While the debut novel by Ms. Shultz does not exactly break barriers and cross into new boundaries where YA PRN romances are concerned, it does bring to the genre a fairly slick story. Emma is a likeable enough character, Brendan is personable (read: not a stalker) for a hero containing all the elements so necessary for a hero to be heroic…er, yes. The plot, while clichéd at times, is compelling enough to keep a reader interested. Because you are aware that there is going to be a happy ending, you are free to enjoy the ride. I hope this is not the first of a series because I was totally satisfied at the ending.What I had trouble with, and this is totally subjective, was the use of “soul mate” to describe Brendan’s importance to Emma. This is the Nafiza who went through a very harsh semester when taking Creative Writing classes – stuff like that is anathema to Creative Writing profs, let me tell you. Anyway, I can’t read that “soul mate” part without cringing. It’s trite and, okay, I will say it, cheesy.Also, the trigger to the end was stupid. What I mean is… you know how you are watching a slasher movie and the girl goes stumbling in the dark when she hears a sound and you are screaming.. YOU STUPID!!!…yeah? Well, there’s a part like that in this book. What I mean to say is that the plot device that moves the story to the climax makes me think that I overestimated Emma’s intelligence.These thoughts aside, the book did genuinely entertain me and you should have fun with it as long as you go in with no expectations of literary revolution.
