Thursday, June 14, 2012

Easy by Tammara Webber

When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, stalked by her ex’s frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Her econ professor gives her an email address for Landon, the class tutor, who shows her that she’s still the same intelligent girl she’s always been. As Jacqueline becomes interested in more from her tutor than a better grade, his teasing responses make the feeling seem mutual. There’s just one problem—their only interactions are through email.

Meanwhile, a guy in her econ class proves his worth the first night she meets him. Nothing like her popular ex or her brainy tutor, Lucas sits on the back row, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. At a downtown club, he disappears after several dances that leave her on fire. When he asks if he can sketch her, alone in her room, she agrees—hoping for more.

Then Jacqueline discovers a withheld connection between her supportive tutor and her seductive classmate, her ex comes back into the picture, and her stalker escalates his attention by spreading rumors that they’ve hooked up. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

Author Recommendation: Mature Young Adults (language, drinking, sexual situations). From Goodreads.


Warning This Review is Slighty PSA-ish!

Lori's Review: 5 Huge Stars!!!
I'm a closet contemp romance reader. (Well not so much now on goodreads you obviously see what I read). I have chosen to stay in the closet because normally when I finish reading one I feel dirty for having enjoyed the book. Yes, even more dirty than reading monstererotica. There is so much that can be wrong with most contemp romances. Tammmara Webber got it right. I don't feel dirty loving this book. I feel proud to be a fan of this genre. Feel that folks, smell it....that's fresh air. Fresh air is refreshing, cooling, clean and HEALTHY!!! That is what this book is. It is a healthy relationship. Lucas does a little stalking. But it's harmless crush stalking. All people do this. You go to places you are likely to encounter your crush to try and get them to notice you. Or work up the nerve to talk to them.[ Some could argue that Lucas stalks Jackie. I say he wasn't creepy stalking, he most definately wasn't Edward Cullen/Christian Grey stalking. He was crush stalking. Girls do this all the time. You go to restraunts, coffee shops, bars etc that you have seen your crush at before. You just want to run into them and see them. It's harmless. (hide

Lucas doesn't beat up every single person that looks at Jackie. He doesn't encourage her to drop all contact with her friends and family. He doesn't demand all of her time. He doesn't buy her expensive things to get her to sign a sex slave contract. This is a sweet love story. That's not say that this book is all sugar and teddy bears. Both MC's have horrible things happen to them. Lucas has as troubled childhood as Christian Grey. He turns to alcohol and fighting in his teen years like Christian. He cleans his act up in a healthy way though. (I AM NOT ARGUING REAL BDSM IS UNHEALTHY!!! FIFTY SHADES OF GREY IS NOT AN ACURATE DESCRIPTION OF BDSM!) He teaches self defense to women. He does not enjoy beating little brown haired girls that look like his mother. He doesn't intimadate and scare Jackie. He doesn't make her do anything she isn't comfortable doing. And Jackie doesn't DO anything she's uncomfortable doing. She is not a blank slate like Ana Steele. She has back bone. She has a learned her lession about letting a boyfriend dictate where her life goes. I could keep listing all the wonderful HEALTHY things about this book and relationship but in doing so I would be forgetting one very important aspect of this book.

This book addresses a very emotional and taboo topic. Rape. Not simulated rape. Not BDSM. This is not an abusive relationship between two (sorta) consensual adults that is mislabeled something it is clearly not and shoved down our throats as fantasy. It is actual rape. When the book started with a rape scene in the opening chapters I thought 'Oh no, we are going to be told to forget about this. The author is just using this as a tool to bring the two MCs together. Then she will forget about it.' Nope, I was wrong. Tammara Webber did not use this as a tool. She addressed this in a mature and healthy way. I was proud to be a contemp romance fan for once!

When I was in college I was an anthropology major. I focused on Feminist theory. I view the world thourgh a feminist lens. I read with a feminist lens. I want to tell you a little statistic I learned at the University of Iowa. I want you to think of four women you know. Have those women in mind? ONE in every FOUR women are sexually assulted. Physically, mentally and emotionally. ONE in FOUR of us is made to feel worthless, devalued, and had our power stripped away from us. I have a daughter. This is unacceptable to me! Miss Webber has a warning about the sexual content of this book and the use of alcohol. This book is labeled YA-M (NC-17). I however, urge mothers of young women in their teens (15+) to consider using this book as a tool to talk about this with your daughters. Teenagers drink, they have sex, the suffer from bulling and peer pressure. Education is the tool that you need to arm young people with. They need to know what rape is. Rape is power and control. Not sex. They need to know that it is never okay to take someones' power or control away from them. Ever. Thank you Ms. Webber for showing young and old gals that a healthy relationship is sexy. Plus guys with brown hair, tattoos and lip rings have always done it for me.

2 comments:

  1. This is on my TBR, can't wait to read this, heard it's made of win! =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is made of win. I didn't even have a chance to talk about how awesome/sexy/amazing the love story is!!!!

    ReplyDelete