Title: Easy
Author: Tammara Webber
Genre: New Adult, Contempoary Romance,
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: May 2012
Pages: 330
Rating: 4 stars
Synopsis (from goodreads):
Rescued by a stranger.
Haunted by a secret
Sometimes, love isn’t easy…
He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…
The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he’d worked so hard to overcome, and the future she’d put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.
Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth—and find the unexpected power of love.
A groundbreaking novel in the New Adult genre, Easy faces one girl’s struggle to regain the trust she’s lost, find the inner strength to fight back against an attacker, and accept the peace she finds in the arms of a secretive boy
My Review:
This is one of those books that I’ve heard a lot fantastic things about. So many that it made me incredibly nervous to read it. I’ve heard that it’s THE book in the New Adult genre and that Lucas is the ultimate book boyfriend. So what did I do? I bought it then put it on the shelf never to think of again. Until a few months ago when I got given an audiobook copy from a friend.
For the past month, I’ve been listening to Jacqueline and Lucas’ story one hour at a time whilst running around my neighbourhood. And I can see what all the fuss is about. Tammara Webber wrote a story with characters who have a lot of depth to them. They’re flawed and interesting and for the most part entirely believable. I wasn’t sure I was going to like Jacqueline at the start. She’s a little mopey and heartbroken but there’s so much more to her than her first impression. She’s brave and intelligent and very hard-working. She’s not one of those people who jump to conclusions and blame you for what’s going on inside their own heads but she does give people the benefit of doubt. Her relations with her friends are real and relatable and the e-banter between her and Landon is rather entertaining. Lucas is the perfect kind of bad boy and I loved the way he treated Jacqueline however I didn’t love him as much as I expected to.
This is a book with some fairly heavy themes – abuse, victims, rape and reputation – but I thought they were dealt with beautifully. I liked that it didn’t go the stereotypical route – Jacqueline is no helpless heroine but she’s an everyday woman. Abuse is something that can happen to anyone – and I admired her for how she dealt with the aftermath. She’s stronger than I first thought and manages to fight back – not just in a physical way but equips herself with the skills necessary to not be put in the same position again. Girl power! 😀
Easy is a book I’m so glad that I actually decided to read! It’s got realistic characters, a lot of romance and great storyline about female empowerment. I’m definitely going to read more books by Tammara Webber.
Audiobook note:
I’m not usually an audiobook person but I really enjoyed listening to this one. When reading exciting parts in a novel I tend to read very quickly just to see what’s going to happen next but having to follow where the narrator was taking me was good in this instance. I got to stay within this world for a while and the speed definitely drew out the anticipation. The version I listened to was narrated by Tara Sands who read at a great pace and did a fantastic job at distinguishing between characters are well as dialogue, to text messages, to email without there being any confusion.
Purchase the novel from:
I feel like the only person on earth who just didn’t like this book. Maybe a got a different copy or something but I just didn’t like it. I didn’t hate it either but this books gotten so much praise and I can’t help but wonder ” did we all read the same book?” The book does deal with heavy topics and the characters are realistic but I think i just didn’t feel the romance all that much and wasn’t satisfied with the ending. Granted I don’t need the ending to be all wrapped up and in a pretty little bow but i just wasn’t feeling it. But I am glad you managed to enjoy this one better than I did!
Lily @ Lilysbookblog
I liked that the romance was less intense compared to other NA that I’ve read – but I can see your point.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by this book. I haven’t been too impressed with any NA books I’ve read, but for some reason, I really liked the main characters and the romance. I’m not an audiobook person either, but glad you had a good experience with it.
I’m trying to get into audiobooks…. I’ve been going running every day and get really bored so I figured audiobooks might help me. But I’m so picky with narrators. Most of them really annoy me! I think what annoys me about most NA that I’ve read is that they’re entirely too focused on the romance and not enough about the people as individuals. This one managed to have both.
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