Review: Felt like I missed the romance, liked the secondary story with the gay roommate better than the main plot
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 22, 2014
Hadley and Jack are seniors at Northwestern University - but have very different outlooks life.Hadley is already the Editor in Chief of the school's newspaper, and Jack is the vice-president of his fraternity. (by his own admission, it's a non-position, he doesn't do anything).Hadley is hardworking and driven. She knows exactly what she wants do to with her life. On a 'dare' by her BFF, she kisses a stranger. So the stranger ends up being Jack. They are forced to talk together due to other circumstances, and suddenly she finds herself being pursued by a very amorous, sexy and relentless Jack.The storyline was fine. Hadley doesn't believe in love, she doesn't want to be beholden to anyone. Her mother has been married 6 times and her father isn't engaged with her life at all. So Hadley decides never to date- never to put herself out there (emotionally) because pain will be the only outcome.Jack is more impulsive, flies by the seat of his pants, has absolutely no idea what he wants to do after graduation, and doesn't really care.As a reader, I was hoping to see a great romance bloom. To see how they could help each other grow. Jack could teach Hadley to trust others, to be dependent on others and to be impulsive. Hadley would teach Jack to find conviction in something, to be more hardworking, to find his own passion in something besides pursuing her. Neither came to fruition in this book. Hadley agreed to do some things with Jack that were out of her comfort zone, but it wasn't a life altering thing. Just more like a spur of the moment, okay -fine, did that, now move on.The depth of their love for each other didn't pan out for me. I could tell they were sexually attracted to each other. The sex scenes were steamy enough to convey that piece. But their deeper, more emotional bond was never developed.Then ending was a bit strange too.Hadley does her 'thing' and become traumatized over it. Jack is there to help her and there is a HEA.But it was a bit awkward how it all came together. Didn't feel like a natural progression. More like dots on a page to get from one point to another - instead of a clear flowing line.Three stars instead of two because of the secondary story with Hadley's roommate and BFF, David. David is gay and his story is more heartbreaking and engaging. I finished the book more to find out about David, than Hadley+Jack. I found Jack to be a bit lazy, unmotivated and uninspiring. Hadley just didn't seem like a good fit for Jack (and vice versa).