Series: None
Author: Jennifer Honeybourn
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: July 18, 2017
Source: Bought
Sixteen-year-old Quinn Hardwick’s having a rough summer. Her beloved grandmother has been put into a home, her dad’s gambling addiction has flared back up and now her worst enemy is back in town: Wesley James, former childhood friend—until he ruined her life, that is.
So when Wesley is hired to work with her at Tudor Tymes, a medieval England themed restaurant, the last thing Quinn’s going to do is forgive and forget. She’s determined to remove him from her life and even the score all at once—by getting him fired.
But getting rid of Wesley isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. When Quinn finds herself falling for him, she has to decide what she wants more: to get even, or to just get over it.
Find Wesley James Ruined My Life online!
I wanted to like this one so much. It had all the components that I normally like in a YA contemporary; a hate-to-love romance, a cute guy, a seemingly strong heroine. Unfortunately for me, only two of those three things were true. Quinn, the main characters, was anything but strong in this one and she infuriated me throughout this book. While it was still entertaining (I finished it in roughly three hours if that tells you anything), I would have enjoyed it so much more had Quinn not been so horrible.
Okay, I'm just going to air out all my frustration toward Quinn before getting to anything else. Quinn was exactly the type of main character that makes me want to rage. She was so whiny and blamed everyone else for her problems. And I hated how she manipulated and took advantage of other people without any thought for how it would affect them. Actually, she did think about it occasionally. She'd do something horrible and be like "I'm a bad person" but then continue to do exactly what she was doing previously. It was so frustrating -- it felt like she just never learned. Even at the very end of the novel, it felt like she was still exactly where she had been at the beginning -- making rash assumptions about other people and using them for her own means. Ugh.
Had it not been for Quinn, I would have really enjoyed this one. Her friends were great and Wesley was so sweet -- I honestly couldn't understand how she could hate him so much. He was never anything but nice to her, even after she was rude and cold to him for seemingly no reason. It also didn't feel very much like a romantic relationship. I didn't feel any chemistry between them and there was really no romantic moves made.
I wish Quinn had been a better character -- I might have liked it more if she were. As it is, my opinion of this book suffered due to Quinn. Besides her, the other characters were good and the plot was entertaining enough that I read the whole book in one sitting.
"I may not be able to do anything about Wesley going to my school or being a part of concert band or even having the same circle of friends, but there is one thing I might be able to do.
Get him fired."
Three out of Five Teapots
Oh man. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy this book. Although, I know exactly what you mean. I didn't love Quinn at first and definitely didn't like some of her actions and her mindset towards Wesley in the beginning. But she grew on my. I adore Wesley though. As far as Swoon Reads books go, this was one of the better ones for me! I will definitely try another one of this author's books in the future.
ReplyDeleteWonderful review, Ashtyn! Have a great week. =)
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!