Tuesday, March 17, 2015

The Boy From the Woods by Jen Minkman

2 "Ridiculous" Stars


Back Cover Blurb -  
 
Julia fell down on her knees next to his lifeless body, her heart filling with dread as she noticed the left side of his face was covered in blood. He had fallen off the motorbike, hitting his temple on a sharp-edged rock. His head injury looked really, really bad.
“Michael?” she whispered softly, putting a trembling hand on his forehead. “Can you hear me?”
 
Julia has been in love with Michael for years. He’s the hottest guy in school, and she can’t believe her luck when they finally hit it off during Senior Prom. Her dream doesn’t last, though: after a few dates, he callously dumps her out of the blue. Summer vacation starts with Julia feeling heart-broken and miserable.
But then she rescues Michael in the woods when he has a motorcycle accident in a heavy thunderstorm. From that point onward, her life is turned upside down. Michael has changed completely after the blow to the head that nearly killed him... and he wants her back. But why is he so different? And will she be able to trust him this time around?
 
Can the boy who broke your heart ever win it back again..?
 ....................

Have you ever met someone for the first time and in the beginning when you are first introduced, you think they are pretty cool and someone you could really like, then they start talking and you find that your nerves become a little irritated, then they have mannerisms that just get under your skin and by the end of the night, you notice every little thing that is wrong with them and the spittle that flies out of their mouth every time they speak is the last straw and if you don’t get out of their company soon, you’re bound to do them bodily harm and probably spend the night in jail? Yeah, that can pretty much sum up my encounter with The Boy From the Woods and it’s painfully obvious, we just weren’t meant to be friends. The blurb sounded so promising and I was looking forward to reading this, but after a few chapters, I wanted to be put out of my misery and by the end, I was mentally unfriending and blocking this book from my friend book list.

I have this memory of when I went to the theater to see the movie, The Village by M. Night Shyamalan and about midway into the movie, I remember leaning over and whispering to my friend, “This movie would be so dumb if it’s all actually taking place in the present time, but for some reason they are living like the Amish in some middle of the woods compound and don’t even know it!” (note: I have nothing against the Amish) So, you can imagine my reaction when the great reveal happened at the end of that movie, I was so astonished at the sheer ridiculousness of it all and the fact that I had been pretty spot on with my earlier prediction, that I was actually offended. Well, something like that kind of happened again while I was reading this. I had a moment where I thought, “I really hope that THIS is not where Ms. Minkman is taking this story!” and I’ll be damned if that isn’t EXACTLY where she went.  

If you decide to read this book, you need to also be aware of a few cultural differences, because one thing I know for sure is that beer and wine were NOT on the menu at my school prom, so it’s pretty obvious that the legal age limit for drinking is a bit younger there than it is here in the states. It’s not a big deal and I wouldn’t have minded having beer and wine at my prom (legally), but just fair warning to some readers who might find stuff like that hard to grasp. 

Overall, this was not a book I enjoyed and I really wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It was not just one big thing that turned me off of this book, but also several little things that all culminated together to make this a bad experience for me. The concept was there, but everything else failed in my opinion. 

Happy reading, until next time… 

I would like to thank NetGalley and Storm Publishers for the ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

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