Genre: Contemporary Romance

The Analysis:

I loved this story from page 1. Opposites attract, cool girl and nerdy cute guy. Personalities sang off the page. It should be an enjoyable read, but here comes the but. Because of Him by Jessica Roe, let’s book review it.

Heres the Blurb:

I love the sentiment that this cover invokes. However, it looks a little washed out to me. So its not my fav. I feel like that’s one of those rookie designer mistakes to watch out for. Comment below what you think?

Now The Story:

Book Info:
Pages: 229
Author: Jessica Roe
Available: On Amazon

This ended up being a teacher student romance. (And I say that having completely forgotten what I bought and without going back to check the blurb.) Therefore, half the book is angsty unrequited love and the couple is never really together except in bits and pieces. So the book starts to read more as a coming of age story as the mc tries to figure out who she is in the interim.

I loved the coming of age story and could identify with having to live with a dysfunctional family. I was angry with her and for her. But I loved that she had a neighbor to love her unconditionally like she did. And despite the dysfunction still managed to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. It was beautiful.

None of which made up for the fact that the hero of this story wasn’t worth fawning/waiting for. He repeatedly strung the mc along. And when he had his moment of truth to prove he loved her. He let her down.

Small Rant: The climax leaves our heroine a literal, simpering mess. Now, I’ve certainly had my moments. But there should never be a moment where the mc doesn’t stick up for herself. And she literally was left stuttering in the face of so much hate. Idk about you, but I know my women readers are already sick of the weak betrayal of women. Especially one’s who claim to be strong.

The aftermath of the dark night of the soul, is then wasted on some random supporting character. When it should be the hero shining through.

Now that I’ve taken a breath.  Eventually  the hero apologizes and they overcome the age and school thing. Because she was only 18 a few months later and graduated 1 year later. But I cant get with it because the hero never proved he deserved her.

And I cant recommend it because despite the heroine making him look good. I, as the reader don’t think so and she failed to get me to fall in love with him. Once that hope was dashed, my heroine getting all of her troubles with her family wrapped up in a little bow wasn’t even enjoyable. Not to mention it was rushed through, when I would have loved to see some of those moments.

And then someone close to the mc dies and I want to throw the whole book away. You don’t give me no real romance, but you want to kill a character. This is definitely a coming of age story and not a romance.

For My Author Followers: I recently read an article on Plot Verses Character using Game of Thrones as a reference (check my Facebook page if you’re curious). The author suggested that you should always follow character when outlining your novel. My thought is that this advice (although great) is genre specific and this book is a perfect example. It maybe perfectly within character for the hero to doubt the heroine. However, to sell a romance he just f****** cant. The plot should have had this guy batting of the crazy off with a sword like a knight in shining armor for his woman. Only for her to ride off into the sunset with him. In romance, plot leads and not character.

Story At A Glance:

Recommendation:  No

 The Ratings:

Book Cover Appeal:

🍓🍓

Story & Narration:

🍓🍓🍓🍓

Romance:

🍓🍓🍓

Sex Scenes:

Not Applicable