Love Story Review

I have just finished reading Love Story in one delicious sitting and have decided that Jennifer Echols is the Nora Roberts of the YA fiction world. For all of those sitting there thinking “Who???” Nora Roberts just happens to be arguably one of the most successful and talented romance writers in the publishing world today and also one of my favourite authors. Yes, she writes adult books but the romance is strong and I love me some romance.

In a TBR pile full to the brim with awesome books, I chose Love Story to read next because I wanted to read a proper romance and I knew just who could provide me with one. I’m at the stage now that I would buy anything with Jennifer Echols name attached to it because I automatically know it’s going to be good. How’s that for an accolade?!

So do you want to know what the story is about? Imagine if you will that you are a young, aspiring author and you’re majoring in creative writing in the heart of New York City. I love this story already LOL. Now imagine that you write a short romantic story based on the boy you grew up with. Your story is just about to be read to the entire class when who of all people should walk in. THE BOY THE STORY IS ABOUT. Cue embarrassment central, especially as you haven’t spoken to each other in a while as something bad went down in the past. What follows is a tale of love, loss, betrayal and forgiveness though not always from the person you thought it would come from. Erin and Hunter are inextricably linked together in a history going back to when they were children. Their paths were always destined to cross, even when a meddling grandmother is at the heart of it.

As an aspiring author myself, of course I connected with Erin and her lofty ambitions. I love the fact that she and Hunter communicated through their stories, albeit in a very public way, as they were read out to the class. I don’t know what it’s like to come from money courtesy of a wealthy Horse Farm or to be the poor stable boy who is teased in school but Jennifer wrote it so well, that I understood both of the characters just fine.

What I loved the most though was how the characters reversed their roles. Erin started off being the wealthy heiress and then through struggling to do what she wants to do rather than what her grandmother wants her to do, became poor whereas Hunter was a stable boy and suddenly he’s wearing a Rolex. I thought that created a very interesting dynamic and I could feel the sparks coming off those two! What I love about Jennifer’s writing is that she writes male characters really, really well and of course, I always fall in love with them *adds Hunter to my list of literary boyfriends*.

The secondary characters were also really dynamic with lots of nationalities being represented from an Indian boy with a smart mouth and a quick sense of humour (a devastating combination) to a Danish girl with an eye for the arts.

So basically, all in all Jennifer Echols has done it again and wowed me with Love Story. I absolutely lapped it up to the point that when the last page came upon me, I found myself STILL wanting more. Love Story is a delicious read that ticked all the right boxes for me, if you love romance like I do then this is the book and probably the author for you. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Jennifer for sending me an ARC, I will of course be buying a finished copy for my collection. Love Story is released on 19th July, 2011. I would also highly recommend “Forget You” (the one book I'm dying to re-read) which I reviewed here. To find out more about Jennifer and her books, click here. She is also active on facebook and Twitter.