Reviewer: Holly Undeclared by Jen Frederick
Publication Date: May 1st 2013
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 350
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For four years, Grace Sullivan wrote to a Marine she never met, and fell in love. But when his deployment ended, so did the letters. Ever since that day, Grace has been coasting, academically and emotionally. The one thing she’s decided? No way is Noah Jackson—or any man—ever going to break her heart again.
Noah has always known exactly what he wants out of life. Success. Stability. Control. That’s why he joined the Marines and that’s why he’s fighting his way—literally—through college. Now that he’s got the rest of his life on track, he has one last conquest: Grace Sullivan. But since he was the one who stopped writing, he knows that winning her back will be his biggest battle yet.
The premise of this really intrigued me. Penpals turned best friends? Sexy Marines? Sold.
While the base idea is compelling, I really struggled with the inconsistency of the characters and the sometimes disjointed story. The hero was especially hard to get a handle on. At times he was a mature former marine who knew where he was going and what he wanted out of life. Then he was an immature college boy. The heroine’s insecurities were understandable considering her age and upbringing, so I think I expected the hero to guide her more. Instead he sort of fumbled his way along.
Perversely, I was able to give him a pass most of the time, because I know a lot of Marines. It’s hard for many of them to make that jump from four years of structure to being totally on their own.
While I had some problems with the book, as a whole it was an interesting read. I’m looking forward to reading the next book. If the author tightens up her writing just a bit, I could fall right in to her stories.
3.5 out of 5
This book is self-published. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
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