Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Review: Love Story by Jennifer Echols

Love Story
by Jennifer Echols
Release Date: July 19th, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781439178324

Available for Pre-order:
B&N | Amazon | BAM | Borders | The Book Depository

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true. - Goodreads
I was really excited for the chance to read Love Story. This is my second read by Ms. Echols, my first being Forget You, which I enjoyed. I pushed Love Story to the top of my reading stack; I was so excited to read it. I really love a good love story, so I couldn’t wait to get started on this.

I really liked the story. I thought the plot was very believable and well paced. I read the book in a very short period of time. It was a quick read, but it was also, somewhat, an emotional read. The writing was really wonderful; I love Ms. Echols way of telling stories.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really connect with the characters, at all. Actually, I liked Erin in the beginning of the book, she was very determined to go after the future she wanted for herself. But towards the end of the book it seems like she just gave up. I didn’t really care for Hunter at all; I thought he was a jerk. I didn’t really care for their relationship either. They were all over the place. One second they liked each other, the next they didn’t. It was confusing trying to keep up with them. I did like some of the secondary characters, mostly Erin’s roommates. I do wish that they had a bigger part in the story.

I would recommend this book to the older YA crowd, as it has a lot of sexual talk involved.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but not so much the characters. That is just my opinion, and I’m sure everyone else will like them. Unfortunately, they just didn’t work for me. The story, however, was great.

14 comments:

  1. I've been wanting to read this for ages! Great review, I'll have to push it up on my TBR pile :)

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  2. Great review. I am a very character driven reader so it is sometimes hard for me to get into a story if I am not connecting with them. I am glad you liked the plot though, at least that saved it.

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  3. I really hate not being able to connect with characters! :( If you enjoyed Forget You I definitely recommend checking out Going Too Far. I loved that one by her!

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  4. great review!hmm.. i wanted to read this.,and now I’ll think twice, but we’ll see..thanks for the review!

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  5. Great review as always. It sucks that you couldn't connect with the characters. But either way, I'm adding this to my TBR pile.

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  6. I agree that you should read Going too Far, I liked this book as well, but I couldn't connect either!

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  7. Nice review! I didn't connect with the characters either, and this was an okay read for me. I thought the idea for the story was great!

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  8. I started reading this but I couldn't get into it so I put it down to try again later. I definitely think I'll have the same problems as you, though!

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  9. ahh! I only have a few days left before this expires! need to get on it!

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  10. Yeah, I started out liking Erin but then she kept flip-flopping on her own feelings toward Hunter and it was hard to keep track. But the writing is great, as usual.

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  11. this book is next on my tbr pile so i'm curious to see how i'll feel about the characters. but i'm glad it's a good story.

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  12. Agreed. I liked Erin enough in the beginning, but the more I read the more I disliked her and Hunter.

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  13. I just read this one! I'm sorry you didn't like it as much as Forget You. I really enjoyed it, but Going Too Far is still my favorite. I can't wait to hear what you think of that one!

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  14. I agree, I didn't like Erin past the beginning and couldn't see Hunter's appeal at all! I thought their romance was off and it didn't work for me. Glad you still liked it overall!

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