Review: Sweet and sad
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 22, 2013
3.5 - 4 Stars in my Sky!Community Service follows Uni senior Maggie as she begins a highly sort after science internship. The other intern is the uber hot former jock, Sawyer who was Maggie's high school crush and sort-of-bully. The big difference is that Sawyer is now in a wheelchair, but is still handsome and (at least on the surface) cocky and confident.After starting the internship Maggie releases she hasn't moved on from her crush on Sawyer and he's pretty instantly taken with her. After an unfortunate incident with a police car Maggie is sentenced to community service at a local theatre, where she meets bad boy actor Jude. Jude also wants Maggie and he's pretty forward in his attraction to her. Throw in a complicated history between Sawyer and Jude and you've got quite the interesting story.Maggie has come a long way since high school - according to her mother she's "a late bloomer," but she has really low self esteem and doesn't see her own worth. A lot of these issues come from her controlling mother (don't get me started on her mother's opinion of disabilities). I could totally understand Maggie's doubt when it came to Sawyer and Jude; would Sawyer want her if he wasn't in a wheelchair? He was pretty mean to her in high school. Also does Jude's attraction mainly stem from his issues with Sawyer?Sawyer is an interesting character because he's a charming mix of confident (at one point he says he's dealt with his situation) but he's also really vulnerable he considers himself less worthy because of the wheelchair and has to face a daily battle against prejudice and unfair expectations from other people.I would have loved to have seen the story from Sawyer's POV because it would have helped highlight the issues Sawyer faces by being in a wheelchair. Some sections were really funny, whilst others were really sad. Sometimes I wanted to shout at Sawyer to see sense because Maggie didn't pity him. Community Service is a short, sweet and sad story about prejudice and self-worth.I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review!