Choosing You by Allie Everhart

Publication Date: September 21, 2013.

Publisher: Waltham Publishing.

Genres: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary, and College.

Rating: 

Selling points: Slow burn romance, mild suspense, and excellent banter.

Purchase here: Amazon | The Book Depository 

Synopsis: When Jade is given a scholarship to an elite private college in Connecticut, she sees it as a chance to finally escape her painful past and get a fresh start. She’s determined to succeed and that means keeping her focus on school and not guys. But her plan falls apart her first day on campus when Garret, a rich prep school boy with swimmer abs and a perfect smile, offers to help her move in.

Jade tries to push him away, but she can’t deny her attraction to him and Garret won’t let her. Things quickly heat up between them, but then come to a sudden halt when reality hits and Jade realizes that a relationship with Garret may never be possible. He comes from a world of wealth where there are rules, including rules about who he can date. And not following those rules has consequences.

As the two of them try to overcome the obstacles working to keep them apart, Jade is confronted with another challenge. On her 19th birthday, she receives a letter that her now deceased mother wrote years ago. In it are revelations that explain her traumatic childhood but also make her question the past she’s been running from.

Choosing You is a book I didn’t expect to love but immensely did. It has been in my Kindle library for quite some time now and I finally decided to give it a try, something I’m now so happy about.

“He gives me a cocky grin. He knows damn well I want to see his nearly naked body. Every girl on campus would like to see that.”

Choosing You is a book filled with wit, banter, romance, wealthy families, and suspense. In my eyes, there are so many things this book is doing right. In a lot of ways, this is a typical rich boy meets poor girl story but the story is so much more than that. It’s complex, with a proper relationship build-up and clear character development.

However, to really convince you of the greatness of this book I have made a list of all the amazing things this book has:

• Relationship build-up. The romance in this book feels completely genuine. There is no instant love that you see in a lot of books. Sure the attraction is there from the start but the main characters actually get to know each other and become friends, best friends actually, before anything else happens. It is a slow burn book but it’s so worth it.
• Banter, insults, and wit. From the very first start, this book is funny, it’s real and it’s incredible. Jade and Garret insult each other (it sounds awful but trust me it’s the best), and they tease each other and they’re both so incredibly competitive. It brings a lot to their relationship.
• Suspense. It’s real, behind the love story there’s an actual story closely connected to the characters that show you how wealthy, influential and political families in the US can get away with anything. Secrets, blackmail and breaking the law without consequence are all things that make this book what it is. However, it should be noted that this storyline is only secondary but oh so exciting.
• The setting. I love that this book is set at a small elite college where everyone knows everyone except for the newcomer Jade. It adds to the sense of them belonging to two different worlds that later on collide. I also love that this book shows and reflects over different aspects of college culture such as parties, prejudice, alcohol consumption and sports. All of which makes this book more amazing.
• Real life issues. In this book there is the loss of a parent, growing up with an addicted parent and how this affects us as grown adults. Choosing You shows us how two people from two completely different backgrounds still can have a lot of things in common.

There is so much more to this book than what I have mentioned above but in the end, there is really only one thing I have left to say, read Choosing You, you will not regret it! It should also be noted that Choosing You is free right now on Amazon, so if I were you I’d grab it right away because who says no to a freebie.