Review: 3 STARS FOR JACK & JENN
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 3, 2014
Ok, I have some problems with this book. There were parts that I thought worked really well, but there were a lot that didn’t, and unfortunately, the negatives kinda ruined it for me.3 STARS FOR JACK & JENN'A Reason To Breathe' is the story of thirty-nine year old widow, Jennifer Stewart. When her husband dies, she moves out to Colorado to fulfil a childhood dream of living in the mountains. Her job as a journalist leads her to meet Sheriff Jack Gunnison at a murder scene.Long-story-short, it’s insta-lust/love, and both the search a whirlwind relationship and the for a serial killer begin.“Jesus, what are you doing to me?” He whispered.“Nothing,” I gasped, when his tongue circled my ear.“Baby, if that’s nothing, you’re gonna kill me when it means something.”Ok, let’s do this methodically. What did I like?- I liked Jack.– I liked the plot twists.– I liked the steamy sex.– I liked the idea.Now, what did I not like?- I didn’t like the slew of appalling grammatical errors.– I didn’t like that this was basically a cheap copy of a Kristen Ashley book.– I didn’t like that Jenn acted 19 instead of 39. And I didn’t like how irresponsible andstupid she was at times.So, yeh, as I said, I liked Jack. I just have to mention, I loved the surname Gunnison. I don’t know, I just found that really super sexy. So that worked for me.“If Jack Gunnison were pursuing me, I’d walk slow.”Jack is totally alpha male. In fact, he’s a little pathetically alpha, in all honesty. Like, Jack and Jenn have known each other for one day and he’s ready to knock out all other men in the town for just looking at her. But nevertheless, he is sexy and he is the best thing to come out of this book.'He should have a warning label on his back, “Proceed with caution; smile will dazzle you.”'He’s dedicated to his job, he takes no s*** and he fights for what he loves. He’s super bossy, as Jenn finds out pretty quickly, but he’s got a smooshy soft centre, too.“I’m not 9-5 suit material; I wear jeans; I hunt bad guys, and I rescue damsels in distress.”One thing I don’t get… the author writes the story like everyone in the town of Gunnison knows everyone. It’s one of those small town communities where everyone knows everyone’s business. So how did Jenn live there for four months before coming across Jack or even hearing anything about him?! He’s the Sheriff! And he’s hot as all get out! You’d know if a man like that was in the vacinity. And as soon as she has met him, he’s everywhere she goes and everyone is talking about him. Because obviously he’s bedded every woman in town and every female within the surrounding counties fancies the pants off of him… yada yada yada. But our little Jenn has never come across him until now. This is just one example of how things were poorly thought out.“Oh come on, is he really as good as everyone says he is? I don’t trust those other women to tell me the truth.”“What have the others said?”“That his bat is huge, and he knows how to swing it.”The plot is fast paced and action packed. It’s as much crime/mystery as it is romance. I didn’t guess the ending at all. I was way off base, which I think was the point, as the author does drop a few clues which I think were supposed to be red herrings. Well, that worked. I got it totally wrong. And I must admit, at the end of the book, I was pretty nervous as I flicked through the pages. So props for quite a climatic ending.“Thank you for giving me what I though I’d never have … A reason to breathe.”Now… moving on to my dislikes. Unfortunately.Jenn. No. Just no. I really didn’t warm to her. At one point, Jack locks her in a cell. Well, best place for her in my opinion. The woman is a danger to herself and everyone else around her. I’m sorry but there is no way on earth that you’d just go around on a jaunt with your buddy in search of a serial killer!! And if you do… well, you deserve everything that’s coming to you!I also didn’t like that she was so oblivious to all the men swooning at her feet. I mean, there’s being humble and modest and there’s being blind and oblivious!“Nothing, Babe, just wondering how many men are gonna fall in love with you before you notice.”“What are talking about, Jack? Honestly you talk in riddles sometimes.”And lastly, I really felt like I was reading an NA romance, with Jenn. For starters, her husband, who she married when she was eighteen, has just died a year ago. And she really doesn’t give him a second thought as she falls into bed with the sexy Sheriff.At one point Jenn is banging on about her high IQ. Not that I’m convinced, but if she really was gifted with a higher than average IQ, as she claims, then she certainly missed out in the common sense stakes.There were just so many things about Jenn that bugged me.However, she did have a few better moments. Her banter back and forth with Jack did make me smile at times.“Jesus, I fell for a woman who can admit when she’s wrong, swear to Christ I didn’t know they existed.” Rolling my eyes at him, he glared back me, so instead of verbalizing my thoughts I kept them to myself. So on behalf of women everywhere, I will silently say, WHATEVER!!!Now, about this being a carbon copy of a Kristen Ashley novel… Urgh, this irritated me. If I hadn’t read KA’s 'The Gamble', then I probably would have enjoyed this story more, but fact remains, I have and the similarities made me so mad. Seriously?! The author even thanks KA at the beginning of her book…'To Kristen Ashley, whose books helped me through a tough time and inspired me to write, thank you for being you, and writing books, I’ll never grow tired of.'You can’t just compliment an author in an attempt to take the sting out of you ripping their work off!! So amateur and tacky. This was one of my biggest issues with this book. Something I really love is originality in a book, and this just failed on every level in that respect.Now, my biggest issue with this book was the errors. Oh. My. Christ. This author needs to learn how to use commas, semicolons and full stops. The book needs a serious run through the editing mill. Every time I tried to let myself get lost in the story, I was dragged out of it by bad grammatical errors. I found myself re-reading sentences because the lack of commas made it impossible to work out how they were supposed to be read.'So not simple, well-done Jennifer, Jesus that man is overpowering.''But I’d be lying to myself if he knocked on my door tomorrow, I’d be thrilled of course he was alive, but it would be a lie to go back to him…'The author has an annoying habit of flicking back and forth between past and present tenses within the same freakin’ sentence.'I became a mindless idiot when he touches me.'She/he (she, I assume) also totally rapes the semicolon on many occasions and there were some laughable spelling mistakes, too.'I pushed my hands threw my hair.''One time I needed that women to have her phone on her; I’d found it sitting on my kitchen counter.'God, if you follow my reviews you’ll know that I hardly ever write really ranty reviews and I really hate to just beat on writers, because I know that every book we read is somebodies baby. Somebodies work of art. I always try to be completely honest, whilst not slagging anybody off and keeping the tastes of my blog followers at the forefront of my mind. But I really feel like this was a sloppy, lazy effort from this author and I have to say, having read some great reviews, I was extremely disappointed.I’ll be quiet now, but I wouldn’t recommend this book.Have you read it? Tell us what you thought?‘A Reason To Breathe’ Statistics• Steam Rating (out of 5): ♥♥♥• Ending: HEA• Length: 312 pages• Narrative: Alternates between Jack and Jenn’s POVs.• Series: ✗• Can this be read as a standalone? Yes• Themes:MurderMystery• WARNING. This book includes…Sexual content. Murder. Kidnap. Violence.• Writing: PoorReview by Smitten's Book Blog