I'll Be There

Ugh. Okay. I saw amazing reviews on this book, so I was psyched. But in the end, it just disappointed me.

I'll start with this, though - I absolutely loved Sam and Riddle, and their ability to get people to fall head over heels for them (except the evil people, obvs). Their parts of the story were awesome. If the rest of the characters were written as well as Sam and Riddle, I don't think I'd have as much of a problem.

But it seems as if Sam and Riddle are the only characters you're supposed to care about, because everything else was just soooo vague. It was a big pile of eh. The potential was there, but so many things weren't described very well. It was like the cliff notes version. I want the real thing, please.

Like, Sam and Emily's relationship. You get the idea that their romance is supposed to be OH-SO-INTENSE, but you don't ever see that. There's like 3 tiny scenes that ever-so-slightly hint that they're together, and it just left me wanting more. With Emily in general, actually. I ended the book without knowing anything about her, besides the fact that she loves Sam. Supposedly.

My biggest pet peeve, however, was the seemingly unending recaps of what was going on with random outside characters. Specifically, Bobby. Oy. I just did not give a flying flip about Bobby. Ever. Not even for laughs. When the author kept going back to Bobby's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Prom Day at the end, I nearly just put the book down. I would've if I wasn't so close to the end. It's like, “Why am I reading about this a-hole's spray tan accident when I should be reading about what the heck's happening with Sam and/or Riddle?!?”

But beyond Bobby, the last few pages were filled with a grocery list of every minor character in the entire book, and how things ended magically happy-ever-after for them after their encounter with the Border bros. It was really trite, and really boring to read about. I skimmed that parts hoping to get a last glimpse of Sam and Riddle and the Bell family that would make the whole experience worth it (which I didn't).

I don't often give below 3 stars. It takes a lot to disappoint me. But I just wasn't feeling this book. It was maddening, because I love the story, just hated the way it was written.