Release Date: September 17, 2013
Publisher: Intermix (Penguin)
Pages: 219 (approximately, per Amazon)
Series: n/a
Review Source: Netgalley
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)My Thoughts:
Avery has just met her hot upstairs neighbor. He's irresistible. Tattooed. And a virgin.
Nursing student Avery Michaels wants nothing to do with dating—she's perfectly happy single. Privy to too many of her mother's bad decisions and even worse taste in boyfriends, all Avery can handle is a string of uncomplicated hookups whenever the mood strikes.
When she meets smoking hot tattoo artist Bennett, she wants him—for just one night. But he won't accept a no-strings-attached arrangement. He lives by a straight-laced code of values based on his own troubled upbringing.
Bennett sees something special in Avery and he wants more from her. Way more. As Avery wrestles with her emotions for Bennett, danger and tragedy force them to open up to each other. And Avery must face the terrifying realization that she wants more from him, too.
So she needs to make a choice—let Bennett go or finally let him in.
It's funny how a book can follow tropes and tell a story you've read a million times before, and yet it can still touch you and bring something different to the table. If you read the synopsis for ‘All of You’ you might think it sound like every other New Adult book out there (granted, with a twist on gender roles), and you wouldn’t be inherently wrong. But I’ve read many New Adult novels with similar sounding plots, and a large number of them I disliked. I’m picky with romance, especially New Adult, as there are more and more released each week, and the books really need to step up in order to be unique and enjoyable. Thankfully Christina Lee knows how to take something you’ve read before and make it her own, simply by writing characters with depth, ones who you really feel something for. I really enjoyed the writing style in ‘All of You’, and I adored the connection between Avery and Bennett.
I loved how Avery tries to make herself appear one way, but that in reality she’s a very sensitive and caring person. She cares so much for her brother, and her job at the nursing home shows how she applies those values on a larger scale. I loved reading about her interactions with a very special lady named Mrs. Jackson, one of a few people who really cares for Avery, and who Avery lets into her life in return. I liked how Bennett and Avery actually came from such similar circumstances, and yet turned into such different, but compatible, individuals. While I felt like sexual situations happened too quickly between Bennett and Avery, they weren’t so over the top that they seemed unrealistic.
Overall I liked all the different aspects of this book: the friendship, the family issues, and the romance. It presented “people with tragic pasts find happiness in each other” without too much angst or ridiculousness. While I can’t say this book is truly unique, I can say that it’s well worth a read and is one of the better New Adult books I’ve read with this type of plot.
The Cover:
Typical NA cover, but it's not bad. I like the font treatment, simple as it is.
Rating:
[4/5]Add All Of You by Christina Lee on Goodreads. Purchase from Amazon, B&N, Google Books, & iBooks.
I totally agree with you about the New Adult genre. I love the idea of it, but the same old plots keep getting used and it's boring. You've sold me on this book though, it's definitely going into my to-read pile.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean about book tropes being made interesting all over again. And yet, I have to agree about NA too, the repetitiveness is slowly killing me. I actually gave up on the genre altogether, with one or two exceptions.
ReplyDeleteStill, this sounds wonderful. Great review.