Tammara Webber addressed a serious issue in her book, Easy, without romanticizing it, and I would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart. I was so tired of some books making me feel like the victim should have no hang ups at all and that everything should be just peaches and cream and all yummy goodness, or told to suck it up and get over it. No one, except a victim of a sexual assault, be it molestation or rape, knows how devastating such an act can be. Or how it can ruin a life for years. I should know - I'm a survivor.The main character in this book was strong, but she acted just like a victim would. Jacqueline kept silent about the attack and hid it from her friends. She also felt the insidious feeling of uncleanliness a victim feels. And, even though she wanted to have sex something held her back. And that was only from an attack - she wasn't actually raped. But, I would like to say that everyone reacts to this kind of thing in different ways. I just see myself in Jacqueline and can easily relate to her.Jacqueline made mistakes that were very human and incredibly realistic. Even following her boyfriend to college seemed realistic. After all, they had known each other for years and she chose not to be separated from him. People do really stupid things in the name of love. But if she hadn't -she would never have met Lucas.Lucas was something special. It's been a long time since I've fan-girled over a male character - the last one being Kaidan from 'Sweet Evil', but Lucas made my heart melt. And it wasn't even because of his tats or his motorbike. It was his personality and his manner that sucked me in. He was like a modern day knight in shining armor - even if that armor was a little tarnished. He had his own secrets and screwed with Jacqueline's head more than once, but what boy doesn't have a girl mentally scrambling at times - after all, they're boys.But, he also tread softly around Jacqueline, having been the one to rescue her from the assault. He knew how to take no for an answer. He was gentle and loving, when he wasn't being a jerk. But, towards the end of the book I found out why he sometimes acted that way and it made sense.I adored both these characters so much.The secondary characters were exceptional I absolutely LOVED Erin. She was the one who encouraged Jacqueline to go out. She was the one who was absolutely furious when Jacqueline told her what happened, and she was the one who made Jacqueline take the steps to make sure it never happened again. She was volatile, loyal and totally up front about everything. As a character, she was an inspiration to me. This whole book was about how to take something that was absolutely horrible and turn it around so your life ended up being exactly how you wanted it to be. It was about second chances and facing ghosts from your past. It was about truly falling in love - the forever type of love. One more thing to add - it was also about kicking butt and taking names. As for the downsides of the book - there weren't any for me. The plot was great and the characters were awesome. The pace was just right and the action for this type of book - exceptional. Of course this is only my opinion - yours may be different. As you can tell, I really loved the book and would recommend it to anyone.Now for my ratingFive out of five starsThis review can be found here http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
A Reader's Heart
Focuses on reviews of Young Adult novels with honesty and integrity. My ratings and reviews vary on how I feel about the book.
Tammara Webber addressed a serious issue in her book, Easy, without romanticizing it, and I would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart. I was so tired of some books making me feel like the victim should have no hang ups at all and that everything should be just peaches and cream and all yummy goodness, or told to suck it up and get over it. No one, except a victim of a sexual assault, be it molestation or rape, knows how devastating such an act can be. Or how it can ruin a life for years. I should know - I'm a survivor.The main character in this book was strong, but she acted just like a victim would. Jacqueline kept silent about the attack and hid it from her friends. She also felt the insidious feeling of uncleanliness a victim feels. And, even though she wanted to have sex something held her back. And that was only from an attack - she wasn't actually raped. But, I would like to say that everyone reacts to this kind of thing in different ways. I just see myself in Jacqueline and can easily relate to her.Jacqueline made mistakes that were very human and incredibly realistic. Even following her boyfriend to college seemed realistic. After all, they had known each other for years and she chose not to be separated from him. People do really stupid things in the name of love. But if she hadn't -she would never have met Lucas.Lucas was something special. It's been a long time since I've fan-girled over a male character - the last one being Kaidan from 'Sweet Evil', but Lucas made my heart melt. And it wasn't even because of his tats or his motorbike. It was his personality and his manner that sucked me in. He was like a modern day knight in shining armor - even if that armor was a little tarnished. He had his own secrets and screwed with Jacqueline's head more than once, but what boy doesn't have a girl mentally scrambling at times - after all, they're boys.But, he also tread softly around Jacqueline, having been the one to rescue her from the assault. He knew how to take no for an answer. He was gentle and loving, when he wasn't being a jerk. But, towards the end of the book I found out why he sometimes acted that way and it made sense.I adored both these characters so much.The secondary characters were exceptional I absolutely LOVED Erin. She was the one who encouraged Jacqueline to go out. She was the one who was absolutely furious when Jacqueline told her what happened, and she was the one who made Jacqueline take the steps to make sure it never happened again. She was volatile, loyal and totally up front about everything. As a character, she was an inspiration to me. This whole book was about how to take something that was absolutely horrible and turn it around so your life ended up being exactly how you wanted it to be. It was about second chances and facing ghosts from your past. It was about truly falling in love - the forever type of love. One more thing to add - it was also about kicking butt and taking names. As for the downsides of the book - there weren't any for me. The plot was great and the characters were awesome. The pace was just right and the action for this type of book - exceptional. Of course this is only my opinion - yours may be different. As you can tell, I really loved the book and would recommend it to anyone.Now for my ratingFive out of five starsThis review can be found here http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
