Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

** spoiler alert ** Um...what? Sometimes it really pays off to "like" favorite authors on Facebook because you get to hear about new releases so quickly, either their own books, or those they recommend. Other times you spend $3.99 on a book that was really not worth it the money or the time. Can you tell where I am going with this review? First, I'm appalled at the comparisons between Jude Ryder and Travis Maddox. True Beautiful Disaster fans should agree with me. Okay, yes, Jude is a chauvinist alpha male with anger issues, but there is nothing endearing or sexy about this character. I didn't get his tortured soul, stay away from me for your own good attitude. It actually really annoyed me. And by the way, even though what Lucy thought about him didn't turn out to be true, he DID lie to her. Multiple times! I didn't find that sexy at all. Also, I thought the Beanie wearing and note carrying was ridiculous. Lucy was a walking contradiction. On one hand, she's getting all huffy at Jude for telling her what to do and bossing her around because she's her own woman, and then on the other hand she can't change her own tire because that's what men are for. You've got to be kidding me. Later, she is the one who tells Jude to basically get lost, yet when he doesn't want to make small talk with her at the garage, she gets bent. Really? Then she goes from telling us how Jude wants to take their relationship slow to telling Taylor that no boy would ever take it slow (when discussing Sawyer). Lucy was, to me, one of the most unlikable heroines I've encountered in awhile. Now, I can usually get over a little storytelling in my novels, I mean it's fiction, right? Everything doesn't have to be in touch with reality, however, it does have to be in this hemisphere, and the ridiculousness of several plot elements here was just frustrating! Here are some examples: *Based on one word from Lucy, and Coach A decides to put Jude in the game as quarterback on the spot. *Jude becomes God's gift to football and all of a sudden the stands are filled with college scouts. A partial season of his senior year, and Jude has his pick of full ride scholarships. *Not only does every college want him, but so does the NFL! They want to sign him right out of high school! *And stealing a car, getting arrested, then missing school has no effect on his football gig. *In the beginning of the story, Lucy is attacked, her hair is burned off, she is doused in gasoline and is nearly set on fire herself. If that wasn't bad enough, they boys kill her dog. After this event, hardly another mention is made of the juveniles and their fate. Not only that, Lucy barely seems to be effected by any of it except that she misses her long hair. *Jude's best friend is a girl that he completely neglects to tell Lucy about, yet they have been friends forever. Everyone else seems to forget about it too, well, everyone but Sawyer. *Jude lives in a boy's home where he seems to be able to come and go as he pleases. *Jude hijacks school assemblies and graduations to offer his commentary. The graduation scenario was way more plausible than the assembly. *Yet more girls who are portrayed as completely lacking in self respect. Now, the overall plot of the story was something I could get behind. The tragedy in their pasts, the broken families, all of it. But I do not think she could end up in school with him and not know who he was. That brought the book up to two stars for me. Aside from that, the book lacks a lot, not the least of which is believability. I wouldn't recommend this book. Please don't read it thinking it's the next Beautiful Disaster.