At First Sight by Patrice Wilton

Title: At First Sight
Author: Patrice Wilton
Format I Read: Kindle
Pages: 344
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Thriller
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Stars: 2
Goodreads Link

If I’m completely honest, this book felt like a cheap knockoff of Safe Haven, the book by Nicholas Sparks and the movie with Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel. It was an underdeveloped, fast-paced, unrealistic, and unbelievable attempt to recreate virtually the same plot. I hate to say it, but I found this novel utterly disappointing and am only giving it 2 stars—which is being generous.

For those who are unfamiliar with At First Sight:

War veteran Brent Harrington, a helicopter pilot who lost his sight when he was shot down in Afghanistan, is now back home in the US and struggling to come to terms with the fact that his sight may never return. Natalie Connors, a beautiful young woman fleeing an abusive relationship and looking for a fresh start, is hired by Brent’s best buddy, another war veteran, as a home health care aide to help Brent adapt to his newly darkened world. Thrown together by fate, they take the first tentative steps toward love…

But when Natalie’s vicious ex tracks her down, can the passion and tenderness she and Brent share protect her?

At First Sight is a highly emotional story about two damaged people and the healing they must go through before they can commit and find their happily-ever-after.

First, the writing. The writing was completely bland. It felt childish. The dog spoke. It spoke. Instead of just saying “Sam barked,” Wilton actually wrote “Woof woof.” In quotation marks. I felt like I was reading a children’s book! It just seemed so silly. I couldn’t get into the writing style at all.

Second, the characters. The characters made no sense. They had no depth. Brent went back and forth so many times that I got whiplash. He wasn’t even remotely believable. I understand the struggle he was going through and I understand how frustrated he must feel. But his emotions and his actions made no sense. As with Natalie! She gave me whiplash, too, with how many times she switched between, “I want to stay, I love him,” and “I need to grow, I can’t stay.” God, make a decision already! And the minor characters were no better. They were completely flat and boring.

Third, the plot. It was all just so messy. Both the “suspense” plotline with Carl and the romantic plotline with Brent were disappointing. The big confrontation with Carl was a complete flop. It didn’t live up to the buildup at all. The romantic plotline, like I said earlier, was just too wishy-washy. The characters went back and forth every second. The romance also just had no development. One second, Natalie was blunt and closed off. Next second, she was making out with him. One second, Brent resented Natalie’s presence. Next second, he was risking his life by crossing the street alone just to get her her morning coffee. It was unbelievable.

I did like some things. I really liked how Brent had a psychosomatic disorder. It was cool that Wilton touched on that because I feel like it’s very unknown. It also has such a stigma on it, just like mental illnesses: the whole “why don’t you just get better if it’s all in your head?” It was interesting to see that come in play. I also liked that Natalie was focusing on herself and her self-confidence and development. That was encouraging. If only she stuck to it and didn’t want to back out for a boy every other minute!

Though this book had a lot of potential, it didn’t live up to my expectations at all. For those who like fast-paced romances with a cheap suspense subplot, go for it. It should be a nice, mindless summer read for those who are looking for something to snack on at the beach. But this definitely isn’t a wow book that you’ll devour.

How to Love by Katie Cotugno

Title: How to Love 
Author: Katie Cotugno
Format I Read: Kindle
Pages: 389
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: October 1, 2013
Stars: 2
Goodreads Link

Okay, so I know I was warned about this book… But I still didn’t expect it to be this ugh. All of the reviews ranted about what a disappointment this book was, how unlikable Sawyer was, and how difficult the book was to get through. Nonetheless, I decided to give it a try. I borrowed it from Overdrive on a whim right before going away on my trip to Europe. To my consternation, the reviews were correct.

For those who are unfamiliar with How to Love:

Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he's never seemed to notice that Reena even exists until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there's a new love in Reena's life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena's gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she's finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn't want anything to do with him, though she'd be lying if she said Sawyer's being back wasn't stirring something in her. After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

Basically, the book alternated between two time frames: before the baby and after the baby. Or essentially before Sawyer left and after Sawyer left. These two time frames were both terrible in their own way. I’ll tackle this review with two prongs: my complaints about before and my complaints about after.

