Review: NOT your typical good girl / bad boy romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 16, 2012
Read this and other reviews at [...].Cross My Heart sat in my book queue for a long time. I think it was mostly because I expected it to be the typical YA read; over-achieving, Harvard-aspiring good girl falls for mysterious bad boy. While yes, that was the premise to a certain extent, this story had so much more behind it. So if you're going back and forth on reading this one, or have started it and feel like it's not working - READ ON!Jaden McEntyre has it all figured out - she's going to graduate at the top of her class and then go to Harvard. Then she gets paired with bad boy Parker Whalen for a project on Ethan Frome. While she's super hesitant to work with this super hot, mysterious bad boy, she also demands better than good grades and won't let Parker get in the way of that. Parker gives little away about himself, but Jaden does see there is more to him than what he lets everyone else know. Within time, she begins to let go of the "good girl" life she has by sneaking around with Parker, and then eventually, as I'm sure you can assume, falling for him.But there's a twist - A HUGE TWIST! One that will knock your socks off and make you glad you kept on reading. It makes Parker even hotter (in my opinion), but just as fast as the twist finally came, the story moved on - and it went back to seeming like your typical good girl - bad boy book. Not that that's a bad thing. It's just the reality.I thought that Ms. Klein did a wonderful job of creating likable characters, and an original storyline out of a seemingly unoriginal plot. I also loved the way she incorporated Wharton's Ethan Frome into the story. There was great parallelism at times between the two stories and it created more dimension for Jaden and Parker's love story to develop.I am definitely interested in reading more from this author, too, because she has a great writing style, one that is easy to read and get very immersed in. I give this story 4 stars and recommend for young adults looking for a great love story; but do be patient with this. While it might seem very cookie cutter at first, keep reading - it really is a great story and one I'm sure to pick up again.