The Education of Sebastian (Education, #1)

by Jane Harvey-Berrick

[Jack]

I've seen this book floating around on GoodReads for quite some time and I've just decided to pick it up and boy was I surprised. Although I have mixed feelings about it. I loved the book, but at the same time I felt it lacking at some points.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*





Sebastian and Caroline meet when she is 21 years old, recently married to her Navy Doctor husband David. Sebastian is a little boy of eight who spends some time with Caroline after school. They develop a cute friendship, and according to Sebastian that is when he fell in love with Caroline, at to me seems a bit unlikely. A crush sure, but for Sebastian to harbor that crush and obsess, and have his feeling develop into "love" is stretching it for me. 

This love for Caroline seemed more like an obsession the more I think about it. Sebastian was a virgin when he met Caroline, which is all well and good, especially at the young age of 17, but he was only one because he wanted to save himself for Caroline. A bit creepy!

His insatiable appetite for sex got tiring after a while. I know guys like and think about sex a lot, but it was a bit much for them to go at it all night long. 

But there is no denying that both Caroline and Sebastian love each other. Caroline loves most everything about the young man, although she finds it very annoying that he has trouble keeping his feelings in check when the two of them are around other people. Sebastian was a smart kid, you think’d he’d understand to control his emotions as to not give away to everyone on the base that he is having an affair with a married woman.

And I’m glad that Caroline was able to grow a backbone by the end of the story and stand up to David.

While I really enjoyed the book, something was bugging me about it the whole time. It seemed a little shallow, or lacking details. The characters seemed bit 2 dimensional. Everything was a little too convenient. While I abhorred David, I never really got a clear picture as to why he treated Caroline the way he did. A bit of backstory on him would have been nice.

I actually felt a tad sorry for him when Sebastian’s parents came bursting through the door and announced that Caroline was cheating on him. It hit him like a ton of bricks. All this thinking about David makes me wish he could have his own story, and get a happy ending some how.

I’m so excited to read the next book, although not sure how I feel about Sebastian becoming a womanizer.