Review: A fun read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2013
As a new member of Net Galley.com, this book caught my eye off the bat. The cover is beautiful and the story seemed strong. I knew I had to read it, so I was so excited to get the opportunity to read the ARC version of this book.It was a pretty short read, it took me about a day to get through it. I enjoyed the book, but there were some negatives that made it harder to get through than it would have been if they weren't there. So I think that in my positive/negative review fashion, I will do the negatives first. That way I can focus on the positives more fully. Please don't stop reading at the negatives, the positives will make you want to read it!The NegativesThe book was really predictible. Girl was wild in past, sees boy she used to be wild with, stays away "as long as possible," gets with boy, falls for boy, lives happily ever after. While there were a few twists along the way, I knew what was going to happen about chapter 4. Because of this, I was not very excited to get to the end because I already knew what was going to happen.I understand that in fiction books when a character has a dark and difficult past that they tend to get in their own way from time to time. However, Catori took that concept to the next level in this book. It seems like whenever Candace gets ahead or some sort of stable ground that she would take not only a step back, but takes gigantic dinosaur leaps back. Like almost back to square one. I feel like she could have still had Candace sabatoge herself (that would be a necessary plot twist in this novel) without it being a constant every chapter thing.This book rambles a lot. There are blocks of paragraphs where she just explains things, and sometimes really repetively. I learn way to much about Candance way too quick, and then later in the book Catori decides that she needs to repeat information that we learned in chapter 2 or 3. I think that it would have been better if she slowly introduced the reader to bits about Candance's life when that information is pertanient to what is happening in the future.One more, I hate Ryan's nickname for her....Sticky Sweet Candy is just gross.The PositivesWhile I didn't like how Candace's past influenced the decisions she made in the future, I did like Candace as a character. She is a strong female (my kind of chick) and she really exemplifies the idea of coming from nothing and making something of herself. I think that she is a character that people can relate to and that women that come from similar situations can aspire to. I really appreciate that about this novel.I like Ryan too. Candace didn't make loving her easy, but he is loyal and stuck around even when it didn't benefit him. He could have been a dog like most men in books like this are, but he wasn't. He was tender and sweet, but he also stood his ground after Candace didn't come around. Who could blame him? He loved her, but a man can only take so much stringing along before he gives up. But even at that point, he didn't really give up. He just gave Candace the room that she needed to grow up and let go of the past.The VerdictEven though this book needed some polishing, I really did enjoy it over all and I do recommend this book to everyone that is a new adult fan. It was an enjoyable read and you guys should check it out!!See the review at [...]