Lengths by Steph Campbell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’m giving this book 3 i might lean more towards 2.5 but I didn’t flounce so theres that. I wanted to love this book… I really really did. It’s New Adult and the last few in that genre I’ve read, I have absolutely loved, but this fell short for me.
My face
“Nineteen-year-old Whit Conrad leaves her conservative Pennsylvania home for sunny California, looking for independence, a fresh start, and a place to stash her grief. She promptly finds a job at a tattoo parlor, a craptastic first apartment, and one friend—Ryan—who is a little less friend, a little more benefits.
Deo Beckett is a soulful surfer with a passion for tattoos and beautiful women. On the eve of his twenty-second birthday, he finds himself living with his grandfather, recently unemployed, and seriously adrift. He doesn’t know much about what he wants out of life, but he does know his current situation isn’t cutting it. “
That sounds like the makings of a perfect story to me.. doesn’t it for you? Deo is the slacker, surfer with a hippie mom and a dad who isn’t in his life… He’s gorgeous and sweet and lovely and a little cocky … but he has no drive or plans for his future and Whit, she’s the complete opposite. She has demons in her past (of course) that cause her to not like the dark, and have nightmares in her sleep.
*Sigh* When you find out what the demon in her past is… I promise it’s not going to be all that dramatic. I get the angst and sadness. I get the drive and need to be better, but what I didn’t get was her reluctance to tell Deo what was going on. I was stunned to find out that everyone else knew her history (Deo’s mom included) but she just couldn’t share that information with him.
I felt from the start, the relationship for these two was incredibly forced. Withing the time it takes to get a tattoo, and then to walk out the door, he’s already kissing her and there didn’t seem to be much conversation between them prior.
Another thing that didn’t work for me were the time jumps… it was really hard to tell at some points that there was a time jump at one point I was reading a chapter and then the next it was apparently two weeks later, but there is no indication of that until midway through the next chapter. So that caused a bit of confusion for me.
I think what bothered me most about this book though was the fact that Whit was falling for Deo and liked him a lot – enough for him to practically move in with her… to bond with his mother and share information about herself with her, yet not once did she offer him anything about her past.
I’m sorry, but if you’re spilling your guts to my mom, you sure as hell can share a little bit about yourself to me, you know, since I’m sleeping with you.
Plus there’s that whole FSoG, lube and vibrator reference that made me cringe… Ugh.
What I Did like… I liked Deo a lot. Like I said, he was sweet and kind and really tried with Whit. In fact, I thought he was the only making an effort at times and quite possibly even job less and as a total slacker was too good for her. So that’s saying something.
Deo’s grandpa was hilarious and a good addition to the cast of characters. Every scene he was in made me laugh and I really loved the relationship he and Deo had.
What I like about the New Adult Genre is the fact that it’s one step up from YA but a step down from Erotica. So we get some action that’s hot and lovely, but just enough to whet your appetite for it. Nothing too gory. 🙂
Like I said, this book was pretty good… there were the few things that really bothered me and that is why I couldn’t give it higher stars. I just was expecting a bit more I guess based on my experiences with New Adult.
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