Review: Wait For You by J. Lynn

Wait For You by J. Lynn
Book One of the Wait For You series

Publication Date: February 26, 2013

Rating: 2 stars

Source: Bought from Amazon

***Let me just say that as a huge Jennifer L. Armentrout/J. Lynn fan, this review was extremely difficult for me to write, as I will say many times throughout the review***

Summary (from Goodreads):

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 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…

What I Liked:

I really don't know what to say for this particular section. 2 stars is pretty low for someone who LOVES JLA's books, right? The Lux series, the Gamble Brothers series, a little bit of the Covenant series, a little of Cursed... I feel like I can call myself familiar with her books. Which makes this review extremely difficult to write. So let me say what I liked.

Cam. Cam really "saved" this book for me. I like him a lot - how he thinks, how he handles Avery's shenanigans, how he acts. He's hot, he's incorrigible, he's arrogant, he's lovable. Yay, Cam.

What I Did Not Like:

Here I go.

I am really, really tired of what many "New Adult" novels are all about. You know what irritates me? The "New Adult" contemporary romance novels - they are all different variations of the SAME basic themes. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, Easy by Tammara Webber, My Favorite Mistake by Chelsea Cameron (to which I think Wait For You is most similar), The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines, and Hopeless by Colleen Hoover are all examples of "New Adult" contemporary romance novels that I have read (I have read SO many more, but those most easily comes to mind. And to be clear, I have nothing against these books). All are about a girl who falls in lust and eventually, in love, with a fine, hot specimen of a male, they have sex, and they overcome some giant problem that either the hero or the heroine must deal with from her past (distant past or immediate past, whatever). 

I AM SO SICK OF THIS.

It's the same thing, over and over! How can we create and label an entirely new genre, when half of the books labeled so are contemporary romance novels that follow the same pattern?

So, is it fair of me to knock off so many stars for a book written AFTER I have read so many New Adult novels? Maybe, maybe not. But those books existed before Ms. Lynn wrote Wait For You. She may have seen the popularity of the genre, and may have decided to write her own New Adult novel, and self-publish it, like so many other popular New Adult authors did. I do not know her reasoning behnid self-publishing or writing this book. But I am confident that she knew about the popularity of the genre. It sucks to be the authors that come after the fact, but to me, if it's not original, then there is a good chance that I will be upset. Or angry. Or both. 

But I had other problems with this book, besides the basic design of it. For example, Avery. Oh my GOSH, I hate her so much. She is so annoying, so whiny, so needy, so everything I hope that I don't become in a year when I am her age. I get it, she had traumatic experiences five years ago. Really, I feel for her. Especially with what her parents did - the nerve! But she takes her bad experiences (I don't know how to phrase it without giving Avery's conflict away! But I bet, if you follow the trend of New Adult, you could figure out what her secret is. Because I did, just by reading the synopsis), and she use them as excuses to whine and complain and moan about things when someone tries to care about her, and distances herself from someone when she knows that she herself wants that person to be close to her on some level.

Are you kidding? Does this happen? Are teenagers that shallow nowadays? I'm almost legal, and I can tell you now, NO teenager or "New Adult" or whatever, acts like that. And I know some people who have had bad pasts. Basically, I hated Avery, and this book is in first-person point-of-view. So, if you hate the heroine, you hate her line of thought, what she does, why she does things... the book goes downhill pretty fast. That could be why I like Cam so much. He stuck up for himself more than once. Good for you, dude.

There really wasn't a plot to this book. She goes to a college far, far away to run far, far away from her problems. She meets the guy. They have a snarky, witty, bantering relationship that grows over time. The heroine is constantly remembering her past. They eventually have sex (it's closer to the end in this book - just saying). The heroine's problem is resolved. The end.

BORING. 

I know some people say, it's not the destination, it's the journey, or whatever, but the journey was really boring, and the destination was like "Duh! I saw that coming since page one!". Ugh.

And one last thing - are JLA's heroine's all starting to follow the same patterns? Same with the heroes? Except, I like Katy from the Lux series A LOT. Avery is particularly bad. But they are all "snarky" and "witty" in some way, which isn't bad, it just makes them all blend into each other. Same with the heroes. There really aren't that many characteristics in terms of personality that distinguish the heroes.

Well, actually, I have one more thing. There were grammar and spelling errors. YES, I notice these things, it's kind of programmed into my brain. And I get it - JLA self-published this book. But I feel like I didn't expect so many random errors from a successful, published author, especially since I am very sure she had alpha and beta readers. Grammar and spelling mistakes are easy things to fix! 

Would I Recommend It:

Yes, totally, if you are a New Adult fan. But if you're like me, and want to see some more originality in the New Adult genre... then, not so much. And if you are a Jennifer L. Armentrout/J. Lynn fan, go for it! I know  I know that this book will do very well, especially since JLA was already established in the book world, and I will continue to read her books, but this one is easily my least favorite of her books.

Rating:

2 stars. The rating was hard for me to determine, because while I absolutely LOVE Jennifer L. Armentrout and her books, I hated this book. Or strongly disliked, whatever you want to call it. This review was extremely difficult for me to write, but I have to say my part. 

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