. Seeing Hunter and Jules argue and tease each other, and at times touching each other for various reasons, I couldn’t help but smile and think they were simply adorable. I don’t want to spoil the story. I’ll just reiterate that things happen between Jules and Hunter, between Jules and his girlfriend, and Jules and his friends that helps Jules see what his feelings for Hunter are all about.
Just as their relationship is taking off and they are really becoming a couple, dramaville arrives in the form of a spiteful, vindictive, teenage horror known as Valerie, Vanessa? Crap, Veronica? Ugh, okay, I am blanking on her name – lets just call her V. Anyway, V is NOT a nice person and outs Jules to his family. In essence doing a sort of reverse blackmail to keep Jules and Hunter apart. She is Jules’s parents spy and will report any contact between Jules and Hunter to Jules’s parents. See, V was with Hunter very briefly and when he stopped wanting to hang out with her and be with Jules, she couldn’t handle it. In an effort to get Hunter back (which is a stupid way to go about it), she thinks forcing them apart and being mean will win Hunter over.
I couldn’t stand this turn of events. The plot here didn’t make sense; it was added for what felt like drama for dramas sake. As if being a teenager in high school isn’t hard enough, lets add negligent parents and a real vindictive B to the mix, and toss in being gay and only just realizing it.
In the mix of all this drama, Jules learns that his father is cheating on his mother, but is too dense to know that’s what it means. One night (before dramaville arrived) Hunter and Jules are hiding in an empty movie theater room and resting, literally, when who should walk in but Jules’s father and two women and another man. Jules is so worried about being seen that he completely misses the fact that his father is out on the town without his mother, and another woman, when he should be working (that’s what he said he was doing). And then later, when Jules finally figures out what his dad is really up to, instead of using that information to allow him to see Hunter again (after being forced apart because of V), as in blackmailing his father, Jules shows his evidence to his father AND mother, and says she has to decide what she is going to do. REALLY? Jules’s mother is a doormat- extremely wishy washy and unable to stand up for herself.
To back up a little, V, once again in an effort to get Hunter to want her, says she is pregnant with Hunter’s baby. He doesn’t understand how it could have happened because he used a condom each time. Anyway, I don’t know what sort of crazy Hunter was thinking of doing, but he should have seriously questioned the possibility the baby was his. Hunter knows this chick is seriously crazy and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Hunter and Jules apart. So why is he willing to believe anything she tells him? V is an over the top character who wasn’t needed for this story to work. Again, drama for dramas sake – one of my biggest pet peeves. We later learn (duh!) the baby isn’t Hunter’s.
There is more drama to this story, but I don’t feel like going in to all of it. The good news is these two finally get their heads on straight and manage to be together. Despite all their troubles in getting together, they are finally a couple living together with no more barriers between them. It’s not clear what happens to V, she just disappears. We do know what happens with Jules’s parents (broadly) and it’s good.
I did leave out a very large detail of this story and I debated mentioning it, but I decided to after all because it is a possible trigger for some readers. Jules has an older brother – a fact we don’t learn until about the 50% mark. The reason we don’t know about him is because he committed suicide about 3-4 years ago. There is so much history surrounding the brother that ends up playing a big role in this story between Jules’s parents, and Jules’s relationship with Hunter. I was shocked when I learned this fact and was not pleased to see it had deliberately been kept hidden.
Despite the drama surrounding this story (and there is a lot I didn’t mention), there are several light moments to between Jules and Hunter’s friends. They all hook up! 😀 It’s sweet to see Nate and Alexis get together. Nate is Jules’s best friend and Jules enjoyed watching Nate blush and stutter. Me too! 🙂 Then there is Red who works at the coffee shop with Jules and she is involved with I think the owner. So much romance floating around it felt like it was Valentines.
Would I recommend this? Depends on the reader. Overall, yes, I would recommend this because it had a lot of good things going for it. The drama didn’t really ruin the story for me – it just made me mad when it happened. This book won’t be for every though, so I would suggest people use their best judgement and know their tastes.
Narration: The voice is not that of a teenage boy and that I didn’t like. Aside from that, the narrator did an excellent job and really acted out these scenes very VERY well. I love when a narrator can make me forget I am listening to a book and not watching a movie or something. I would listen to this narrator again. And despite his voice not matching the age of the characters, I would highly recommend the audio because it was well produced and I believe greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the story.
Story 3 stars
Narration 4.5 stars.