Counting Down with You

He shakes his head and cups my cheek. “Yes, it is, Karina. I want you with all your lines.” A tremor runs through me. “All my lines?” Ace nods, resting his forehead against mine. “All your lines.” “There are so many,” I whisper and my voice cracks. “You should give up now.” He smiles faintly. “That doesn't change anything. I want you, Karina Ahmed. That means lines and all.” Ace, Ch 40, pg 314

Goody-two shoes Karina is assigned her teacher to tutor bad boy Ace Clyde. Things escalate when she is invited over his house and Ace suddenly blurts out that they are dating, prompting the two to fake a relationship. With ever increasing expectation put on marina by her parents, she struggles between fighting for happiness and feeling for Ace or let it all crash and burn.


This book has it's fair share of cliches and cheesiness but it was a good book. This book taught me a lot about the damaging effects of heavy expectations from parents. The anxiety rep was great and Ace was the BEST boyfriend. Seriously I want a guy like that when I get into a relationship. He the type of guy you marry.

However despite all the good, I did have some gripes:

•Ace didn't really feel like a bad boy to me. Sure he got detention or whatever but besides not caring about school and hanging out alone, he didn't do anything inherently bad. Besides wear a leather jacket and suck on lollipops like right out a 60s' movie.

•I wasn't really feeling the fake dating part in this one. I think it was mostly because Karina was trying to hide their relationship from her family. There was no real stakes or purpose to it except for on Ace's side. The book would have been fine if the fake dating was written out and maybe replaced.

Overall this book was EMOTIONAL. The writing was topnotch. You feel every inch of Karina's anxiety and understand why she hides who she is from her parents.

Definitely recommend for people seeking book featuring heavy anxiety rep, and characters in an actual healthy relationship.