Barbara's Booky Blog

I don't usually like these angst-ridden young adult stories but I found myself really enjoying this series. I thought the first two books were very real and I know things like this happen as it has happened to my half-siblings so the story really hit home for me. I was looking forward to a positive ending to this series with book three but I found that it just didn't live up to the first two books.

Emma went through a ton of trauma in the first two books and handled it better than I thought anyone could. Now she's in college (after dumping Evan without a word) and she's totally lost her mind. WTF happened to the strong, positive person we met in the first two books? How is it possible that she is now drinking constantly and after holding out for so long with Evan, screwing at the drop of a hat? This new image just didn't mesh with the Emma we've come to know and love. And why did her supposed girlfriends who was so wonderful to her, keep pushing alcohol on this suicidal nutcase? It just didn't make sense.

And though I really liked Cole, what was the point of his existence as all he did was wreck Emma farther not to mention her wrecking him but in her defense, she did warn him and he ignored her warning. I just didn't get it. I guess it was just filler until Evan could arrive in California.

The whole depression thing was a bit much. Emma caused this situation (by dumping Evan) and there is absolutely no reason why she can't just pick up the damn phone and call him. She initiated this whole thing and it's up to her to put a stop to her stupidity. Now we have suicidal Emma whose running, running, running and not eating, trying to kill herself. Yet guys still say (think) how beautiful she is. Now I'm thinking that if she's exercising to this extent and not eating, shouldn't she be skin and bones? That is just not attractive no matter what you look like.

And don't even get me started on the different POVs. The author could have handled this better. Evan's POV was in italics (most of the time) and Emma's not. It would have been okay except that the POV switched from one paragraph to the next and it was really confusing as to who was doing the thinking. I found this very irritating and exhausting to keep track of what was going on.

I forced myself to finish this book because I needed to know how it ended but after slogging through 422 pages, the ending totally sucked. The story just felt unfinished and I was left hanging.