Main Character:
Love Interest: Jackson
Series: None
Author: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads
Jasmine Evans knows one thing for sure… people make mistakes. After all, she is one. Jaz is the result of a onenight stand between a black football player and a blonde princess. Having a young mother who didn’t raise her, a father who wants nothing to do with her and living in a small-minded town where she’s never fit in hasn’t been easy. But she’s been surviving. Until she sees her mom’s new boyfriend making out with her own best friend. When do you forgive people for being human or give up on them forever?
The blurb of this book was what drew me to it. I thought it would be one of those stories where I could lose myself in what was going on in the story but that wasn’t what I got when I was reading. What I got was a lot of race issues. Jaz is the product of a black father who wants nothing to do with her and a white mother who gave her over to her parents to raise while she went on and continued to live her life. Jaz is half white and half black and that distinction played a big part of this book. It’s hard for me to believe that there are places in this world that still treat black people different from white people.
So Jaz knows a secret that she’s pissed about. This secret could hurt someone really close to her and she doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t have a friend to confide in because the secret includes her best friend Lacey and she needs distance from her so she does what she does best. She pulls away and when her hot co worker Jackson shows interest in her, she takes him up on his offer to be friends.
This book could have been a good story had the delivery been a bit smoother. I thought I was getting a story about a girl who caught her Mom’s boyfriend cheating on her Mom with her and while that happens, the story centers around Jaz and her coming into her own skin. Becoming comfortable with who she is and not letting what she is (half black/half white) define who she was as a person. Jaz struggles with her identity throughout the book and I wished time and time again that being black wasn’t something that she was so hung up on.
I wasn’t a big fan of Lacey and I understood Jaz’s struggle with forgiving her because she was Lacey’s best friend and you don’t hook up with your best friend’s Moms boyfriend. No matter how drunk you are. I’m sorry but even after finding out what Lacey went through when she was younger didn’t really justify hooking up with your best friend’s Mom’s man, especially when your best friend’s Mom was pregnant with her boyfriend’s baby. So when Lacey was mad at Jaz for not forgiving her, I rolled my eyes because well, tough shit.
Jaz’s attitude toward those around her left a lot to be desired. I got that she was shy, I got that she was trying to save herself the heartache of being rejected because of the way that she was treated at that pool all those many years ago but the way that she treated her Mom, her friends (Jackson and Ashley) got on my nerves from time to time. She was really bratty and I’m not a fan of brats. She’s almost eighteen years old, she needs to put those whiny rants to bed.
Overall this book was interesting but I didn’t really enjoy it much. All of the black and white issues that the main character went through wasn’t anything that I could relate to and because I didn’t like her much, it was hard to want to connect with her. I did enjoy seeing her relationship with Jackson blossom and I enjoyed the friendship she had with her grandmother and Ashley. I liked that at the end, Jaz became the person I wanted to know throughout the book but by then, it was a too little, too late kind of thing.
I was royally pissed off at her when she mouthed off to Jackson and if Jackson didn’t forgive her, I wouldn’t have blamed him. I thought it was such a stupid way of expressing yourself and it really ticked me off but her apology at the end made up for all the darts I was throwing her way (in my head) because of everything she said, from the stuff she said to her Mom, the disrespectful way she was with her elders. I thought that Ashley and Jackson were good friends for her and I was glad that Lacey was finally taking the necessary steps to fix herself and I was glad when she finally talked everything out with Simon. It all ended the way that it was supposed to end but the getting there was rough. All in all, it was a good book but there was a lot of stuff (attitude) that I could have done without.
..and that’s your scoop!
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Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com
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ooers, I don’t think I’m going to like this one, though it’s on my reviewing dock.
I thought it was going to be more about Jaz’ family and that dilemma. But it doesn’t sound like it is.
*sigh*
I guess time will tell! 😀
Thanks for the honest review.
You’re welcome Alex! I thought too much time was spent on her race insecurities and wanted more from the actual family drama. Oh well.