Review: Not the Typical NA
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 11, 2013
Isabelle Andrews isn't happy. She had plans for a prestigious university, but with no way to swing the cost, she's stuck at the local community college. To make matters worse, late enrollment leaves Isabelle attending classes she has no interest in, such as poetry and Electronic Music. But it's in these classes that she is challenged; by the Professor who sees her creative potential, challenged by the thought of making new friends, challenged by the Teacher's Assistant who looks at her like he can read her thoughts. It's here, in the last place Isabelle wanted to be, that she may find what she's always been looking for.Now, about the guy... Evan is a Teacher's Assistant with a passion for music. He's handsome -obviously- but but is also a really good guy. There's no big mystery, no bad boy edge, no tragic past. Like Isabelle, Evan is just a typical college student, doing his best. The normality of the characters is something I truly appreciate about Precious Things. Isabelle isn't hiding a dark secret, she's not troubled or out of control. She's a girl who's trying to find her way. She's lived her life with one goal, to attend a prestigious university. She's been let down by her absent mother, and a bumbling, but well-meaning dad. Isabelle needs to find her voice.In the midst of the soul searching, Isabelle starts to fall for Evan. With a guy as great a Evan, that's no surprise. They had some really, really steamy moments, but nothing too graphic at all. And though it is a romantic story, Precious Things isn't the story of a girl who wants to win the guy, or about the guy who will do anything to win his girl. What it is, is a story about a girl who just may find out that if she slows down and appreciates what's right in front of her, it may be exactly what she's been looking for all along. And if she just so happens to win a worthy guy along the way? BONUS.This is the third book of Parent's that I've read, and by now I can say that I truly do enjoy her books and style. Her writing is inviting, her characters have depth, and her stories are thoughtful and charming.