Subject to Change (Drop Everything Now, #2)

by Alessandra Thomas

[Angie]

After falling absolutely in love with the first book, I had high hopes for Subject to Change. Sadly it didn't work out for me quite as well, but I still enjoyed it. The romance was a typical opposites attract, bumping heads sort of deal, and I think Joey and Hawk were good for each other. My only real issue was the whole "I promised my dead loved one that I'd make myself miserable in order to make the proud even though they aren't here." I hate this trope. I can't help but feel like characters should know that their loved one would rather see them happy. There's more to it in Joey's case, but it still didn't make sense.

Subject to Change starts with Joey taking a business class for general ed credit. She doesn't care about business, but she needs a good grade for med school, so she's less than thrilled to be partnered with Hawk for their end of term project. He smells like smoke, has tattoos, drives a motorbike, and falls asleep in class. Clearly he is a loser. Obviously, he's not, but it takes some time for Joey's judgmental self to see that. She's so focused on acing her impossible pre-med classes that she doesn't see anything else. She's stressed and exhausted, and all because she promised her father. Apparently her trust fund also says that it must be used for medical school, and I had a hard time believing her father would make the terms that specific given what we learn about him. It just made Joey's situation unbelievable and predictable.

As for the romance, I did mostly like it. Hawk is not at all what Joey expected, since once she finally gets to know him she learns the reasons behind all of his seemingly slacker behavior. He's struggling, just like her, but for different reasons. The one thing I didn't like about Hawk was that he kept turning suffering into a competition. His problems were so much bigger and more mature than Joey's and she could not possibly understand, since her only real issue was school related. Whatever, dude! School and figuring out what she wants to do in life is important to her, so don't trivialize it! Their fight was also epically stupid, because of that. And he whines about having to dress up to be her boyfriend, even though he only dressed up once because she invited him to a dressy event at her sorority! It just didn't make much sense. However, I did like how Hawk helped Joey realize that being a doctor isn't for her, and that her dad wouldn't want her stressed like that. And Joey helped Hawk see that he can do more for himself and the bar if he just stops being such a control freak.

Subject to Change was pretty good despite all of my complaints. I enjoyed reading it, and got caught up in the character's lives which is probably why I got so annoyed with them at times. I just wish Joey's determination to becoming a doctor had been based on something else. She should have actually read the terms of her trust fund earlier on, but I guess it also took her some time to see that she could work in the medical field in some other capacity that was more fulfilling to her.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.