Review: Enjoyed reading the book but disliked the ending. Spoilers
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 27, 2013
This review contains SPOILERS.I waited impatiently for this book to come out as I enjoyed the first book, Old Enough to Love (Just One of the Guys) and wanted to know what happened with the characters.  It is a coming of age story about Emma, now 16 years old, her older boyfriend Zack 18, her older friend Austin, age 20, who is part of the love triangle, and other characters including her older brother.  I enjoyed a lot of things about this book.  It kept my interest and as a consequence, I gave up sleeping and read it in one night. Emma at times acted immature but it is normal and expected for a 16 year old. She was very insecure and unsure of herself and again, maybe related to her age.  I felt empathy for Emma and understood the conflict she felt about being in love with Zack yet at the same time wanting to experience things with others including Austin. Emma and Zack were separated a lot of book (which I disliked) and that it made it more difficult on Emma to be true to him. Unlike Zack, Emma's only s_xual experience has been with him.  Emma was curious as well as excited when around other boys.  Also she was surrounded by temptation.  I loved that Zack remained true to her even though he too had a lot of opportunity to be with other girls/women who were drawn to him.  Emma briefly fooled around with Austin and kissed another boy but that is as far as it went. The writing was good.  I did not see any grammar mistakes and the writing flowed well.A word of warning to those who did not like reading books that contain s_x.  Although it is not explicit and the description brief, Emma does have s_x with Zach in this book.  To be honest, I prefer reading books that have the characters being intimate with each other and am less inclined to read a "clean" romance book.  However, I am an adult and what I read is not what I would want my four teenagers to read. Also some readers may be troubled that Emma loses her virginity at 16.The reason I did not rate the book 5 stars is that it ended on a cliffhanger.  Apparently there is another book in the series.  I did not expect that as I thought it ended with this book.  In my opinion it should have ended with this book, with a different ending.  Zack separates from Emma, moving to a different state.  The reason that he separates from her was resolved and they could have been together but he choose not to be.  That irritates me.  It also irritates me as it appears that they will be separated a long time, which was what I was afraid would happen after reading the first book.  I am concerned that Zack will have intimate relationships or one night stands with other people but that Emma will not be with anyone.  I am afraid that sexually Emma will be frozen in time, only ever having s_x with Zack.  I hate that double standard and resent it when authors included it in their books.  Also, in this book Austin was a romantic interest of Emma's, who supposedly is crazy about her. He is her rock during hard times when Zack can't or won't be there for her. After a while Austin stopped dating other people because he is too into Emma. So when Zack leaves I was thinking he and Emma become boyfriend and girlfriend. At the end of this book it is mentioned that after Zack left, Emma and Austin went on one date and then no more is said about it.  I am sure it will be brought up in the 3rd and hopefully last, book but still, it appears that whatever attraction was there fizzled or was one sided.  I like Austin and even though I wanted Emma and Zack to be together, if she could not be with Zack then I wanted her to be with Austin. Emma and Austin's attraction/relationship after Zack leaves deserves more that a brief mention.