Review: The Impact Of You (Kendall Ryan)

Author: Kendall Ryan

Published: June 7th 2013

Genre: NA Contemporary Romance

Rating: 2.5/5

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BLURB:

Needing an escape from her past, Avery chooses a college where no one knows her. Keeping a low profile was the plan, falling for the intense frat boy, Jase wasn’t. Yet she can’t deny how alive she feels when he’s near. Even as common sense implores her to stay away, her body begs her to get closer.

Jase, numb from his own family drama, has grown bored with weekends fueled by nameless girls and countless bottles when he meets Avery. Helping her cope with her past is better than dealing with the bullshit his own life’s served up. Determined to drive away the painful secret she’s guarding, he appoints himself her life coach, and challenges her to new experiences. Getting close to her and being the one to make her smile are simply perks of the job.

But when Avery’s past boldly saunters in, refusing to be forgotten, can Jase live with the truth about the girl he’s fallen for?

REVIEW:

The story:

The beginning was promising, but this book turned out to be so short that it fell a little flat for me in the end. There was an interesting storyline of Avery searching for her birthmother, as she was adopted by her dads. However it's extremely underdeveloped and things get tied up so quickly in a neat little bow that it was just so anti-climactic.

I also had an issue with how the entire story revolved around Avery and Jase's sex life, and not in a good way. Even when they are in class, they both take Human Sexuality class and are paired up to talk about orgasms & self pleasure!? Seriously?? There are other less obvious ways to allow characters to express their sexuality and attraction, but this just felt forced and killed any sexual tension for me.

The characters:

Sadly I felt very little connection with Avery. She lacked any real personality (even quiet reserved characters need personalty). We know that something happened in her past for her to not trust people and she stays away from parties, but that's basically it.

And don't get me started on Jace and his hypocritical douchbagery! He claims to be a reformed player, and although he says many times that nothing will change the way he feels about Avery, the moment he finds out what her big secret is - he bails on her. He then makes a huge mistake that I personally would not have forgiven him for - and certainly not as easily as Avery does. He just lost all my respect in that scene and so did Avery for forgiving him so easily.

I would also liked to of seen more from the secondary characters. We have the cliche perky BFF & gay best friend, but nothing really set them apart from the rest out there in this genre.

The romance:

Avery & Jase's relationship could have done with a lot more development, it just happened way too quickly and unrealistically. I love a good sexy romance, but sometimes there needs to be scenes that show the progression of a relationship on a emotional level. There were times where Avery needed someone to talk to & instead of being there for her Jase would try to feel her up. I just wish there had been a few more scenes where they just talked or something to show there connection went further than just on a physical level.

Speaking of the physical stuff - it was a bit hit & miss for me, some of the scenes were steamy, while others were lacking any real heat:

"I'm not even nervous as Jase removes my jeans and panties. I pull my top over my head, and he unclasps my bra. After we're each undressed, we slide under the sheets and continue kissing."

Where are all the adjectives!? How did he remove her jeans, how did he undo her bra? This scene could have been sexy, sweet, sensual, romantic, passionate, fiery…or just something, but I just wasn't feeling it.

FINAL WORD:

Perhaps if some of the scenes had been extended to allow for more character development it could have been a little more memorable. With so many stories with such similar topics, this doesn't really stand apart from the crowd. Despite my issues with this book it was a quick read and I'm sure there will be some people who will enjoy it.

CONTENT:

Sexuality: medium / sex scenes

Violence: mild

Language: medium / several f*ck

Drugs & alcohol: medium / drinking at parties