Rowena’s review of Unspoken (Woodlands #2) by Jen Frederick.
Whore. Slut. Typhoid Mary.
I’ve been called all these at Central College. One drunken night, one act of irresponsible behavior, and my reputation was ruined. Guys labeled me as easy and girls shied away. To cope, I stayed away from Central social life and away from Central men, so why is it that my new biology lab partner is so irresistible to me?
He’s everything I shouldn’t want. A former Marine involved in illegal fighting with a quick trigger temper and an easy smile for all the women. His fists aren’t the danger to me, though, it’s his charm. He’s sliding his way into my heart and I’m afraid that he’s going to be the one to break me.
Impulsive. Unthinking. Hot tempered.
I allow instinct to rule my behavior. If it feels good, do it, has been my motto because if I spend too much time thinking, I’ll begin to remember exactly where I came from. At Central College, I’ve got fighting and I’ve got women and I thought I was satisfied until I met her.
She’s everything I didn’t realize I wanted and the more time I spend with her, the more I want her. But she’s been hurt too much in the past and I don’t want to be the one to break her. I know I should walk away, but I just can’t.
I read the first book in the Woodlands book and found it enjoyable, but it didn’t knock me on my ass the way that I was expecting. The hero and heroine got on my nerves throughout most of the book and even though I ended up liking the book, it was the secondary characters in that book that sucked me in.
This book is Noah’s best friend Bo’s book. I was mighty intrigued by the guy that had Noah’s back no matter what in Undeclared. We didn’t get very much from Bo in Noah’s book but when I found out that he was featured in the second book, I was excited. I wanted more Bo. And holy cow did Jen Frederick give me more Bo.
I absolutely adored Bo. He wasn’t perfect. He had a quick temper, he was crude but getting to know him, I didn’t give a damn. He completely worked for me. His cocky demeanor, the way that he just kind of bulldozed his way into AM’s life, all of it worked for me. He was what he was and he made no apologies for it and I loved it. I loved the way that he was with his friends and I absolutely loved the way that he was with AM.
AM was a bit frustrating at times but for the most part, I understood where she was coming from. She was slow to trust and that was easy to understand, considering what she’d been through. She slept with one guy on the lacrosse team and then turned one down and all of a sudden, she’s fried socially for it all over campus. Rumors fly, reputations are tarnished and she kind of caved in on herself. She stopped hanging out on campus, she stopped going to campus unless she was going to class and what was surprising was that her best friend Ellie did the same thing.
What I really like about this series is the friendships we get to be a part of while we’re reading it. The guys at woodlands have a solid bond, a loyalty that I love but aside from that friendship, the girls are pretty solid friends too. I really liked Ellie in this book. The loyalty she showed to her best friend, the way that she was going to walk away from someone that she came to really like because he was associated with the people that hurt her friend solidified my love of her. Not a lot of people would make the kinds of choices that Ellie made for their friends and I really enjoyed the way that they cared for each other. They had each other’s backs and I really dug that.
The romance between Bo and AM breaks the steamy scale. It was hot and man did it make me cry. The lengths that Bo went to make the people who hurt AM pay made me all mushy inside and I just loved the hell out of him for it. This was a solid romance for me and I adored it. While there was some frustration on my part for AM and the way that she kind of took the abuse from everyone before Bo came into her life, I really came to like her. She was great for Bo and he was great for her. They made sense and I completely adored this story. It hit each of my love buttons so I couldn’t ask for a better reading experience.
Grade: 5 out of 5
This book is available from Jen Frederick. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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