Review: Quick, Enjoyable Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2013
So this is certainly a change of pace for me. For one thing, nobody was gruesomely murdered. It wasn't hundreds of pages long. There were no aliens, or vampires, or killer ghosts... It was a really normal book. Honest-to-goodness contemporary. I found myself enjoying it immensely. Was it maybe a bit cliche and predictable? Um. Maybe. I certainly was able to predict a lot of what happened. At least in Stripped. Without You kind of confused me for a bit, but I'll get to that later. Stripped was told in first person from Quinn's POV. And let me tell you, she is something else. She is deeply haunted by the suicide of her older sister. She holds on to the belief that Zoey killed herself over a breakup, so Quinn refuses to fall for anyone. It was annoying, but understandably so. I guess it was just annoying because we all know what happens to girls like that in contemporary. Right?Without You is told in Torrin's POV. First person. Holy cow. I love reading guy's POVs and this is no exception. He is so sweet, and such a guy! It was pretty amusing. I enjoyed it very much.CharactersI feel a little bad, but I got annoyed by Quinn very fast. It's a short book, too. I mean, I get where she's coming from and I'm glad she got over it pretty quickly. But while she was stuck in her ways, I was like, c'mon! You're going to fall in love! Deal with it! Nevertheless, I found myself conecting with her. Love is weird. Can you really trust someone else? And I liked watching her grow and change. I always love that shift in perspective and I totally got it here. So that was great.And then there's Torrin.Torrin! I think it's a pretty unique name. And I pretty much figured out his role, so that was interesting. I won't say more than that.He really is great book boyfriend material. Athletic, artistic, funny, sweet.... *sigh* Need I say more? I wouldn't call his connection with Quinn instalove, either. Something about her attitude and his nonchalance kind of made it seem natural and friendly. So that was nice, too.PlotI mentioned that this book is not hundreds of pages long. It's barely two hundred pages long. With the novel and novella combined. It's a very short, quick read. Very enjoyable. There's a bunch of subplots that make up for the lack of a main plot. It's basically a whole lot of drama and secrets. In both parts. I must say, I liked it a lot. Without You certainly threw me in for a loop. I had no idea what to expect. I'm just really glad that the story didn't stop after Stripped. Without You really brought everything home and it was wonderful getting a glimpse into Torrin's mind. I don't want to say anything else because I'm afraid I'll ruin it!Rating: 4 starsWhy: very enjoyable, quick readRecommendation: those who love romance, contemporary, NA