Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

Title: Easy

Author: Tammara Webber

Release Date: May 25th 2012

Published by: CreateSpace (this is for the Paperback version, the eBook publisher was left blank)

Read: August 11th 2012

Pages: 316-eBook

Description:

A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?

When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex’s frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night–but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.

When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he’s hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

(Mature Young Adult/ New Adult)

What I thought:

Jacqueline’s life kind of sucks right now. She followed her high school sweetheart to college instead of doing what she wanted, and then he breaks up with her so he can sleep with other women. She’s only been with him and known his life for the last few years, so she becomes lost. Her friends were mostly his and left her side, her only companion is her roommate Erin.

Then at a party, she almost gets raped (hence the mature warning on this book). She gets saved luckily, by a guy called Lucas. He seems to know her and she has no idea why. She didn’t even notice until later that she has him in her one economics class, which she skipped weeks of after the breakup. And she has to make up the time and the midterm, or she’ll fail. She’s the kind of perfect student that never fails. Her professor gets her in contact with Landon, whom over email helps her get back on track, while flirting a tad. But she has no idea what he looks like.

Her friend Erin and another girl decide that he needs to be her rebound, since he’s gorgeous and looks like the bad-boy type. While trying to lure him in like they suggest, she notices that she’s starting to really like him even though she hardly knows a thing about him.

Buck, her attacker, tries to come onto her again, even cornering her at one point. Jacqueline didn’t tell anyone else about the attack at first, fearing no one would believe her. She has to learn to be strong as an independent woman which she’s never done before, all while working out her feelings for Lucas and if it’s just a rebound or more.

I ate this book up and couldn’t put it down, there was just something about the characters that drew me in. Erin for instance was awesome, especially when she comments on kicking junk in a self-defense class, one of the funniest parts! The romantic scenes were steamy up to a point (not over the top which was nice), and the determination from Jacqueline in defending herself and not being taken advantage of again were definitely important in her growth.

One of the most important parts of the book, was the author’s message that it’s not your fault if something like rape or being attacked happens to you. She keeps mentioning that it’s important to tell someone, and report it, even having a blurb in her acknowledgements page at the end of the book. I think this is very important, and I’m glad the author included that in her book.

Recommended for a more mature young adult audience, and fans of contemporary.