Eighteen (18)

by J.A. Huss

[Linda]

At the beginning of Eighteen, I got to meet Shannon, and most of the time, I enjoyed her. I didn't really enjoy Mateo, though, because he was so alpha and controlling, when he knew that Shannon had been through hell and partly back already. He was also in a position of power, where Shannon could have felt as if she didn't have a choice at all. She did have a choice, though, and she made it, even if she wasn't sure about what to do, or how to deal with Mateo most of the time. I did get my emotions invested in a big time, though, I was sad, happy, angry and felt with Shannon in all the ways I enjoy feeling things along with a character when I'm reading a good story.

The storyline in Eighteen was really well done, and I really enjoyed how Shannon matured and managed to deal with so many different things at the same time. The death of her sister, living with her brother-in-law and her niece, Olivia, who was a baby, while finishing high-school and having to take extra trig and science classes. Much smarter than she gave herself credit for, she really did work very hard to try to get a better life for herself after graduating.

Mateo didn't exactly make that very easy for her, though. Being ten years older and working already, he had much more life experience than Shannon. He also was really into her, but he wasn't completely honest with her. And man, I have rarely followed a main character as confusing as him! Introducing Shannon to his own family one day, to completely disappear for several days afterwards. Warning her to stay away from the one friend she had, but without explaining anything about why, leaving her to think he was jealous. If I had been Shannon, I'd have left him and not looked back! The secondary characters are well done, especially Danny, and I would absolutely love to read a story about him! He definitely needs his own novel!

The whole story in Eighteen is told from Shannon's perspective, in first person point of view and present tense. This was a very smart choice, because the readers only got to know what Shannon knew, so the mystery and confusion Mateo left Shannon feeling was something I was left feeling as well. And of course, the writing is really good - this is a Huss novel after all! So while I didn't truly warm up to Mateo, Shannon and Danny were amazing, and the storyline as well as the main plot and the secondary plots were well executed.
This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews