The Trouble with Lucy

by L.J. Young

[nitzan_schwarz]

To read this review and more, go to my blog Drugs Called Books

The Trouble with Lucy is a fast, short, easy romance read about two people who are attracted to one another, but never seem to have the right timing.

The first thing that attracted me to The Trouble with Lucy was the beautiful cover. I find it just gorgeous, so naturally I had to check it out. The summary fairly obviously stated it's a romance book, and really - I'm a romance kind of gal, so I requested it on NetGalley... and got it!


I felt very conflicted about the characters as I read the book... I half liked half hated them.
I mean, Tom's sweet and Lucy's nice, but at times they were completely infuriating!

Lucy has a boyfriend--a "jolly fine" boyfriend at that. But she's madly attracted to one blue eyed farmer... what's more, she doesn't want to marry her year long boyfriend, doesn't seem to harbor any real feelings to him and sometimes wonders why is she with him.
So, you tell me, why isn't she breaking up with him, instead of having to remind herself every few seconds that he exists so she wouldn't kiss a certain blue eyed farmer?

Tom had had his fair share of troublesome women, and wants nothing to do with the fairer sex. Well, unless it's Lucy, the gorgeous city girl he can't seem to stop thinking of.
I liked Tom most of the time, though I thought he acted rather stupid at times; not telling her there was nothing between him and Zoe, acting all insecure and thinking "there's no way she'd be interested in a country guy" (dude, confidence!) and finally, not explaining the misunderstanding until much later on. Well, he suffered for all those.
But for the most part - he was really, really sweet, so I think Lucy's lucky to have him.

As for the actual romance, it was average. There were really sweet moments, a lot of drama and obstacles. Just like any decent love story (because what's the point in it if everything goes smoothly?)

What annoyed me--maybe just because I was impatient for it to happen--was how long it took them to get together and kiss. I was screaming KISS THE GIRL ALREADY! in my head while reading this book, more so because each time they were about to, someone interrupted! It was like the world was against them getting together. Maybe It was waiting for Lucy to break up with Zip already, but it was so frustrating!

And then there was the whole issue of everything happening real fast.
I know, I know - it's a bit contradicting, but if you think about it it makes sense - they've known each other a few days in the book, but it took them the whole book to get together. What I mean is; they fell in love too fast, but took too long in terms of pages in the book to get together.
Hopefully I'm making some sort of sense.

Tom had known her for a week, tops, when he thinks to himself;
"Tom would walk over broken glass for Lucy. He'd live in the city again if it meant he could be with her."
Why? I'm sure Lucy's a great catch, but how'd you know that after a week? Would you normally think of doing the things you least want to after a week? Then again, he actually seems aware it's been moving mighty fast, and his explanation to how she seemed to be everywhere was rather sweet, so I can forgive him.
Even though things did move really quickly.

What I enjoyed most about this story was the writing.
Not because it, itself, was anything unique, but because of the way the author chose to use it - Young often started sentences the same from Lucy and Tom's different POVs, often one after the other, to show the similarity between their thoughts or the contrast between what one of them thought the other was thinking... and what he really did.
I thought it was a charming way both to emphasize how they fit together without spelling it to us, and connect them together in our heads as one.

I also thought Young did an excellent job misleading us. I, for one, believed her, even though I knew Tom and Lucy had to be together somehow. I think she wove the trap beautifully, and at the end I breathed a sigh of relief and thought to myself; oh, THAT's what it was...

Young's writing is still a bit raw, though. She repeated many parts over and over again to the point I wanted to groan, and I felt she still didn't have a grasp on how many times one can repeat information, or if one even should. I do believe that's something you learn the more you write, though.

I conclusion; The Trouble with Lucy was a decent and fast, though average, romance read. It had it's good parts and bad parts, and often they came together. I see real potential here, but it's not yet IT.
Recommended for people who want to read something light and quick and escape the heavier title for a short while.

**I received a copy from Penguin Books Australia, Destiny Romance via NetGalley. Thank you!**