Book Review: Love Story by Jennifer Echols

By: Jennifer Echols

Published by: Simon Pulse/MTV Books

Released on: July 19th, 2011

Source: Bought

3.5 stars: I Liked It

Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

She's writing about him. he's writing about her. And everybody is reading between the lines..

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true

Writing, romance and two incredibly stubborn characters makes for one interesting love story. I have really come to admire Jennifer's realistic, raw and honest writing style. It makes her stories feel more relatable to me, and it's one of the things I love about each of her books that I've read. With this story I enjoyed the way the two characters, Erin and Hunter battled out their feelings for each other through out the entire story. It was obvious from the get go that they were in love with another, but their denial created some addicting tensions between the two of them. I loved the creative way we learn about both Erin & Hunter's past history together, which is through the stories they both write and share with their creative writing class in college. Each story seemed liked a jab to the two of them, but it was evident to me that this was the beginning of a love story that started taking place between them years before.

I admire Erin's character, even though she is incredibly stubborn. She had it all, but she's working her butt off to support herself as a freshman in college, in NYC. Some of us know how hard that is, and then throw in working and going to school in NYC on top of that, and you'll admire the drive Erin has. Her perfect match is Hunter, and he's just as stubborn as she is, though he can be a little more smooth about the things he does. Speaking of that, he does a few things that made me want to slap him like Erin does. She also does a few stupid things too, but that's one of the things I like about the two of them. They're imperfect and flawed and have a complicated history together, and somehow they figure out a way to work through all that. I enjoyed the way their complicated history together unravels, and getting to understand the two of them more.

Normally I'm totally impatient when it comes to swoon-worthy moments, and it's not often you'll hear me say this, but I love the fact that Jennifer has a way of making her readers wait for those moments. It makes the story seem more credible and it of course invests me as a reader even more so, because I want to know what happens between the two characters. That's one of the reasons I was hooked on this story. I also really liked that this story centers on two characters who are starting their freshman year in college. It's during this time in life things are exciting and complicated and I felt that factored into Erin's story well. This is a story that I think YA fans and fans who love a good cross over will enjoy. I feel fans of Jennifer Echols will really enjoy Love Story. This is a good read and one I enjoyed. There is some mild language in this story, and tastefully written sensual scenes that may not make this suitable for younger YA readers.