Summary:A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?
When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.
Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex's frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night--but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.
When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he's hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy. (from GoodReads)
Review:
Wow!!!! This book was amazing! It's also the first book I've read that is "New Adult" so it was almost weird that the main character is in college. I can definitely relate to that.
Unlike the title, Easy is not always easy to read. In the first few pages, Jacqueline is assaulted and almost raped. It's a tough scene, because you feel Jacqueline's fear and desperation. Luckily she is a very strong character and learns to fight back through self-defense classes. Reading about assault in fiction was very interesting because I am an RA, so this is the kind of thing I might have to deal with. I really hope I don't, but it was nice to get into the mindset of Jacqueline so I can learn how to relate to victims of sexual assault.
Jacqueline is thankfully rescued during her assault by our main romantic figure, Lucas. Lucas is one of those love interests that ruins real men for readers. He was such an awesome character. He had his own secrets, but he cared so much about Jacqueline and it was really sweet. A lot of their relationship is physical, but they also seem compatible personality wise, as well.
Since this is the first New Adult book I've read, it was probably one of the first where the protagonist is in college. It was pretty cool because her school seems similar to mine and I could relate to a lot of things (classes, finals, studying, etc). It was nice reading about a character that's actually my age and I really hope that more books are written about this genre.
Overall, Easy was not the easiest book to read, but it was definitely engaging and hard to put down. I'm definitely going to watch out for Tammara Weber's other novels because she is a great writer!
Rating: 10 out of 10.
FTC: sent by publisher.
2012/Berkley/304 pages.
2 comments:
Great review. We've been hearing a lot of buzz about this book, especially since Kristan is big on the idea of New Adult books. (The rest of us are supportive but less certain about the market/demand.) Anyway, it's good to know that the book is well written and offers a believable, nuanced look at such a serious topic.
(And PS: Kristan was an RA too, for 2 years. Sexual assault does come up, although not always in the way you expect. Her best advice -- for ANY issue, really -- is to keep an open mind, think before you speak, and validate people's feelings. Sometimes it's more about listening than it is about advice. And it's okay to say "I don't know.")
Thanks for the advice! I find myself active listening (rather than giving advice) for a host of issues. I've actually already had someone tell me about an assault (not a resident and she already told the police so as an RA there wasn't much for me to do) and the only thing I could really say was "it wasn't your fault."
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