KKB Sensuality Rating: Steamy

I’ve just read a fantastic college romance book called Easy. It was a rec from Jane over at Dear Author.

I started reading it a couple of nights ago, and I found it really hard to put down.

Here’s the blurb from Amazon:

A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?

When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, stalked by her ex’s frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Her econ professor gives her an email address for Landon, the class tutor, who shows her that she’s still the same intelligent girl she’s always been. As Jacqueline becomes interested in more from her tutor than a better grade, his teasing responses make the feeling seem mutual. There’s just one problem–their only interactions are through email.

Meanwhile, a guy in her econ class proves his worth the first night she meets him. Nothing like her popular ex or her brainy tutor, Lucas sits on the back row, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. At a downtown club, he disappears after several dances that leave her on fire. When he asks if he can sketch her, alone in her room, she agrees–hoping for more.

Then Jacqueline discovers a withheld connection between her supportive tutor and her seductive classmate, her ex comes back into the picture, and her stalker escalates his attention by spreading rumors that they’ve hooked up. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

Loved, loved, loved this book! I don’t read college set romances very often, but I read the blurb for Easy after it was recced to me, and I was hooked. (To be honest, it was lucky that I was able to see past the somewhat atrocious blurb).

There are so many things that I loved about this book, that it’s hard to know exactly where to start, but I have to say, it was great to have two protagonists who were equally likeable. Lucas was a hero to die for, smart, protective, strong, yet sensitive, ( mostly due to the traumatic events of his past) the kind of guy you wish you’d met at college. Jacqueline was a fantastic heroine, very relatable, and just an all round good person. I liked that all the characters were fully fleshed out, and even the ex-boyfriend wasn’t your usual cookie-cutter bastard. Of course he was a dick, but for all intents and purposes, he was a dick who as it turned out genuinely cared about his ex girlfriend.

Although there’s an attempted rape and an actual rape in this book, I felt it was handled very sensitively, and when the rapist finally got his come-uppance, I actually cheered out loud.

To me, Easy was a book about survival, overcoming personal tragedy, sisterhood, and falling in love. A good ingredient for any romance methinks.

You can read Jane’s full review of the book here, and download Easy from Amazon.com here.