Review: Easy (Contours of the Heart #1) by Tammara Webber

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS:

When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.
Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex's frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night - but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.
When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he's hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

MY TAKE:
This is one of the few books that I had a difficult time deciding how to rate it.

In Easy, Jacqueline is assaulted on her way home from a party. She is saved by a guy who turns out to be someone who is in her economics class. Before long, she and Lucas develop a relationship, with the encouragement of her friends. However, the guy who attacked Jacqueline isn't done yet, and things will get a lot more complicated for her.

I wasn't sure whether I should give this book three stars or four stars. For me, it was sort of a 3.5-3.75-star kind of book. The plot twists were all fairly predictable or expected, which bothered me a little, as I was hoping for at least one plot twist that took me completely by surprise.

There were a couple of plot twists here, though, that horrified me. Mostly they had to do with Jacqueline's assaults. Personally, I only know of one friend who was sexually assaulted, so most of what I know about how survivors react comes from books, television shows and movies. Some learn to fight back or carry some kind of weapon, some are traumatized, and some just want to forget. Jacqueline just wants to forget, which of course I understood. However, I wish she had become more vigilant or gotten a weapon or a Taser or taken self-defense classes earlier. I also wished she hadn't clammed up during the second assault because it could have helped save Mindi or herself... maybe.

There are two reasons, however, that I decided to rate this four stars instead of three. One is that I liked Benji and Erin. They seem like good people and the kind of friends you'd want to have around. The other reason is Jacqueline and Lucas' romance.

Physically, Lucas is most definitely not my type. I do like that he can defend himself and others, and that he's a hard worker. Jacqueline was okay most of the time, though there were a couple of times there when I thought she could be Bella Swan's cousin.

Despite how I actually felt about the characters, I actually enjoyed their scenes together. There's a lot of chemistry here, and I didn't feel like I wanted to gag, which is what usually happens when I sense that the author is trying to force a connection or a moment between the two lead characters.

THE GOOD:

1. Jacqueline and Lucas' romance is pretty hot.
2. Jacqueline's friends are awesome.
3. Lucas seems like a nice person.

THE BAD:

1. You might be frustrated by how Jacqueline handles the assault at first.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

Sometimes, how a situation is perceived carries more weight than the reality of the matter. 

READ IT IF:

1. You like bad boys.
2. You've fallen for someone you probably shouldn't have.
3. You like older guys. 

RATING:


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