Almost - Anne Eliot

Title: Almost
Author: Anne Eliot
Rating: 4/5

Three years ago Jess has almost been raped. She's never been the same since then, though she also wants other people to think that she isn't the same. She's rather seen as the rebel and bitch. To become a little "normal" again, she lands a summer internship and gives Gray Porter, ultimate hottie, a lot of money to pretend to be her boyfriend over the summer. What she didn't expect was for him to treat her just perfectly and for her to fall in love with him head over heels. And what she also doesn't know is that he knows so much more than she'd wish for.

This is the kind of book that I adore. Oh, yes, how I fell in love with this genius of a book! It was perfect. Almost . . . (Very clever inside joke, huh? :P)

In the beginning I really disliked Jess. She seemed too tough if you know what I mean. You could see (or read) that it's all fake. At least for me it felt that way. She doesn't wants to be seen as weak, but yet she kind of is. She is having these extreme nightmares about her almost-rape-experience and so she sometimes even denies herself to fall asleep. What happens during the day then, is that she needs to take a nap in order to not fall down in the middle of the street and sleep right there. She is afraid. I mean, who wouldn't? No girl or boy wants to experience something like that. It's the most horrible thing in the world. She isn't the same person she was three years ago. How could she be? It though seems as if her parents can't respect that and push her to finally live a "normal" life again. I could see that they wanted her to be happy, but it felt so forced. You can't force someone to live the life you want her or him to live. If something like that happens, you need your time to calm down and turn back into your old self, if that's even possible. I think it's not. You can't expect that after one or two years everything should be fine. Everybody has their own speed of moving on.

To achieve that "normal" life, or at least to achieve that for others to see, even though it's all just pretened, she makes a deal with Gray Porter, who is as you may have guessed right, the ultimate hottie that everybody wants to date. He needs the money of the summer intership and so she knows he won't say no to the following deal: Pretend to be her boyfriend and get a lot of money for that, so he can afford almost everything he ever dreamed of. (Probably over the top, but you get the point) He agrees and soon they spend more and more time together, growing tighter and tighter.

Now let me reflect: When you read about them growing closer together, it's just fabulous. I wouldn't say it's romantic, but when you read it, you feel the sparks and the love and everything. It's amazing. The beautiful writing Anne did here helped very much.

So, I wasn't much a fan of Jess. But let me tell you, I may have been her, because just as much as she loves Gray, I have fallen for that guy! :P Not that way, but in the typical Boys in Books are Better way. (Note: That's another point I liked. The books and quotes that were mentioned in the beginning of this book. I wish there would have been more of that.) He is such a deep thinking guy. Okay, probably not THAT deep thinking, but I really enjoyed reading his parts. The way he adores Jess and the way he struggles with what he knows about the night she has almost been raped. It's tragic and I felt so sorry for him. Also the way he cared about his Gran. It was so cute.

What else can I say? You just have to read this book to understand how good it is. It has everything! It's funny, romantic, dramatic, sad but really the one thing it is 100% is AWESOME!

When You Were Mine - Rebecca Serle

Title: When You Were Mine 
Author: Rebecca Serle 
Rating: 3.5/5

Rosaline and Rob have been best friends as long as they can remember. Now Rosaline has deeper feelings for Rob and when he comes back after summer and ask her for a date, she believes he feels the same way. But out of nowhere an old "enemy" appears, who happen to be Rosaline's cousin Juliet. Rob immediately seems disinterested in Rosaline and more interested in her cousin. What if she might lose his best friend over someone like Juliet?

It doesn't happen often that I like the main characters in books. At least not when they are girls. There is just always something that I don't like about them. No matter if it's their act or the way they think or whatever. Somehow, with Rosaline it was completely different. I connected with her character right from the start and until the end.

The way Rob act during the book should make you hate him, but actually you still remember how sweet and cute he used to be in the beginning and so I wasn't able to hate him the way I should have. I wanted to. I tried to. It didn't work. I didn't like him as much as in the beginning, but I also felt sorry for him (you'll come to that point when you read the book, I don't want to spoil).

Then there is Len. Gosh, I loved him from the first moment. While in real life you would be annoyed by someone who has to say something constantly and non-stop, I really enjoyed his comments and he also said some very true things (i.e. that stuff about moving on). While Rob always seemed to be best friend OR boyfriend, Len seemed to be the perfect guy for both things. I like it when I read about characters like his. Makes me smile.

Now to also mention Rosaline's friends Olivia and Charlie, they were nice. What I found really interesting was reading about the relationship between Olivia and Charlie's brother. Those scenes were so funny! They would make a good comedy thing on a big screen in the movies. Oh yes, I would like that. However, I couldn't connected with Charlie. I mean, I could, but not in the way I could with Rose. I think she was a very good best friend anyway. I like to think of friendships like that one.

I liked this book very much. Especially the characters, I was happy with all of them. Believe me, that doesn't happen too often. I had high expectations, and this book only disappointed me with the very shocking last act, so it didn't really disappoint me. Just a little bit. It's complicated as you see. I am still struggling, but I liked this book and I would recommend it to everyone who likes deep-thinking characters and nice romances and of course the good old drama.

At Season's End - Eric Hendershot

Title: At Season's End

Author: Eric Hendershot

Rating: 2.5/5

Thanks to Cedar Fort via Netgallery for allowing me to read this book.

 

Sal and her family travel around the US country and search for work at fields. When they come across the north, she falls in love with Ben, but as the picking season ends, she and her family have to leave again to search for new jobs. She doesn't know if she'll ever see him again, especially when a tragedy hits the family and effects all of them. Suddenly Sal and her brother have to be grown-ups and take care of themselves. They must learn to fight for what they want, and Sal knows that what she wants is to see Ben again.

Okay, my summary sucks as always, but I don't really care right now. I couldn't do any better.

Despite the religious things in this book, I think the characters were very strong written. Eric Hendershot did a very good job, because you could always relate to them in some kind of way. And also you couldn't help but feel sorry for Sal and her brother when they had to deal with things on their own. But I must admit, that only at this point the book grew interessting for me. I really liked to read what they had to go through up from there and liked the "happy end", 'cause they deserved to be happy so much.

I should have read more about this book before I requested it via Netgallery. Somehow, I always pick the religious books, though I'm an atheist. It's not that easy for me to read about God all the time, if I myself don't believe in God and Adam and Eve and all that. There were way too many God-phrases in this book. Way too religious, also when it comes to the language. English isn't my first language, so sometimes it wasn't that easy for me to understand what they were saying. Yet, the sentences and parts that weren't about God, were very well written. A really nice style.

I feel kind of sorry that I'm giving this book only 2.5 stars, but as I sad, there was too much God talk. It wasn't because of the story, no, I liked it actually. The idea of travelling around really caught my attention, the romance between Sal and Ben was sweet too and after Sal and Tim are on their own, it was interesting and exciting to read what happens next and if they will get caught.