Wanted

Loved the storyline but the romance and main characters were too "perfect" at times. Another issue was the constant dropping of the f-bomb. Now I myself curse a lot but everybody was cursing a bit too much at times. Plus the heroine and her friends are underage but can get into a bar to drink. How? I don't recall them even having fake IDs. Ari and Jeff were annoying at times with the constant bickering. The book's editing seriously was lacking. Was the author rushed to get it published? The other thing that annoyed me was how Gunner and Jeff would tear up at the drop of a damn hat. Seriously, do guys really get that emotional over the littlest things like these two did?

This review is biased because Wanted was one of the first romance books I read when I was much younger and I remember falling in love with it. Reading it all this time later, there are so many flaws in the writing and the characters, but I can’t bash what my younger self thought at the time. Pros: • You get what you get- This book is exactly as advertised. It’s a sweet innocent country romance where everything ends up as it should. Ellie, the main character, was emotionally abused and so has a hard time believing that anyone wants her. • Sweet- As far as romances go it is sugary sweet. It is an enjoyable and fairly quick read. Cons: • Ellie’s innocence- While it is cute in some places, in other times it seems somewhat concerning this girl is at least eighteen and she has no idea about anything. She also seems to bounce back from emotionally traumatic events pretty quickly. • Drama- I love a romance drama, but some of the events such as Ellie’s mother yelling at her seemed to take it a bit too far. • Slut shaming- There was a lot of slut shaming in this book. I didn’t realize it as much when I was younger, but not everyone is saving themselves for “their one true love of their life” and not everyone finds that at 18. • Ari and Jeff- This book is supposed to be about Ellie and Gunner, but I would say a good 75% of the actual conflict/interest surrounds Ari and Jeff. Which I have read their book and I liked it, but I would’ve rather had some action surrounding the main couple. However, that would’ve required Gunner’s character to be tarnished just a smidge and he is too much of a white knight for that. It feels like I just totally trashed this book, which like I said before doesn’t really feel fair to me. When I was younger, I thought it was the cutest and most romantic thing I’d ever read. I don’t know if that makes me a cynic now or just someone accustomed to more spicy/mature romances. 3.5/5 stars.

This was not an easy book to get through for me. I will start with the good: -Well, I finished it and that counts for something. -I love the cover. The problems with it: -Editing -Way too much happened in this book-usually a lot of things happening can be a good thing, but it did not work in this book. -I couldn't tell who was talking other than the name at the beginning of the chapter. Translation: the characters ALL sounded the same. -Bringing problems up and not really elaborating-one giant example is Ellie's mother. -The characters not being consistent. -The story wasn't consistent. My problems with the book: -"Slut" and "whore" were said way too much by the characters about the other characters that THEY or their boyfriends CHOSE slept with. Seriously?! -Everyone and everything is SO dramatic...Ellie cried so much, at least once a chapter-and at one point she says that she never cries in front of people. LIES! -They fell in love so fast-they had just met each other and he's already promising to protect her and never hurt/leave her... -Back to the narration thing-while I didn't mind reading about Jeff and Ari, having the book be mostly narrated by 2 characters and then randomly throwing in 2 more in random places is weird. -I am not offended by swearing but this book was too much. It wasn't offensive as much as annoying. Also the choice of swear words was strange. I wasn't sure if the characters knew any words other than the F word... The swearing was insane, and this is coming from someone who swears. Just about every single sentence had some sort of swear word. People don't talk like that! The biggest problem I have is that this book has potential. This seemed like a rough rough draft. It did not appear to be edited at all. This book needs some serious love and I wish that the author would go back through, fix things with the plot, and then get it edited. Then probably get it edited again. I hate writing bad reviews but sometimes you need to speak up. Will I read the next one? Well, I bought it so maybe? I'm somewhat interested in Ari and Jeff so it's possible but for now I'm not even thinking about it.

I am not finished this book - but I don't know if I will finish it at this point. This is one of the WORST books Ive read and here are some reasons why. 1 - There doesn't seem to be enough story to actually keep interested, the main characters are pretty much together by the first chapter. I'm half way through the book and unless something earth shattering happens in the last half of the book I'm struggling to even know what the plot is. I'm more interested in the tidbits of Ari and Jeffersons story throughout the book than this one. 2 - Could she cry any more?? honestly she has sobbed through 90% of what I've read so far. The girl has two emotions, depression and over the moon adolescent giddiness.....perhaps the second half of the book will address her obvious bi polar disorder then. 3 - What is up with the conversations between the characters? I don't feel like I've read a single conversation that doesn't sound fake. The best friends speak to each other like 15 year olds. Screaming and jumping around because a boy winked at them, cussing at absolutely nothing (as in every second sentence calling each other a bitch) and telling each other off in the most dramatic way for an insignificant disagreement. The conversations between Ellie and Gunner are just as annoying. They lack an sort of depth and emotion and he calls her sweetheart every time he addresses her....multiple times in one conversation. I seriously am hating this book right now.