Review: Love Story by Jennifer Echols

Love Story by Jennifer Echols

She's writing about him. he's writing about her. And everybody is reading between the lines..

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true.

Review:

Love Story was another romantic and addicting read by Jennifer Echols that will surely satisfy her fan's lust for beautiful writing, sweet romance, and intriguing secondary characters. Everything I have come to expect from Echols (I have only read The Ex Games and Forget You) was in place in Love Story and I enjoyed this novel quite a bit.

College age protagonists are few and far between in YA fiction and as an incoming junior, I love reading about the college experience. Erin Blackwell has grown up on her grandmother’s horse farm and her grandmother expects her to go to college and major in business. All to return to take over the horse farm and continue the family legacy; but Erin has other plans. She wants to study English and creative writing and become a romance novelist. But Erin’s grandmother is not just going to sit aside and let her granddaughter live her dream. She cuts Erin off and gives her fortune to the stable boy- Hunter Allen. Now Hunter is going to college to live the high life and then he will return to run the farm. All while Erin is living the life of a starving artist and struggling to make ends meet. Little does Erin know that Hunter is coming to college in NYC as well- and he’s in her creative writing class. The very class that Erin has just wrote a romantic story about a stable boy for that he is going to read. Soon an all out battle of the stories erupts and Erin and Hunter’s lives will never be the same.

Erin was a very likable protagonist and I loved reading her stories. They added a wonderful touch of flavor to the book and I was always anxious to see what she would write next. I liked how Erin stayed strong and lived her dream, even if it wasn’t what her grandmother had wanted. She knew what she wanted with life and was a determined and dedicated individual. As the story progressed we learned more of Erin’s backstory and how she and Hunter knew each other. Hunter was a very unique male character and I loved watching his and Erin’s relationship develop. The romantic tension was there from the start and I just wanted to shake them and shout “You’re perfect for each other!” I particularly liked watching Erin and Hunter get reacquainted and to see that there was much more going on than met the eye.

The secondary characters were also all interesting. From Jordis to Summer to Manohar to Tommy. All of them had a large role in the story and were there for Hunter and Erin from the start. I was constantly rooting for each character because all of them had their own complexities and backstories that added that much more to Love Story.

I very much enjoyed this novel, but the one complaint I had was how at times Erin’s character was so sporadic. She jumped to conclusions and acted without thinking at times. She often didn’t realize what was going on right in front of her. All in all, I did like her though and I just wish her personality hadn’t been so back and forth.

Filled with romantic tension and wonderful characters, Love Story is the perfect summer read. It didn’t disappoint and I’m eager to see what Echols will write next.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

July 19, 2011/MTV Books/256 Pages/Young Adult

Source: Publisher and Author (ARC & finished copy)
Other books by this author: The Ex-Games, Going too Far, Forget You