Reviewed by Leah on
THE GOOD
• WESLEY FREAKING JAMES. Quinn is a jerk, from start to finish. And yet, not once does Wesley tell her where to go, and he's never nasty. He's always polite, he's always trying to get Quinn on side (except for the bizarro girlfriend thing which seemed as if it had been punted in during an edit to add spice??) and he was just a decent human being. He literally made this book for me.
• The writing. Despite the fact I frequently got annoyed with Quinn, the narrative was enjoyable - it clipped along at such a good pace, and it never felt boring.
• The medieval restaurant! Quinn and Wesley both work at Tudor Tymes and I freaking loved it. The costumes, the act, the stocks, Henry VIII, the only king I know anything about (divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived!), it was vastly amusing!
• Erin! Erin was the only one who spoke any kind of sense in this book, constantly counselling Quinn to grow the hell up and stop being a child, because trying to get somebody fired for something you perceive to be their fault at 11, but was actually faintly ridiculous, is extra ridiculous.
THE BAD
• QUINN. Look, I get it. At age 11, Wesley may, in your eyes, have broken up your family, however it is inconceivable that you would *still* think that at 16. Considering how quickly the situation is rectified in the book, a quick chat with your mother would have cleared all that up years ago making your revenge scheme even more ridiculous than it already was.
• The revenge scheme! I just... if you think someone ruined your entire life, something that you still hold on to FIVE YEARS LATER, why would you then do that to another person? ON PURPOSE. What Wesley did at age 11 wasn't malicious, but what age 16 Quinn did was. If you're going to have a whole plot about how Wesley James Ruined Your Life, at least give the ruining a better think. It just genuinely baffles me that you would think an 11yo can maliciously ruin your life and still hold some kind of grudge five years later????
I have so many mixed feelings about this book. I loved the ending, it gave me that swooshy feeling that good romance books do. But could I forgive everything that came before? I JUST DO NOT KNOW. I don't know how you can base an entire plot on something so easily unfounded. On something that could never have malicious intent, WESLEY WAS ELEVEN. This cannot be repeated enough, and since he never seems to be a jerk previous, why would you suddenly assume that the night he moves away he's going to purposefully tip your world upside down? *rages* it just makes no sense!!!!!
On the one hand, I loved Wesley. He literally made this book for me. But Quinn. I wanted to punch her in the face. She's horrible. Genuinely horrible. She's spiteful, purposefully going out of her way to hurt Wesley, who has no idea why she's doing it FYI!!!!!!, and then the whole Caleb thing. WHY. WHY, QUINN, WHY? Why are you a jerk to people, to make yourself feel better? And then the icing on the cake! When the revenge on Wesley works - SHE GETS UPSET, like wtf? THIS WAS WHAT YOU WANTED. But a few magic words from your mom, that you didn't think to ask five years ago and suddenly Wesley's the best thing since sliced bread to you? LOL, what.
This book just baffled me. Simple as that. Those last two chapters I loved but they came way too late. Quinn was just awful. Her motivations were screwed up, and Wesley deserved better. #justiceforWesleyJames
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 13 July, 2017: Finished reading
- 13 July, 2017: Reviewed