Review: Great Love Story With A Great Lesson
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 15, 2013
***I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***Community Service is one of those great books that leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling after you finish it. Maggie has just been appointed a coveted research internship in her college’s Paleolimnology lab. She is quite surprised when she discovers her lab partner is Sawyer Reed, the guy who was every girl’s dream in high school. A lot has changed since then. Sawyer was involved in a ski accident that left him paralyzed. But, the accident hasn’t changed Sawyer’s sex appeal at all…Maggie thinks he’s a sexy as he ever was. She doesn’t think he remembers her from high school when he called her “Freaky Four Eyes” on the bus all those years ago. She is in for a surprise; not only does he remember her, but he has always had feelings for her. They become closer as they spend more time together. At first, she isn’t sure about dating a guy in a wheelchair. Maggie is very honest with Sawyer about her misgivings, and he respects her for that and actually teaches her a great deal about people with spinal injuries. She soon finds herself wondering what it would be like to have his lips on her lips and his body next to her body. She soon forgets about the wheelchair. As they grow closer and begin to give their relationship a try, many things begin getting in the way to stop it before it even gets off the ground. Sawyer begins doubting himself especially when Maggie is assigned community service at a local community theater where she meets the incredibly yummy, sexy Jude. Jude and Sawyer share a long, complicated, and painful history.  Sawyer seems to be pushing Maggie towards Jude. It doesn’t help that Maggie has doubts about her appeal to Sawyer either. Will the two of them get rid of their doubts to give their relationship a chance, or will they allow their relationship to die before they even give it a fair shot?I really had to think about was I was going to write in this review because Community Service is a very special book. While it is a great love story, it’s a book about changing people’s perceptions of stereotypes. The author completely changed the way I see a person who has suffered a spinal injury. I am going to be brutally honest…how many times have I seen a person in a wheelchair and thought how awful it must be do be confined in one. I thought most people who have suffered such an injury have no feeling below their spine and therefore can’t live a fulfilling life. Boy, was I wrong!!!! I learned that there are varying degrees of spinal injuries and just because someone is in a wheelchair they can live quite a fulfilling, whole life. Some even enjoy a great sex life like Sawyer! I liked that she included information at the end of the book to find out more about spinal injuries. I just love love a book that can change a person’s way of thinking through such a beautiful love story. Sawyer will stay with me long after finishing the last page.