Before: Every one of these chapters left me wanting to slam Reena’s head against the wall. I could not, for the life of me, understand why she was still with Sawyer. She had the brightest future ahead of her: Northwestern, traveling the world, writing about her adventures. Yet she allowed herself to be trapped by Sawyer. She allowed herself to be turned into a wretched person, someone who lies, someone who skips school, someone who goes behind her family’s backs. All for a boy. I couldn’t handle watching her destruction. I wanted to rip my hair out, honestly.

After: These chapters also made me want to slam Reena’s head against the wall. She built a good, solid life for herself after Sawyer left her. Sure, her life wasn’t perfect. She’s stuck at a community college instead of Northwestern. She’s still waiting tables at her dad’s restaurant instead of traveling the world and writing about it. But she still has a good life. She has a reliable, kind boyfriend. She has a best friend she can rely on (Shelby, the only good character in the novel). And she’s a great mother. Her relationship and her care for Hannah, her baby, was one of the few good things about this book. Yet she nearly throws it all away for Sawyer. Again. This book was just such a broken record. She didn’t learn from her mistakes at all. She had no strength, no backbone. One second she’s insisting that she’ll never forgive Sawyer, the next second she’s betraying her boyfriend and jumping Sawyer’s bones. It was like watching a fire rip through a forest, watching this destruction of the life she created.

Yeah, there were a few good parts to the book. I liked the travel writing idea. I loved Shelby, as she was the only rational and good character. The ending was somewhat satisfying. But this book really dragged on. If I wasn’t traveling myself (and in need of something to occupy my time), I probably would’ve DNF’d it. The few good qualities weren’t worth the pain of reading this.

Before I go though: one thing I admired about the book was the way it dealt with Shelby’s sexuality. She was a lesbian, yeah. But she wasn’t a stereotype. She was just another character. Her sexuality was just one of her many characteristics; it didn’t define her. That was really, truly refreshing.

Unfortunately, I still have to give this book 2 stars. It would’ve been 1 star, but Shelby and the ending allowed it to scrape by with 2 stars. If you enjoy turmoil and watching people self-destruct, feel free to check this book out. I, personally, have a very low tolerance for that, so I didn’t enjoy this novel. It reminded me of Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, in the way that Reena and Sawyer’s relationship was just so unhealthy and destructive. If that type of romance (and book) is your cup of tea, definitely pick this novel up.

Losing It by Cora Carmack

Title: Losing It
Author: Cora Carmack
Format I Read: Kindle
Pages: 189
Genres: Romance, Realistic Fiction, New Adult
Release Date: October 15, 2012
Stars: 2
Goodreads Link

This will be a quick review because I read it a while ago. However, it made an impression (not technically a good one). As much as I love Cora Carmack and the majority of her books, Losing It was a complete flop for me. Bliss was completely unlikable. I don't quite understand how she ensnared so many guys. Garrick was swoon worthy at the beginning, but became pretty drab as the time went on.

I felt like the whole novel was just a dirty soap opera. And then they went ahead and threw in the curve ball that Cade, one of Bliss's best friends, is in love with her too. Every time one problem was solved, a new one appeared.

I just felt like it wasn't realistic and it wasn't entertaining. There was too much insta-love and sappy woe-is-me fawning. I found myself wondering when the heck the happily ever after was going to come around so I could stop reading.

My English teacher described courtly love to us the other day. It's when the two people have nothing physical. It's just "ohmygosh did you see he just blinked, maybe it was a wink at me swoon" and "oh, how I wish we could be together." I felt like that was this book, especially during Bliss's classes with Garrick. It was just constant pining.

The only good thing about this book? It made a nice set up for Faking It (which I loved).

As much as I love you, Ms. Carmack, not one of your best.