*Spoilers, I think*
Seventeen-year-old Claire Collins has a plan: get into college and leave North Carolina behind. What she doesn’t have is an idea for how to get rid of the local football star and womanizer extraordinaire — Adam Meade, who she can’t even avoid (despite many efforts), because Claire’s dad is the high school football coach. Seventeen-year-old Adam Meade never fails. He always gets what he wants… until he meets Claire, the new girl who leaves him unnerved, pissed off, and confused. But there’s something about her that he just can’t resist…
I’ve been wanting to read a light fluffy book for awhile now and I finally got around to reading one! I was in the middle of some high fantasy books and I thought it would be a nice break. Surviving Adam Meade seemed like a short, fluffy, cheesy, and sweet read that would make me swoon. I was so ready!
This book disappointed me. A lot. I had a lot of issues with it, so I guess I’ll start small. I was expecting two POVS. From the synopsis, it seems like we will get to hear from both Adam and Claire. But Claire is the only one. I think if Adam did have a POV, it would have fleshed the story out a lot more and we really could have delved into his issues. I think it would have given the book a lot more depth.
You would think this would be a fantastic enemies – to – lovers story. It was, but it was really weird. Adam wasn’t broody and withdrawn with some snarky comments thrown in, he was downright mean and a completely jerk. There was no buildup to his and Claire’s relationship, no tension, and no witty banter. It was just the two of them being mean to each other. Claire didn’t even seem attracted to him in the beginning, which could make up for the lack of buildup.
There also seemed to be a lot of little things left out, that made me feel lost. For example, Claire looks through a peephole it’s Adam on the other side. It is and they talk through the door. Suddenly, the door is open and she’s closing it in his face. It threw me off balance.
A lot of wacky time jumps happened too. Luckily, those there explained, but I feel like important things were left out and I missed out on a lot of development.
I really liked the tough conversations about college and long distance relationships. I thought it was cool to see the characters get ready to make the transition from highschool to college and the realistic challenges that are going to come with that. I think that’s something the book got right.
A theme of the book is surviving after something hard, which is another thing I liked. It’s about moving on (though some moving on wasn’t development or explained enough) and I was happy with how that was handled. I liked how Claire came to the conclusion that she would survive whatever came her way. It would be hard, but she would do it. I really respect her for that.
All in all, I wasn’t a fan. I felt like this book could have been a sweet, fun read but I had a lot of issues with it and I ended up being bored a lot. Still, I feel like some people could enjoy it and these are just my opinions. It’s a fast read and it definitely has some things going for it.
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Thank you for reading!
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