Basically, I saw this book with an interesting blurb and an offer on it for only £1.99 and I bought it and I have now finished it. I finished it this morning in fact. I think it took me about five hours (not including the needed sleep in between) to finish. So I guess you already know this is going to be a positive review...
The basic storyline is that Camryn, who is extremely down due to reasons I won't spoil for you, meets Andrew. I don't want to spoil anything but I can't really give a good overview without telling you that Cam basically jumps on a bus to nowhere, and along the way Andrew pops in and of course, because this is a love story, they start talking and liking each other and you get the picture. The story starts with them sharing a bus and getting to know each other from a distance, but as they grow closer, they start to experience live on the edge a little, living without plans or expectations or limits. Doing whatever the fuck they want to do, when they want and how they want. That's their pull. Only, there has to be a twist, and its sort of unexpected and sort of expected all at the same time, but its sad and pretty sudden and almost heartbreaking.
The novel is written in the first person, but has chapters from each of the two main characters' point of view, so you get to know both of them on a deep level and love them both, and I mean really love them. The author has somehow managed to play the part of each of these very different yet very similar people, and I, as the reader, found it easy to understand their emotions and read 'between the lines' I guess at the characters' descriptions of events, and how the other is seeing it too. I always love this multiple first person style of writing, particularly if done well, which this really is.
Going back to my expectations of the book (Remember? - cliche vs. Fifty Shades). There is an extremely good balance here. There's some cliche which you cannot possibly avoid in a romance novel, but it isn't done in a cliched fashion, it still feels genuine. There is a good deal of humour, where appropriate (even sometimes where it isn't, but it works), this is the kind of humour that isn't written in black and white for you. You, as the reader, have to 'get it' too, which further helps you to bond with the Cam and Andrew as a couple.
Now here's where the fifty shades part comes in. Yes, there is sex, and it is on the graphic side. However, for me, that's good. I don't like to read a book where the author is too coy to describe anything more than the first kiss in any amount of detail. The sex matters, so it needs to be there, and the way it is written is both beautiful and naughty. But comparing this book to Fifty Shades is wrong. Besides the fact that there's more detail than just the 'and we kissed and lay down and spent the night together' crap, fifty shades is badly written, very cliche and very cringeworthy. Whereas, this is not. So if you're scared, sort of like me, of picking up any book on the shelf that looks vaguely like it might be a part of the Fifty Shades Copycat Author Fan Club, don't be scared of picking this up, because it isn't smutty and it isn't middle aged women's book porn, it's just... good.
So basically get this book, read it, and love it, because it's amazing and I think it is under recognised as being so.
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