Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Review: The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Posted April 9, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. ArmentroutReviewer: Rowena
The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: May 17, 2016
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: First
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 480
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Reading Challenges: Rowena's 2020 Goodreads Challenge
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four-stars

Growing up, Mallory Dodge learned that the best way to survive was to say nothing. And even though it’s been four years since her nightmare ended, she’s beginning to worry that the fear that holds her back will last a lifetime. Now, after years of homeschooling, Mallory must face a new milestone—spending her senior year at a public high school. But she never imagined she’d run into Rider Stark, the friend and protector she hasn’t seen since childhood, on her very first day.It doesn’t take long for Mallory to realize that the connection she shared with Rider never really faded. Yet soon it becomes apparent that she’s not the only one grappling with lingering scars from the past. And as she watches Rider’s life spiral out of control, Mallory must make a choice between staying silent and speaking out—for the people she loves, the life she wants and the truths that need to be heard.

I haven’t been reading a lot of YA lately and I randomly picked this book up one day as I was browsing my kindle selection and read the entire thing in a day. I have enjoyed all of the YA books that I’ve read by Armentrout and this one was no different.

Mallory Dodge grew up in the foster system and one of her housing assignments was with a horrible drunk that scared the pants right off of her each and every day. Her saving grace while living there was her friend, Rider Stark. They became best friends and Rider did his best to protect Mallory from all the bad things that happened but one night, Rider fails to protect Mallory and she suffered from third-degree burns and was ripped away from Rider. They spent four years apart. In that time, Rider moved to another foster home that was heaps better than the one he shared with Mallory and Mallory was adopted by the doctors who helped heal her burns after the fire that ripped Rider and Mallory apart. Mallory was never the same after leaving that home and Rider never forgot about her. When they reunite, Mallory is attending high school again and she’s attending Rider’s school.

At first, Rider and Mallory were thrilled to see each other again. I thought their reunion was sweet and I really enjoyed seeing them get to know each other again. They weren’t the same people that they were the last time that they saw each other and seeing them try to find their way again was surprisingly emotional. I wasn’t expecting all of the emotions that I felt while reading this one. Mallory had overcome a lot in her life and seeing her try to be stronger and more assertive in her wants and needs was great to see. I really liked that we got to see her really grow into her own. She wasn’t perfect but she was as honest as she could be and her relationship with her adoptive parents was great. I liked seeing them try to make room in their lives for Rider even though they didn’t trust him. I loved seeing their trust in Mallory and I really loved seeing Mallory’s spine strengthen as the story unfolded. She came a long way from the Mouse that Rider knew.

Rider was another compelling character that I grew to love over the course of the book. He didn’t have an easy life and he struggled with trying to find his place in the world without a solid family foundation. When Mallory came back into his life, seeing the shock and then the guilt but overall joy from him made me so happy with the way that things turn out for him in the end. Like Mallory, he came a long way from the young boy that Mallory knew and I love that no amount of space or time could diminish what they meant to each other. Sure, they meant different things to each other now since they were both still really young kids back then but their relationship was solid and it was strong and I just really liked seeing the two of them grow together in love.

This was a great read. Jennifer L. Armentrout did a great job of pulling my emotional strings throughout this entire book and before I knew what was what, I had read this entire book in one sitting. So yeah, I liked this one. It’s good and I definitely recommend.

Grade: 4 out of 5

four-stars

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Review: If There’s No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Posted September 21, 2017 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: If There’s No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. ArmentroutReviewer: Rowena
If There's No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: September 5th 2017
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 480
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four-stars

Lena Wise is always looking forward to tomorrow, especially at the start of her senior year. She's ready to pack in as much friend time as possible, to finish college applications, and to maybe let her childhood best friend Sebastian know how she really feels about him. For Lena, the upcoming year is going to be epic--one of opportunities and chances.

Until one choice, one moment, destroys everything.

Now Lena isn't looking forward to tomorrow. Not when friend time may never be the same. Not when college applications feel all but impossible. Not when Sebastian might never forgive her for what happened.

For what she let happen.

With the guilt growing each day, Lena knows that her only hope is to move on. But how can she move on when she and her friends' entire existences have been redefined? How can she move on when tomorrow isn't even guaranteed?

I need to read more books by Jennifer L. Armentrout because I enjoyed this one. It deals with survivor’s guilt and I thought Armentrout did a fantastic job of showing us not just how Lena was doing, surviving the accident but also showing us how the people in her world were handling the entire incident.

