Review: Great read!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 5, 2014
** spoiler alert ** I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, A. Vasquez for sharing your story!3.5 stars for A. Vasquez's debut novel, Cadillac!**SPOILER ALERT**Wow...so first of all, let me just start off by saying I really liked the originality of this story. The author did a great job writing about untouched aspects of the New Adult genre. By untouched, I mean that the lead male is a middle-class, Mexican man. I really appreciated this, especially because many of the books I've picked up lately have an upper-class, white male as the main character. His name is Isaac & he owns a garage & he loves low rider cars, specifically, you guessed it...cadillacs. This was a nice change of pace! The heroine, Renee, is a down-to-earth, white girl, who goes to college & has a job. She is also from what seems like a middle-class family.These characters have an almost-instant connection because, beyond the physical attraction they have for one another, they share the loss of a sibling as well. Their relationship progresses very quickly.So, I really enjoyed the fact that this book is written in both Isaac & Renee's POV. It bounces back & forth, which is awesome, but on occasion I would get confused, because instead of picking up where the other left off, the next chapter might start off by going back a day or two without warning. Eventually, it would dawn on me what was happening, but it took me a minute to regroup.I'm still trying to grasp this whole "cruise" thing that these guys did & what this "club" entails. I just kept picturing a gang that paraded their flashy low riders around town for people to look at. This may sound really nave, but do these things really happen?! See what happens when you're from Small Town, America?! This was interesting to me.Bum..bum..BUM! Then, you find out that Renee hasn't cashed in her V card. Which is totally fine & dandy...but then I got confused. I'm all about waiting to find the right person & all that jazz, but it's almost like she goes from 0 to 100 in no time at all. She was completely mortified when Isaac makes a comment about "popping cherries", but she has absolutely no problem in stripping down to her birthday suit & taking a shower with him, after all they've done is slept next to each other & kissed. It was a little bizarre.The next thing that really bothered me was the "gay-friend" scene. I really wanted to smack Isaac for acting a fool & causing a scene, but Renee just totally floored me at this part. I really wanted to smack her. When, Isaac finally let her explain herself, then he told her he needed time apart to think about their situation, she turned into a really stupid girl. Personally, I would have just said, "Screw you, dude." Instead, she goes out & puts herself in an extremely dangerous situation in order to "win" back Isaac's affection, when in all honesty, he's the one who just needed to grovel and apologize for acting like a complete jackass! That whole scene just left a bitter taste in my mouth!My heart totally broke for Isaac when they went to Renee's hometown & he figured out their "connection." What bad luck! I could actually feel his anguish. I felt even worse for him when he tried & tried to tell Renee about his past & she wasn't at all interested in hearing about it and/or letting him get it all off of his chest. That had to have been devastating!Then, my heart broke for Renee when she figured out their "connection". How terrible! I could only feel sorry for her for so long though, because he tried to tell her & she didn't want to hear it. He tried more than once, too!Insert Tony. What a creep! I was so glad when Isaac & Isaiah decided to distance themselves from him! Then, the final scene with him I totally didn't see coming. This really made me appreciate this story even more! I couldn't have predicted it, which is always a good thing. I was thrilled for Isaac to get his "revenge."The epilogue was a little predictable, but I'm a sucker for a happy ending! I must say I'm hoping that there will be a book 2 with Isaiah & Cami's story! I'm intrigued!Overall, I give this story 3.5 stars! I liked it! Does it need a little bit more work?! Sure, but what debut novel doesn't?! I'm more than pleased with what I read! Will definitely pick up another A. Vasquez story!