Review of "Arousing Love" by M.H. Strom

Arousing Love: A Teen Novel by M.H. Strom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this book.

Despite the notion that an 18-year-old boy pursues a 15-year-old girl is somewhat frowned upon, the author made it work.

The story centers around Zach, who falls in love with a girl over the summer. She's staying at a camping site with her religious family and they develop a sweet little summer romance. As often happens with teenagers, they do of course test boundaries and while some parents will frown upon the content, I very much appreciated the way it was portrayed.

One of the issues I often have with reading books involving religion is that it almost always come off as preaching to me. This wasn't the case with "Arousing Love". Sure, we did feel the scolding from Joanna's father as he explained his view, but at the same time we also experience how they're willing to give the boy a chance.

I didn't feel like the book was trying to teach me about religion, because if I wanted that, I'd have read something else. But instead, I saw the religious topics as simply being part of the character. As someone who grew up around Jehovah's Witnesses, I could recognize the fact that being religious didn't mean being fanatic.

However, the reason this book didn't get five stars was largely due to the ending. I did wish for them to get a happily ever after, but in a way, I just couldn't feel as connected to the ending as I did with the rest of the book.

I would recommend this as an easy vacation-read about young love.

View all my reviews

Review of "After Math" by Denise Grover Swank

After Math by Denise Grover Swank
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this particular book. However, as good as the set-up was, I still felt let down near the end.

May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

The story is told from Scarlett's POV. She's grown up in a trailer-park, and finally escaped when she went to college. Scarlett is described as extremely smart, and she has a job as a tutor at the school. When the school's star-athlete Tucker is in danger of losing his scholarship, he asks for her help. At first she's reluctant, but when it's revealed that her help might be the turning point in a new research lab, she agrees.

Over the time we find out that both Tucker and Scarlett has issues.

She's deeply plagued by her past, and lives in fear of turning into her mother or sister. (The former has a bad history with boyfriends, and the latter got pregnant as 16 year's old)

While he's adopted and basically only loved for his soccer talent.

They form a sort of friendship, and I liked that it wasn't insta-love, but at the same time I was much too annoyed at how long they took to finally admit there was anything deeper between them, and then even longer to actually act upon it.

Tucker's history confused me almost as much as Scarlett's. While both of their pasts must have troubled them both deeply, I still believed it was overdone compared to how small scale it was. We only hear about their past, but doesn't really see how they interact with those fragments that torments them.

For example:

Scarlett's issues is rooted in her mother's dysfunctional relationship. I get how that can make any girl wary of guys, but at the same time, Scarlett seemed to change her mind often about whether she was wary or frisky. It might have helped to see her interact with either her sister or mom--or even her nephew/niece--but no such luck.

Likewise, Tucker has his own issues. I liked how the book was set-up in a way that kept the reader guessing what his deal was. However, when we finally found out about the many brothers and sister--and about Tucker's own regret--it seemed to be resolved so quickly, that the suspense almost seemed wasted on me. We didn't see him interact with any of his brothers, but was only briefly told what had happened as Scarlett was briefed on the status.

Despite all that, it was an entertaining read. I loved Scarlett's relationship with her roommate, and how protective they were of each other. The scenes between Tucker and Scarlett was sweet, especially when he ran with her.

A good read if you're up for some sweet romance, and some quirky lines. Would recommend to people who enjoy college-reads.



View all my reviews

Review of "The Hazards of Skinny Dipping" by Alyssa Rose Ivy

The Hazards of Skinny Dipping by Alyssa Rose Ivy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If I could, I would give this book 4,5 stars. However, I rounded down, rather than up because of the things that bothered me.

  Warning: May contain spoilers.

What to do when you discover that your crush has extremely poor skills in the bedroom?

Innocent Julie is going away to college. Her cousin, Amy, gives her a list of challenges to do in order to prepare for the full college experience.

Her story starts as travels up to her family's beach house, to cross off the last challenge: skinny dipping. A little nervous, she jumps into the water, only to see that her neighbor is arriving while she's still naked.

Dylan is hot, preppy and a few years older than her. When he sees her, he promptly jumps in the pool with her, and things heat up from there. It doesn't take long before Julie is in his bed, incredibly unsatisfied, and finally, she skips out on him.

Unfortunately for Julie, Dylan thinks she rocked his world, and as she starts college, he quickly claims her as his girl. Julie, who has had an idol-crush on him for years agrees hoping his skills in bed could be improved. Only they don't, but as time goes on, it takes additionally months before she realizes that Dylan is a controlling ass. In the mean-time, she joins a sorority, get a job, and makes some new friends.

One of the things that bothered me about this book, was how Julie was described both as innocent. I kinda would have wished she was more awkward around Dylan, since that would explain her hesitating to dump his poor-skilled ass. Or maybe, if every guy didn't try to bang her, that could have been awesome as well.

I also think that Julie's reaction to Amy and Reed's friendship was waaay overdone. It almost seemed melodramatic compared to how she dealt with other issues throughout the book.

Nevertheless, it was a fun read. I laughed at some parts, and I can't say I'll never read it again. However, I didn't particularly find any of the side-characters interesting enough to want to continue the series.

Would recommend to anyone who likes a light-read about the college-experience.

View all my reviews