Lena is a senior in high school and like high school kids tend to do, they go to school and they go to parties and they make bad decisions. Lena’s bad choice destroys the senior year that she envisioned for herself. Everything that she used to worry about, don’t matter anymore and Lena struggles to deal with the aftermath of her bad choice.

Lena has been in love with her best friend Sebastian for as long as she can remember and the night everything changed, she was so mad at him. About what? Nothing that matters now. Things are different now and sure, she still loves Sebastian but if he finds out about her bad choice, how can he ever love her back?

Lena’s struggles throughout this book are completely understandable and even though I understood why she felt the way that she did, I was still a bit frustrated with her at times. The push and pull thing she had with Sebastian was a little annoying but I chalked that up to her being young and still allowed to be that frustrating.

I completely adored Sebastian though. Loved the hell out of him and loved the way that he just refused to leave Lena’s side when she wanted him gone. I loved that he knew she shouldn’t be alone and wasn’t overwhelming in his need to be there for his best friend and love his best friend, that there was a balance to him and Lena. He was such a good love interest.

I enjoy Jennifer L. Armentrout’s writing style and after I finished this book, I went out and bought The Problem with Forever. This book was heartbreaking and it was hard to get through but it was a really strong story that I connected with. Lena’s struggles were real. I felt her grief and her guilt. I was wrapped up in this story from beginning to end. This is an important read for young readers and I’m really glad that I picked this up.

Grade: 4 out of 5

four-stars

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Guest Review: Till Death by Jennifer Armentrout

Posted March 31, 2017 by Jen in Reviews | 4 Comments

Guest Review: Till Death by Jennifer ArmentroutReviewer: Jen
Till Death by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Harper Collins, William Morrow
Publication Date: February 28th 2017
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 400
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four-stars

In New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout’s gripping new novel, a young woman comes home to reclaim her life—even as a murderer plots to end it. . .

It’s been ten years since Sasha Keaton left her West Virginia hometown . . . since she escaped the twisted serial killer known as the Groom. Returning to help run her family inn means being whole again, except for one missing piece. The piece that falls into place when Sasha’s threatened—and FBI agent Cole Landis vows to protect her the way he couldn’t a decade ago.

First one woman disappears; then another, and all the while, disturbing calling cards are left for the sole survivor of the Groom’s reign of terror. Cole’s never forgiven himself for not being there when Sasha was taken, but he intends to make up for it now . . . because under the quirky sexiness Cole first fell for is a steely strength that only makes him love Sasha more.

But someone is watching. Waiting. And Sasha’s first mistake could be her last.

In college, Sasha had been the only surviving victim of The Groom, a serial killer who preyed on young women in the town. The memories were too much for her, so she moved away and cut off ties with everyone except her mom and best friend. One of those she left behind was her boyfriend, Cole. She never saw him again after the night of her attack, but she never quite forgot him. She finally decides to move back home again to help her mom run the family B&B, and once Cole realizes she’s back in town he shows up, because it turns out Cole never forgot her either. Soon, frightening things start happening to Sasha, and more girls start disappearing. Sasha has to overcome her fear and help Cole (an FBI agent) figure out what is going on.

This is my first Jennifer Armentrout book, and I enjoyed it. I liked the way Sasha was portrayed. She was tortured by The Groom and is understandably traumatized. I thought her level of fear and her emotional challenges were perfectly appropriate, but she also is determined and has worked hard in therapy and on her own to cope with what happened to her. I appreciated that Cole is understanding and patient, too. He doesn’t push her into anything she doesn’t want. He just wants to be around her, if she’ll have him. He carries a lot of guilt over the past, as he was the last one to see Sasha before she was abducted. It’s clear that the guilt shaped his whole life, and it shows you he’s truly a good guy.

The story is told from Sasha’s point of view only, which is not my favorite. While I liked Cole, it was hard to connect to him when we didn’t get to hear his side. He obviously cares for Sasha a great deal, but I think some of the emotional punch gets lost because we don’t know how HE felt about the danger swirling around Sasha. The other weak point of the book is that the mystery is a little contrived. The killer is fairly easy to identify, and there were just a lot of coincidences and convenient plot points. It’s not a bad mystery, just not particularly unique.

I would have liked a little more focus on the romance, but I enjoyed this one more than I thought I might. 

Grade: 4 out of 5

four-stars

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Review: Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Posted January 26, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Scorched by Jennifer L. ArmentroutReviewer: 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

Reading Order:

Frigid
Scorched

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