Thursday, August 4, 2016

BOOK REVIEW: You Before Anyone Else by Julie Cross and Mark Perini

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The supportive friend, the reliable daughter, the doting big-sister: Finley is used to being the glue that holds everyone together. But while her sweet demeanor makes her the perfect confidant, her wholesome look isn't landing her the high paying modeling jobs, which are what Finley needs if she is going to reopen her mother's dance studio. Enter Eddie. He's intense and driven, not to mention the life of every party, and he completely charms Finley. The last thing she wants is another commitment to stand in the way of her dreams, but when she's with Eddie, their chemistry takes over and she can let go of her responsibilities and just be. After all, what's so wrong about putting herself first once and a while? Except Eddie is hiding a secret. A big secret. And when it surfaces, he and Finley are going to have to choose between their love for each other and everything else.

It's hard to review this one because I kind of felt blech about it. Is blech even a word? I'm going to say yes. I liked the book at first. Finley and Eddie are both models living in New York City (I'm trying to ignore the fact that modeling jobs seemed to come so easy to these people). They meet at a party and there is instant chemistry. Finley is trying to shed her cute girl image and Eddie is hiding something. I loved their rapport and it was kind of cute that Finley was so determined to not hook up with Eddie again because she is determined to "succeed" at a one night stand. I had no idea what that even meant, but I thought it was amusing. Of course, they see each other at modeling jobs and he moves into her same building, so they run into each other a lot, blah, blah, blah. The more the book went on though, the more I wondered what the heck was wrong with Finley. She was do adamant that she didn't want a relationship with Eddie and I had no clue why. They were both single, there was chemistry, they got along . . . I didn't get it. She kept saying she didn't want anyone she had to rescue, but Eddie seemed pretty self-sufficient to me.

I think I started to lose interest around the 60% mark, which is one Eddie's secret was revealed. I don't want to spoil anything, but the secret was almost too much. At that point, I stopped rooting for Eddie and Finley to be together because I didn't really think Finley needed that kind of drama in her life. I thought the conflict with Eddie was too much and I didn't think there was enough conflict with Finley, if that makes any sense. When it came to the ending for Eddie, it was more realistic than I thought it would be. The ending for Finley was wrapped up a little too neatly, in my opinion. This was an okay book. It just didn't evoke any really strong feelings on my end. 


Buy/Borrow/Skip: Skip this one.

15 comments :

  1. Now I really want to know what that secret was. It so annoys me when a couple in a book won't get together for absolutely no reason at all. And I don't know even though I like Julie Cross' writing, i'm just not interested in books about models. Sorry this wasn't for you, Cynthia. And LOL! Blech is a perfect word! ;)

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    1. Thanks Nick! I wasn't sure blech was a word, but it totally worked for this one. And I wouldn't necessarily have anything against a book about models as long as it was realistic. But all the modeling stuff just came too easy for these characters and it didn't work at all.

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  2. I've very little interest in characters playing models, to be honest. So as much as I've enjoyed a book or two by Julie Cross in the past, this one just doesn't interest me.

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    1. Joy, I mentioned to another commenter that I don't necessarily have anything against a book about models as long as it was realistic. But the jobs came too easily to these people and everything behind the scenes just seemed easy and drama free, not what I would imagine when I think of real modeling stuff. Good call on skipping this one.

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  3. Blech is totally a word!!This sounds like a book that would annoy me though. I think I will skip. Great review!!

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  4. Oh man, I liked this one. I couldn't get into the other book by her (featuring Alex and Emma, I think that was their names) but this one worked a bit better for me. Sorry to see you didn't enjoy it though. At least it's one less book on your review pile though, right? :)

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    1. Rowena, I'm glad you enjoyed this one. I can see why you would. And yes, knocking one more off my TBR list was worth it. :)

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  5. ugh, that sounds tedious. And that cover sooo reminds me of the pose of the TFIOS movie. Right??!?! Hopefully I'm not alone in seeing that hahha. But excess drama around relationships without any real concrete reasons always turns me off a book. And I think "blech" is definitley a word 😂

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    1. Cait, OMG yes, I hadn't even thought of that but you're right. I just knew that I hated the cover. I try not to judge books by their covers, but maybe I should have in this case.

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  6. Sorry you didn't like this one more - I've had a string of similarly disappointing reads recently, so I know exactly how you feel. At least I can cross this one off the TBR! Hope you enjoy your next read a bit more :)

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    1. Thanks Olivia. I have read a couple of good reads since this one but I have still read way too many disappointing ones. I hate when that happens.

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  7. ::Goes to Goodreads in hopes of finding "the secret" spoiled somewhere:: Seriously, I cannot with this kind of book. I felt like I would hate it, and I am often wrong, so I figured I would see... but alas, no, this is one of those times where yeah, I need to not have this book on my radar 😂 Sorry it was such a miss for you!

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    1. Okay, I read the spoiler! Thank you, random Goodreads patron! RUN, Finley, RUN! I mean, especially because it's stupid the way he wanted to proceed. Shaking my head at this whole group.

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    2. Hahahaha, you are so funny. If I have no intention of reading a book anyway, I will read spoilers too. And thank you for agreeing with me: that was NOT a good beginning to that relationship! Glad I could save you from adding one more book to your TBR.

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