Love Story by Janenifer Echols
Publisher: Pocket (July 19th, 2011)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 256 pages
Source: Author (Thank You!)
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Erin Blackwell is headed to college in New York City to study creative writing and earn a living as a romance novelist. Her grandmother has other plans: she approves of the college, but she wants Erin to major in business and then come back home to Kentucky to run the family’s famous racehorse farm. There is no way Erin will agree. Studying in New York and writing her way into a career is her escape from the farm and the family tragedy that happened there. So Erin’s grandmother decides Erin really will live life as a starving artist. She takes Erin’s future job running the farm, her inheritance, even her college tuition, and gives them all to Hunter Allen.
Hunter has lived on the farm for years. He’s Erin’s age, he’s the stable boy, and he’s the romantic dream of every girl in her high school. But he was involved in the family tragedy. Erin has always given him a wide berth. And he’s a slick opportunist. She’s furious that he fooled her grandmother into giving him Erin’s birthright and sending him to Erin’s college.
At least she’s free of him in her creative writing class. So she pens a story that has haunted her lately, in which the horse farm heiress at the very first Kentucky Derby starts a forbidden affair with the lowly stable boy. Unfortunately for her, the day she’s sharing this story with her New York classmates, Hunter walks in. He’s switching to her class. And after reading about himself in Erin’s story, he writes his own sexy assignments that lure Erin into dangerous fantasies about what could have been between them, and what might be.
Review: If there is anything I've learned about Janenifer Echols, it's that she has some of the most unique book ideas ever! Janenifer also knows how to tap into the minds of teenagers. Love Story involves Erin and Hunter. Erin is a a farm girl from Kentucky and Hunter was her stable boy. Against her grandmothers wishes, she is going to New York to study English and writing instead of business so she could take over the farm. Erin's grandmother then decides to show her the difficulty of living without the money from the farm so she takes it all away. Erin is then left on her own to make money and somehow do well in college.
To make things worse for Erin, her grandmother sends Hunter to the same college to study in business and get prepped to take over the farm in Erin's place. While in her creative writing class, Erin writes a story that involves a young girl and her stable boy. The story seems to have some strong similarities to real life for her and Hunter. But Erin knows that no one in the class knows about her true-life. Then Hunter surprises her by joining the class and there is no way to stop him from reading Erin's historical romance.
Love Story jumps from current time into the stories Erin and Hunter create while in class. We have a chance to read their writings and see what underlying feelings may be there between the characters. It was a great way to explore their relationship. The downside was that the jumping back and forth created some confusion for me. Sometimes I wanted more time with the characters and not so much of their writings.
No matter how much Erin fought her feelings for Hunter, or how much she tried to avoid him, he was always right there. Erin was so determined to succeed and follow her dreams. It was refreshing to see that in a YA character. And, of course, Janenifer Echols is a pro at creating swoon-worthy male characters so Hunter was nothing short of amazing!
Although I have enjoyed Janenifer's other books a little more than this one, Love Story is so unique and captivating that you can't put it down! My fan-girlness for her continues and always will!
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