Blurb:
Beatrix Adams knows exactly how she’s spending the summer before her senior year. Determined to follow in Da Vinci’s footsteps, she’s ready to tackle the one thing that will give her an advantage in a museum-sponsored scholarship contest: drawing actual cadavers. But when she tries to sneak her way into the hospital’s Willed Body program and misses the last metro train home, she meets a boy who turns her summer plans upside down.
Jack is charming, wildly attractive, and possibly one of San Francisco’s most notorious graffiti artists. On midnight buses and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who Jack really is—and tries to uncover what he’s hiding that leaves him so wounded. But will these secrets come back to haunt him? Or will the skeletons in her family’s closet tear them apart?
Meh.
I was slightly disappointed with TASOAH, probably because I spent ten dollars on it and I almost never spend ten dollars on books especially when a thing like bookbub exists. But I liked the premise and it had pretty good reviews, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
Meh.
I almost didn’t post this because it’s not something you simply *have* to read and it’s not so terrible that it’s worth talking about. It’s… an okay story. The insta-love kind of killed it for me because the one thing I love about romances is the build-up. I like the actual falling in love part and when two characters “just feel it” with a stare across bus seats, I’m already doubting the authenticity of everything in the following pages.
Eleanor & Park is my compare-to book because it takes the protagonists nearly a month of sitting next to each other to actually talk. In fact, they communicate non-verbally until speaking becomes necessary, and even after, they don’t start the actual romance until sometime later. But I love Rainbow Rowell and the amazing honesty in how she writes realistic fiction. Everything’s not written through rose-colored glasses and that is so refreshing.
TASOAH wasn’t bad; it was just a bit predictable. The ‘bad boy’ is only bad because he’s doing something good for someone else while inwardly suffering. I mean, come on, isn’t that what all literary YA ‘bad boys’ are? Misunderstood good guys in hot costumes? And our girl is quirky (she draws cadavers and has a Morticia Adams thing going on) but is unusual to everyone other than our leading man who, as I’ve already stated, has a bad case of insta-love.
The story itself was sweet, fast paced and enjoyable for a bridge book. Was I in love with it? Absolutely not. Did I enjoy it? Sure. But would I recommend it to a friend? Depends if he or she is looking for a light read before finding their next favorite thing.