Review: Different in a different way
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 29, 2013
(ARC received from author in exchange for an honest review)Always You was not what I was expecting. To be honest, I’m not sure what I was expecting looking back.Wren has to move in with her Aunt after losing her whole family in a tragic accident. She moves from her friends, school and everything she knows to live with her Aunt. She is enrolled in the private all-girls school that her Aunt is the head mistress at and if that wasn’t bad enough, she doesn’t have to type of disposable income that the other girls at the school have. I liked Wren, she has an old soul but on occasion you can see her age peeking through. She developed well through the book and I was able to connect with her.Dalton is the only young male teacher in a school full of horny, hormonal girls and as such his is centre of attention. Not that he’s interested. He just wants to finish this contract out and then move on with his career. But then he sees her and he just can’t stay away. Regardless of the fact he knows he shouldn’t and not just because he is her teacher.Did I enjoy this book? Yeah actually I did. It was different in a different kind of way but it didn’t rock my sock. I didn’t really get the whole taboo teacher/student relationship vibe and it kinda felt like a secondary issue in the book. Maybe that was just the way it came across to me. It was the ‘secret’ that took centre stage and by the end of the book the fact they were teacher/student just didn’t factor with me at all. The book felt rushed in some places and the issue with Paige could have been made more intense but then this wasn’t really an intense book. There wasn’t much suspense and where there was suspense it didn’t last long. The whole book spans an 8 week period and to be truthful I think the relationship between the two developed at a breakneck speed. I liked the way that Missy handled the issue that was the secret. It’s not something that is highlighted a lot and to bring it to our attention using young characters makes you realise how much of an impact it really does have on people’s lives even before it developed.Always You is an emotional read however, it is not a roller-coaster. It doesn’t have your heart pounding but it does have you thinking about life. About those that live like Dalton does, the effect it has on those around him and how it affects the decisions we take for granted. Like I said, it’s different in a different way.