Monday, August 12, 2013

Review: Wait for You by J. Lynn

Title: Wait for You
Author: J. Lynn (Jennifer L. Armentrout)
Published: February 25th 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Some things are worth waiting for…
Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.
Some things are worth experiencing…
Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.
Some things should never be kept quiet…
But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?
And some things are worth fighting for…

We all know how talented Jen is and I have seen very few reviews that didn’t have great words to say about Wait for You so naturally I was excited to jump into this. I did get a lot of awesome things from this novel, but I can’t say I’m totally obsessed with this book. Let me break it down for you in detail.

“As long as the sun’s shining, shit can’t be that bad.” 

The story. Avery is a 19 year-old freshman in college and on the first day of school she runs into this gorgeous guy Cameron. Let’s just say that this isn’t the last time these two meet unexpectedly. Soon they are forced to spend time together and so the unlikely friendship begins and maybe, just maybe it’ll blossom into something more. Only if Avery is able to let go of her past and move forward.

My thoughts. I did very much enjoy the banter between Avery and Cameron and even though at first I didn’t feel their chemistry (it may have been from lack of sleep), the more I spent time with them, the more I felt their attraction towards each other. I also liked Avery’s new friends Brittany and Jacob as well as Cam’s roommate Ollie and their friend Jase. What I also liked was how Jen managed to write the book as an evolving piece which took its time and didn’t rush into the L-bomb or anything near that before it was actually time. It felt organic.

Now.. What I didn’t like. There wasn’t much, I can’t really pinpoint out the exact moment I realized that it wasn’t that original of a story. Maybe it’s not supposed to be. Jen’s writing makes up for the lack of originality, but at the same time, I’m a contemporary lover and perhaps it’s due to the fact that I have read so many New Adult books lately that they all melt a little together for me. Nothing except for Cam – being a great guy, not a mysterious, haunted, broken man – stood out for me. And I wasn’t a fan of his at the beginning either. He just kinda grew on me.

All in all, I did enjoy Wait for Me and I’m looking forward to spending time with the other characters in addition to Cam and Avery in the following sequels. I hope that they’ll all be as good as Wait for You if not even better since I have faith that Jen can pull something more original out of the bag. Perhaps my issue with this one was the lack of originality due to having read many similar books, but hey – Jen’s writing is awesome and if you’re a fan of New Adult and contemporary at that, then I advise you to check this baby out.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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13 comments:

  1. I agree, New Adults are starting to melt together a bit. I think they need to break out of the cookie cutter mold. This is when I change to UF or YA, just something else. I ADORED Cam in this one, but Avery got on my nerves at times. Still, I rated it like you, 4 stars. Wonderful review, Siiri. :)

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    1. Ah, yes, that's the sad part of NA lit. They're basically all the same. Cam--sigh! lol. He was awesome, a great change for snarky, bad-a JLA boys:) Thanks hon!

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  2. I totally agree! You see if I read this one now I'd never ever give it 4 stars. Just because it'd be the same old story with different characters and circumstances. I'm really sick of it. Anyhow I'm glad you enjoyed this one but I personally will stay away from the sequel. Great review :)

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    1. I think this was way better than Frigid and compared to that one, Wait for You gets all my respect. I'll see what others (not all JLA fangirls) think of the sequel and decide if I want to read it or not. Thanks Tanja:)

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  3. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed this, Siiri. I liked it too, but I thought it was the same old story, like you mentioned. There was nothing really original for it. But I did love Cam, so I stuck till the end. He was sweet, hilarious and made me smile constantly. But, gosh, Avery was a pain. I mean, I sympathized with her situation, but she could be really frustrating with her ability to push really nice guys away.
    Armentrout doesn't really have original ideas I think. She takes overused ideas and tries to make them her own with her romances and her dialogues. If it weren't for those, she probably wouldn't be very successful.
    While I have no interest in reading the sequel of this book because I thought it ended well and that a sequel is unnecessary, I'm looking forward to Jase and Tessa's story.

    P.S This was a whole lot better than the mess that was Frigid! I still shudder when I think about that one!

    Lovely review, Siiri-bear! <3

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    1. Yeah.. you know.. I feel like if I'm done with this series and Lux, I won't want to read lots of JLA anymore. You're right, she does take the cliché (or an original idea like VA) and tries to make it her own. I think it works for most people, but I'm getting tired of it and it's like I'm reading the same book with different character names. I'm ready to move forward and discover other authors. Jen as a person is awesome, but I'm just in a JLA reading slump. I acutally read this before Frigid, but posted later because everybody kept asking me about Frigid so I posted it before. Anyhow, I think since it's a big pub book, it's another money maker since JLA 'brand' sells right now. I would have liked it as a standalone as well, but I really liked Cam and I believe the sequel will be from his POV? So I hope it'll be good. I really want to read Jase and Tessa's story as well:)

      Hahahahaha. Let's not ever talk about Frigid. It was... yeah.

      Thanks babe! :)

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  4. Aw sorry you weren't quite as obsessed but that you eventually starting feeling their chemisty

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  5. It's actually been a while since I've been on the New Adult train, so I'm thinking this one might work a little better for me without having so many similar books in my head to compare it to! I'm glad you enjoyed it overall, and I'm absurdly happy that their relationship develops love declaration free for a while and feels much more genuine because of it. I'm looking forward to this one even if it won't blow me away with its originality, like you said, Jennifer's writing makes up for many a flaw!

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  6. I will be reading this one soon and I am super excited for it. I began having issues with Jennifer's Lux series but I think the fact that this one is NA will solve all the problems that I had with her writing there. That problem being that I just wanted the characters to get it on and get it over with already! LOL

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  7. Sorry that you had some issues with the book, but I'm glad you enjoyed though. I have a copy of this waiting to be read :) I've not explored the NA genre yet, but I am curious to start this book. Great review!

    Janina @ Synchronized Reading

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  8. I had the same issues as most others, lack of originality. I adored Cam, though. He was significantly less jerkish than a lot of her other book guys. Cam is why I gave the book 4 stars.
    Great review, hon!

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  9. Heh heh. Seen few reviews that say anything bad about this one, eh? You might not want to ever visit my review then. Wasn't a fan of the other plotline in this book.

    "What I also liked was how Jen managed to write the book as an evolving piece which took its time and didn’t rush into the L-bomb or anything near that before it was actually time. It felt organic." <-- I did like that part of the book, and how Cam kept at it with Avery. Did remind me of what you said about her other books though and how the nerdy, clumsy girl tends to get pursued by the arrogant, mysterious guy.

    It's good that you still like JLA's writing enough that you enjoyed this book even when you wondered if it was similar to other NA novels. Is JLA an auto-buy author for you?

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  10. I agree with this review! Wait for You was enjoyable overall, BUT it read like a lot of other books where the girl is trying to run from past trauma, and that definitely downgraded it to me. I've gotten a bit disappointed with JLA recently, and I'm hoping that her next book is better. Great thoughtful review!

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