Review: Flawed
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2013
Originally posted on GoodreadsActual Rating: 2.5This book had a ton of potential. The actual writing is good, from a technical perspective, and the flow is pretty steady without many bumps. What failed for me are the story arcs and some pretty hefty character flaws, which I will break down.The synopsis for this book is pretty spot on, so I won't waste any time recapping and instead get right to the meat of the story. Paige is the protag for this book and when we meet her she's just graduated from high school and, against her will, is heading off into the wild blue yonder of Vermont with her parents whose marriage seems to be on the verge of failing. The reader is offered this information, almost as an afterthought, and the particular story arc is never fully fleshed out - though it should have been because it would have added a layer of depth that was altogether missing from this story.Upon arrival to their campsite, Paige encounters Travis, the owner's son and soon becomes smitten. And this, my friends, is where things get wonky. You see, Travis feels the same way. Cool, huh? Hot guy, lots of empty woods to explore, a gorgeous lake... hmmm, sexy set-up here. Only, Travis wants to keep their budding relationship on the DL from his tight group of friends who also summer at this campsite. So, what that immediately says to me is: A) he's either ashamed of you, Paige; or B) he's got a girlfriend, you moron. Huge red flag. Only, after just a smidge of suspicion, Paige goes along with the clandestine relationship and the two begin to fall in love (way too quickly, BTW). In addition to the "secret relationship" aspect of things, Travis allows his friends (the nasty girls, of course) to belittle and torment Paige without defending her. There's always some B.S. excuse as to why he can't get involved. Yet he has no trouble cornering her in a laundry room to kiss her senseless.There are signs aplenty popping up all over the place. Things that come up which would have sent me running. For instance, there's a scene at the lake fairly early on, Paige is there on the beach relaxing when the Travis and his friends show up. He doesn't acknowledge her presence, won't even make eye contact, and, again, after a brief hint of irritation on Paige's part, he sweet talks his way back into her good graces. Huh? This is where I lose all respect for our protag.The supposed mystery only deepens over time as Paige is slowly ingratiated into the group. All the clues are there, vital pieces of information are revealed and yet, Paige, our resident idiot, doesn't have the intellect to ask the burning questions. It's at this point I totally check out. I mean, this chick got into Columbia University, which denotes a certain level of intellect on her part, yet her deductive reasoning skills suck. Travis is lying you putz and even I knew that at about the 20% mark.Eventually the truth comes out in dramatic fashion.  I won't spoil this but see points A & B above for hints.Once the secret it out it amazes me how easily things are resolved. Again, I won't spoil the surprise but, um, yeah, they jump immediately into bed.Some other issues that arose are pet peeves of mine. Literally, practically everyone in this novel is either going to NYU or Columbia University. Um, no. These schools are incredibly difficult to get into and the statistical likelihood of this happening is nill. In addition, there are some tense issues where it's unclear whether the narrative is past or present. Also, the use of "than" as opposed to "then" pops up a few times and totally made me grumpy. The use of exclamation marks was jarring, as was the amount of winking that happened. It began to feel like these people were afflicted with Tourette's. In short, this book needed a way better edit for grammatical and integrity sake.In addition, I'm not certain why, but rape has been coming up a lot these days in the Y/A & N/A I've been reading. If you've read my reviews, then you know my thoughts on how it needs to be handled so I won't waste your time or mine recapping. So, here we are again, talking about rape. Or almost rape, in this case. And AGAIN, it's sort of skirted and not taken very seriously. It's clear from the scene set-up that one of the secondary characters was on the verge of being violated when Paige steps in and saves the day. And the response...?? Yep, they deliver the would-be rapist to his daddy for a stern talking to. Ladies, here's the thing, rape is not okay. Neither is any sexually motivated assault. Just because someone doesn't manage to commit the actual offense, does not mean the intent wasn't there. Call the police, that's why they get paid. Suggesting anything different is outrageous and pure negligence on the part of the author. As a writer targeting a specific audience, in this instance female young/new adults, it seems imprudent to suggest that this type of situation isn't incredibly serious. In so many instances lately, I've witnessed the protags simply shrug off this kind of assault and life simply seems to carry on as normal. Excuse me?In any event, that's my rant. I think maybe with some work this author has potential and I wouldn't be adverse to reading her work again. I'd actually like to see where she goes from here as I think, overall, she showed some promise. I just think that this particular book was a dud and that she should have worked harder on character development. It would have made the difference and may have made all the lying and sneaking more palatable if the characters were less flat and I was able to empathize with them more.