This book should be a how to book: How to Have Unhealthy Relationships and Make Bad Decisions.
I mean, these kids are six-fucking-teen!!! Maybe, maybe, if they were at least freshman in college, instead of sophomores in high schooll, it would have been better. Still bad, but better. I mean, Patch is this physically and sexually intimidating pedophile, for the love of God! He may look like a high schooler, but he's been a fallen angel since the 1500s!
OK, deep breath. Keep it together, Michelle. Let me back up and explain the book before I go on a rant.
So, this is the first book in a quartet about young love, a la Twilight. Let me make sure I'm clear here: I have never read Twilight. I have never seen the movies. I can only take my information from conversations I've had with those who have seen or read these stories. As opposed to Twilight's vampire leading man, the main male character, Patch, is a fallen angel. Hear that again: A fallen angel. An angel that God had such an issue with that He cast the angel out. And what did Patch get cast out for? Lust. Yup, the angel cast out for lust is now after a 16 year old girl, Nora.
Nora is an idiot. I mean she makes the most ridiculous decisions. I'm trying not to sound old here. I'm sure as hell not going to say "in my day…" but I'm seriously appalled by what's going on in these 16 year old lives. House parties I could understand, though I may try to argue it glorifies underage drinking, but these people go to pool halls and bars. Nora continually gets herself in difficult situations. Someone attacks her while she's driving. Someone is watching her while she sleeps. Someone is following her. Someone attacks her friend because she's pretending to be Nora. AND NORA CONTINUES TO ACT LIKE AN ASSHOLE!
Vee, Nora's "best friend," is not much better. If any of my friends ever dismissed me and my feelings/concerns the way Vee does to Nora, that person wouldn't be my friend for very long. When I was 16 I might not have had the courage to make it known they weren't my friend, but I sure as hell would have distanced myself. Nora tells Vee that this guy, Elliott came to her home, drunk, and assaulted her when she refused to go camping with him, his friend, and Vee, in an attempt to intimidate her into agreeing. What does Vee do? Blames her friend. Minimizes it. No big, just some drunk psycho Nora thinks killed his last girlfriend. Let's go Camping! No, really, Vee still wants to go camping.
Nora is forced to work with Patch in biology, where they're discussing sex, because Patch has mind fucked the teacher into pairing them together. He proceeds to intimidate Nora and put her in uncomfortable, if not straight up dangerous, situations. He even tries to kill her on a roller coaster. I shit you not. She doesn't know that until later, when she's "in love" with him. He admits to trying to kill her, BTW, she barely even acknowledges it. Oh, he doesn't want to kill her anymore because he "loves" her, so it's OK. He also makes his jeep break down so that she'll have to walk through the rain and stay at a seedy motel with him – in her underwear - because her clothes are wet from the walk. I cannot make this shit up, but apparently Fitzpatrick can.
The book is from Nora's point of view, so you don't really know Patch's thoughts, so I can only talk about Nora's version of love. In this down the rabbit hole version of love, she identifies no positive qualities in Patch. No, really. Zero. She calls him dangerous, or sinister, or hot, or uncomfortable, but never gives him a positive attribute. Never says he makes her feel safe, or good about herself, or is nice to talk to, or they have so much in common.
Let me sum up.
Boy meets girl. Boy plans to murder girl. Boy stalks and intimidates girl. Girl thinks boy is dangerous and arrogant. Boy decides he loves her and won't kill her. Girl finds out boy wanted to kill her. Girl and boy are in love.
Yeeeeeah.
I honestly debated continuing the series. As ridiculous as it was, if you lowered your standards (and mine were already low because it's in the young adult genre), it wasn't as terrible as it could be. The idea of fallen angels is intriguing. I'd wouldn't mind reading something similar, but I cannot recommend these books. For any age. An adult who reads this has a slightly better understanding of the world and life and love than a young adult. I feel like this just teaches young girls that obsession/manipulation equals love.
Anyway, while I was debating, I decided to look at the book blurbs to see what the other books were about – this one seems to end fairly solidly. When that didn't really help, I read some reviews about books 2 through 4. My conclusion: if you liked this one, you'll like the others. If you didn't, then don't bother with the others.
Can you guess which way I lean?
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