anasmith7186896

April 18th revision: 2 stars As time passes, the book (and everything that happens in it), starts to annoy me more and more - there's just too many drama, and once I got of the high, I started to see it (I just didn't have the will to actually edit the review to reflect the new rating). I simply can't let the old rating stand. I'll leave the original review to reflect my state of mind upon finishing the book.

Original review:

I've avoided writing this review for a while. I guess I just have some problems in figuring out exactly what it is that I like or dislike in the book. There are some stuff I'm not even sure where should I put them. But I'll just do my best.

Summary (I'm not sure I could do justice to the story, so I'll just copy the one found here):

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the charming college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his charms, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’ apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

This is definitely not a typical YA book. I usually like YA books with a strong romance plot, so I thought why not give it a shot.

I'll tell you one thing: I stayed up late so that I could finish it. I literally could make myself pull away from it. The book takes you on a serious roller coaster of emotions.

In real life, if you met someone like Travis and had the misfortune of him falling for you, you could accuse him of stalking, harresment, you name it. A restraining order would be the best thing. But in the book, it worked for me.

There are a lot of things that bothered me in the book. Abby's inability to pick a guy to date, Travis's cheating, but somehow when I finished the book I couldn't even remember why it bothered me.

Travis and Abby's relationship is full of ups and downs and is disturbing. I'm not going anywhere near the fact that they got married at 19. A conversation between Abby and her friend that shed some light:

“It’s dangerous to need someone that much. You’re trying to save him and he’s hoping you can. You two are a disaster.”

I smiled at the ceiling. “It doesn’t matter what or why it is. When it’s good, Kara…it’s beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re hopeless.”

The entire book is like that. If you think longer on what happened, you'd deduct stars. I know I wanted to. But in the end I decided to leave the rating I first gave it.

BTW, the only reason I gave it 4 and not 5 stars when I finished it is the fire at the end that was just too much.

Rating:

4 stars