Reviewer: Rowena Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publication Date: June 16th 2015
Genres: New Adult
Pages: 248
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Jennifer L. Armentrout (also known as J. Lynn), New York Times bestselling author of the Wait for You series, presents her latest book, Scorched.
Sometimes life leaves a mark...Most days, Andrea doesn't know whether she wants to kiss Tanner or punch him in the gut. He is seriously hot, with legit bedroom eyes and that firefighter body of his, but he's a major player, and they can't get along for more than a handful of minutes. Until now.
Tanner knows he and Andrea have had an epic love/hate relationship for as long as he can remember, but he wants more love than hate from her. He wants her. Now. Tomorrow. But the more he gets to know her, the more it becomes obvious that Andrea has a problem. She's teetering on the edge, and every time he tries to catch her, she slips through his fingers.
Andrea's life is spiraling out of control, and it doesn't matter that Tanner wants to save her, because when everything falls apart and she's speeding toward rock-bottom, only she can save herself.
Sometimes life makes you work for that happily ever after...
-- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Scorched is the companion novel to Frigid and it follows Kyler and Sidney’s friends as they fumble their way to their happily for now ending. Andrea and Tanner have bickered like immature teenagers since the first book in this series but over time, that shit got old.
I knew that Andrea had a thing for Tanner and wanted them to get together when I first read Frigid so I was glad to finally get this book but after finishing it, I’m still not quite sure where my thoughts are. Did I enjoy it? For a good chunk of the book, yes but there were things that I did not enjoy. Things that were choppy and drove me crazy.
First things first, Andrea’s best friend and Tanner’s best friends are together. Kyler and Sidney want to get out of town for a week to unwind and just relax and they want their best friends to go with them. It’s not a secret that said best friends don’t like each other but they all decide to go on the trip anyway….together.
Before they decide to go up to a cabin for some much needed R&R, Tanner and Andrea get into another argument where things go a little farther than either of them anticipated. As always, they bring out the worst in each other and Tanner knows that he was out of line and things changed for him. In an effort to make peace before heading out, Tanner takes Andrea home after a night out at the bar where Andrea gets really drunk. He’s not quite sure how it happened but she stopped being Sid’s best friend and before he knows what’s what, he realizes that he wants to really get to know Andrea. He wants to be more to Andrea and that’s easier said than done because 1) she doesn’t trust him and 2) she only seems to want him when she’s drunk.
Tanner thinks that Andrea drinks too much and has a substance abuse problem. Andrea disagrees. When she’s not drinking, they get along great but when Andrea gets alcohol into her system, she turns into freaking Medusa and Tanner doesn’t know how to deal with that. All he knows is that he wants her, his heart has chosen her and he’s not going away without a fight.
Andrea, for her part has always wanted Tanner but he doesn’t remember her and she can’t get over the past so it’s hard for her to let that go and truly be with him. She wants to be with him but she doesn’t know how to be. She knows that holding the past against him is dumb, considering he doesn’t even remember it but she can’t help it. But her troubles with Tanner aren’t the only troubles she’s got and it’s the other trouble that keeps the story going.
Andrea’s journey throughout the book was hard to get through and I didn’t completely understand her problems or her illness so it made liking her, let alone connecting with her hard. I spent a lot of time pissed at her for the hot and cold act she had going with Tanner. The whole drinking thing pissed me off because once again, I was ignorant to what her problem actually was…even when the shit hit the fan at the end, I didn’t understand it and was still completely pissed off at her. I wanted her to be stronger. I wanted her to get her shit together and in the end, I was glad that she finally did. But by then, too much time had passed and I spent so much time being pissed off at her that I didn’t understand why Tanner stuck around or what he saw in her.
I will say that the book was interesting but my reservations with Andrea and my inability to connect and understand her made my enjoyment of this book suffer. So while there were good moments, this isn’t one of my favorite books from Armentrout.
Grade: 2.5 out of 5
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