Here’s the thing that I don’t like about reviewing books – not liking them. Because when I don’t like them and I have to review them, I feel guilty. I feel guilty because I know that someone poured their heart and soul into a book and it’s a rejection to their heart.
It’s not always that you don’t like the writing or the story. It’s just that things don’t always hit with your heart and mind. I Love You Like that definitely didn’t hit home for me. I still liked it – but I didn’t love it.
Perfect for fans of If There’s No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout, What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum, and All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, I Love You Like That is the second book in a poignant young adult duology about addiction, sexuality, peer pressure, and first love.
Reeling from the recent “death” of Deacon, her dark and mysterious former boyfriend and first love, sixteen-year-old Hannah Zandana lets herself fall into the arms of the wrong boys―even as her mother’s growing addiction continues to pull her family apart. With her mother hardly functional and her father in full-blown denial, Hannah and her little sister are left to their own devices―and no adult support―in their lives.
After waking up in a strange hospital outside of town, meanwhile, Deacon learns that his convenient “death” has placed him in the middle of a federal undercover sting operation. He’s soon thrown into the dangerous world of Miami drug cartels.
Will a cruel deception and a family’s unresolved grief forever change Deacon and Hannah, or can a love that once was, reignite and lead them back to one another?
I will admit, I do see the allure of the book. I see why everyone seems to love it. It’s a love story and who doesn’t love an intense love story.
I guess that would be reason enough to love the book, but for me – it fell short.
And why?
Well, lets start at the beginning.
The author – as she did in the first book sets forth a tale that is interesting and shows the complexity of first love. My not liking the book wasn’t – well isn’t really fair to her story. It’s because this story is something that has been done before. It wasn’t anything that I hadn’t read. The intensity didn’t compensate for the fact that I felt as if it was a story that I had read before.
Now I am not saying that authors don’t put their own spin on things. They do.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a good book. This is a really good book and one that you will enjoy. It’s got twists and turns. It’s not a bad book.
It’s just predictable. And maybe that’s because I read a lot so I can see certain things that I used to not see. But what bothered me was that there was some twists and turns that felt like they were there for shock value – not for furthering the story.
And that’s what bothers me.
I feel as though when things are shocking, and further the story – okay, I am all in. But when the story is just that for the sake of that – I am turned off.
Should you read this book? Yes. Should you run out to get it? No. Will it hit you in the feels? Yes.
But it definitely isn’t on my must read list.
