Freitag, 22. Januar 2016

Altered - Kelly Cain

Title: Altered
Author: Kelly Cain
Rating: 3.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley and Penner Publishing for letting me receive a digital copy of this book before its official release.
At first, I saw him as everyone else did.
But then, I saw him for who he really was.
Recognized the beauty beneath the pain.
Loved the quirks disguising the insecurity.
Embraced the man who hid behind the boy.
But there was so much more...
More I didn't know.
And once I did, I couldn't let go…
Of the boy.
The man.
The lover…

In the beginning, Olivia escapes her relationship with Kye, who's a real pain in the ass. He's still hung up on his ex-girlfriend, who Olivia thinks he's also seeing again. In truth, his ex-girlfriend is engaged to someone else, but the story leaves it quite open if she calls off that engagement and goes back to Kye. I think that's what she'll do, to be honest. Luckily, we don't get to read that much about Kye or his ex-girlfriend. I didn't like them.

Olivia is studying law along with four of her friends, same as Nicholas. He's an eighteen year old nerd, being four and a half years younger than Olivia. The two of them aren't friends exactly, but they are both the best students in class (that's how I saw it anyway). After a couple of incidents, Olivia decides to get to know him better and matches him up with her studying group. She even invites him to visit her parents in California, because a family member of his own lives there. And while everybody tells her it's obvious she's falling for Nicholas, she always refuses to listen to anyone. Nicholas, however, makes it clear he has romantic feelings for Olivia. But she's stubborn and thinks a relationship between the two could never work.

I'm still conflicted. You see, I really loved this book in the beginning. Alright, not in the very beginning, because I seriously hated Kye (Olivia's ex-boyfriend), but after the first mention of Nicholas, I was hooked. And then, as I got closer to the middle of the book, I started hating Olivia so damn much. She's about the most annoying main character I've ever read of.

Seriously, she talks about trust but doesn't trust Nicholas. She talks about Nicholas being immature and young, though she's the one being all mean and immature. I mean, he wasn't the one who started seeing someone else, Olivia was. And why would she think things with Nicholas were too speed-up when she dry-humped that other guy right after meeting him?! Also, why does she keep her distance from Nicholas and then blames him for doing the same, because honestly, she was the one doing it, not him?! So, she'd just mix it all up, because she liked it that way. Oh my goodness. I was so mad while reading this book. And Kelly Cain, please don't think that's bad, because yeah, usually it would have been, but for this book, it somehow worked out.

So, one more thing I realized after finishing the book. Olivia didn't have any other problems. There were no other conflicts than her twisted relationships and I think that's kind of sad. Nicholas dealt with pretty heavy things, but Olivia's life was all unicorns and butterflies. I would have liked to read about more serious stuff concerning her. Maybe even a therapy, because at times I really wished she'd just come to her senses and quit being such an annoying character, haha.

I realize, the review sounds a bit harsh. But please look at my rating, I really enjoyed this book, despite all the negative aspects I list. I think the writing was really good, I never would have guessed Kelly Cain just started writing. Also, I loved Nicholas and Olivia as a couple, the idea of them was really thrilling. I hope to read more of Julia, Olivia's roommate, because she was the best character in this book (right after Nicholas, of course *swoon*). It's my kind of new adult romance and I wish more authors would dare to hook up a male character with an older female character, because reading about the struggle is really interesting.