Ari Bookzilla

I would give this 3 stars, mostly because the second part of it seemed to drag out forever and I thought it was not as good as the first part.In the beginning I loved Emma. I thought she was very brave to get away from that life she was trapped in. But when she started creating problems in her own relationship without any obvious, logical reason for it, that did it for me. And then, after the five year jump she just lets Jackson go all possessive and obsessive on her even though it seemed to me like she was supposed to be this independent, strong woman! At times it looked like he was getting abusive, too, and she just put up with it. Unbelievable.I loved Jackson of the first half of the book. I thought he was a wonderful character. But I just couldn't bear the difference in the character we see five years later! How does someone turn from a playful, loving, considerate person into an obsessive, possessive and abusive jerk just like that? I had a major issue with this, I'm not sure why. I suspect this was author's intention, as our heroine does reference that he was a completely different person, but it just didn't sit so well with me.The romance aspect of it...too intense, too fast (this seems to be my mantra now). Actually, I wasn't even sure why they decided to be exclusive so fast because it made no sense to me, with all the Jackson backstory about other girls and stuff, but then they went and started professing their love for each other and eh... it seemed very formulaic - a hero that can't be tamed until the heroine comes along. Definitely too intense, too fast. And unrealistic.But I'm used to this, so I let it slide.For two people who claimed to be so in love since the second time they laid their eyes on each other, they sure didn't talk a lot. Because the main problem, the one that drew them apart, could have been solved had they just talked. I'm just not a huge fan of "the big misunderstanding" plot, it's so easily solved with a simple conversation and I still have enough faith in human race to think that when things like these happen, people do talk.I had a major issue with the way Emma just believed that Jackson was cheating on her. He did nothing during their relationship for her to think so little of him to actually believe Claire about the cheating. Besides, when in the world would he have cheated? They were spending every waking moment together, apart from working.I also understood that she didn't want Jackson to give up his future for her, but sometimes in life, you have to set your priorities straight. She chose her guilt for the whole Sean thing over Jackson.Btw, what was up with Sean? The whole thing was completely unnecessary, seeing as the author only uses him (and a suicide attempt, no less!) to create this little drama, then disposes of him by marrying him to her best friend.Moving on to writing, I thought it was pretty good. I especially liked the dialogue, it seemed natural the way characters interacted with each other.But overall the whole thing was too long, and it could have been shorter.At some point the author goes on and on about buying clothes or food, or something (I actually made a note about it but I'm lazy to check), and that whole scene begged to be cut short.The sex scenes were so-so. I mostly skimmed over them.Actually, this review seems a bit too harsh. It wasn't bad, it could just have used a little more thought and work. And like I said, I did love Jackson of the first half of the book, and for that I did like it.