Review: Great Debut Novel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 5, 2014
This is a fantastic debut novel from Beth Maria! The book opens with Maisie catching her high school boyfriend, Matt cheating on her at a party. She walks away from him and vows to herself to never get hurt like that again. Her best friend Chloe and her brother Jake are at odds with each other but Maisie is oblivious to the reason why. She and Chloe head to college and are roommates. College starts off with Maisie “bumping” into Jesse. Jesse is known through the school as kind of a man-whore and all the ladies find him irresistible. Jesse is the quarterback for the school football team and now that he has seen Maisie he can’t get her off of his mind. Tiffany is the classic blonde diva that is obsessed with Jesse and thinks he should be with her. Jesse has decided that Maisie is something special though and stops his bad-boy behavior just for her. The plot has a few twists and turns as we learn more about Jesse and his parents and also some hints about what may have gone on between Chloe and Jake. Maisie is a surprisingly strong young woman and I appreciated that the author focused on making her strong and likeable. The author writes this coming of age story with a clear sense of leading the reader to a dark event. I found the characters to be relatable and realistic. It is well written and the dialogue between all the characters is amusing. I liked that the plot kept moving and didn’t seem to stall at any point. I am interested to see what happens next with all the characters.