Review: Likable enough characters, but I had several problems with this book. Had potential, but disappointing overall.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2014
Review for Ramblings From This Chick. ramblingsfromthischick.blogspot.comI Found You is the first book I have read by Jane Lark. This one really drew me in with the cover and the blurb. I ended up having mixed feelings about this book. There were some things that I really liked, but I had some trouble with quite a few things in this one. I thought that this book started off really well and I was really interested right off. But as the book went on things sort of fell apart for me.One cold winter night while Jason is running, he comes across a woman on the Manhattan Bridge. Rachel is about ready to jump, but Jason ends up convincing her not to jump and instead to get down. With nowhere to go, Jason offers to let her stay at his place while she gets back on her feet. Rachel eventually agrees and ends up staying at his place. Jason is determined to help her get past whatever she is running from. Jason has a fiance back in Oregon, but things between them aren't the same as they used to be. Both his fiance and his parents are skeptical of Rachel and her intentions, but they don't know Rachel like Jason does. As the two of them spend more time together they grow close and both feel a connection between them unlike anything they have experienced before. Soon they are unable to fight the growing feelings between them, and Jason decides he needs to end things with his fiance back home. With Jason just ending his relationship and Rachel still suffering from things from her past, the two of them have a lot of obstacles standing in their way. But with a connection as strong as theirs, they are determined to figure out a way to make things work.I liked Jason. He was sweet and caring, protective and kind. I liked what a good guy he was and how he was willing to help a total stranger. He went out of his way to help Rachel out and didn't have any ulterior motives. I also loved how he stood up for her against everyone that he knew because he believed in her and saw the good in her. I did think that he should have ended things with the fiance long before he did, especially considering that his feelings for her had already started to change before Rachel. It didn't really make sense that he had stayed with her for so long. Rachel was strong and honest, and I was glad to see that she was exactly who she appeared to be. She never tried to pull one over on anybody and always told the truth about everything, including her less than perfect past. It was really refreshing to see such a young character really be open about everything like she was. I also really liked how supportive she was of Jason all along. She was willing to stand up to his family for him while taking every bad thing they had to say about her just because she cared about Jason and wanted him to have a good relationship with his family regardless of their feelings for her. I really liked that Jason and Rachel fit so well together, and they really seemed to be such a strong couple. They seemed to fit together perfectly and were exactly what the other needed. I also thought they had really good chemistry together.I did think that the relationship between Jason and Rachel was extremely rushed. These two and their relationship progressed so quickly that even though they seemed to fit, seemed to not be as real or believable to me. I had hoped to see them slow down a bit and really let their relationship develop, but things just seemed to perpetually be on fast forward for these two. I don't agree with how Jason's parents treated Rachel, but honestly I didn't blame them for their worries and fears when it came to her and Jason's relationship. If I was a parent in their shoes I would think that my kid had lost their mind and I would have a hard time not questioning motives for the way things happened. I also really didn't like Declan. I thought that his character was a straight up jerk and I honestly couldn't figure out how not only was he super successful but that he also seemed to have no problems getting and keeping girls. His character just didn't really work for me. I also really didn't understand something that happened with him and Rachel at the end of the book. Frankly I was wondering what the hell she was thinking and her actions made zero sense to me. One of the things that I did like is that we got both Jason and Rachel's POVs in this book. While I really enjoyed getting their thoughts, the transitions between POVs could have used a bit of work in my opinion. The switch between POVs was often times unclear and gave little to no notice before switching. It was hard to go from one paragraph in one's POV and then the next it would just be in the other's POV. I found it often times to be confusing and disorienting. Overall, I think that this book had a lot of potential and I did like the characters. For me though, this one just fell flat and wasn't able to deliver a real and believable story in such a rushed amount of time. I think that this one will be one that a lot of NA readers will enjoy and be able to get into, it just wasn't for me.**Review Copy provided by Xpresso Book Tours**