Review: not the most boring book I've read, but it's close.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2014
I got about 1/2 way through before writing this review, and went back to finish it after, but my opinion hasn't changed. I've been waiting for this sequel for a long time and was excited that it was finally coming out. But absolutely nothing happens in this book. Jace and Pepper's interactions are vanilla beyond belief, you almost want to skip over some of those conversations they are so dull. What happened to jace?! I almost sympathized with the "mean girls" who wanted pepper to break up with him so he could have fun in his senior year. Seriously.There is the stuff about jace's mother coming back into the picture and I guess something bad will happen, but honestly I don't even care because she seems boring as heck too. (Update: big surprise, nothing happens there either). Pepper has lost her running mojo, and so there is that boring fact added to the storyline. Bun is MIA, which is too bad because she was an interesting character in the first book. Pepper spends most of the book worrying about why she is no longer interested in competing, and seriously who cares whether she is more into the 400 x track or the cross or the what the heck ever. The book spends more time talking about all the different types or races that pepper is no longer interested in than it does about the romance. (Ok maybe there are some people who care, but that would not be me). The writing is desultory and dull, the characters have no spark to them, the romance is lame (lots of grasping of hips, whatever that is), and absolutely nothing happens. And I don't just mean that they don't have sex- but it's just that there is not even one interesting romantic scene between the two. The first book didn't have any sex either, but you could feel the passion between them. Instead, practically every single scene with jace and pepper in it end with them falling asleep. I guess it's to keep the reader company. The book is also full of these inconsequential details, made Mac and cheese, blew on Mac and cheese, put leash on dog, etc, like the author needed to fill some pages. Its unfortunate that the author chose to ruin her readers' goodwill with a rubbish book. I loved the first book. This sequel bummed me out.Here is a line that makes me wonder what the author is thinking (!) : "then he kisses my hip and gets to know each and every one of my muscles from the waist down." Dude. You don't need to write stuff like this just because you want to keep it clean. Just avoid saying anything about "muscles from the waist down," and focus on neck and above. This writing is really inexcusable.