Book Review: Easy by Tammara Webber.

Product details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Release date: May 25th 2012
Ebook, 304 pages
Rating: 3½ out of 5.
Ages:New Adult
Source: Purchased

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.

I picked up Tammara Webber’s Easy partly because of the Goodreads buzz surrounding the book, partly because I’m on a total contemp binge right now, and yes, okay, mainly because I heard the kissing scenes were out of this world steamy and also because I just had to meet Lucas, the guy featured in those aforementioned steamy kissing scenes.  On those counts this book gets all the stars. Holy hot make-out scenes! *fans self*

But to truly love a book, I find that it has to stay with me long after I’ve read it. I want to go back and re-read favorite passages, I want to bookmark quotes and crush on book boyfriends - all that good stuff.  That just didn’t happen with Easy.  While I enjoyed reading this one, I found that once I finished the book I pretty much left the characters behind, and I guess that’s why, rather than being the great read I hoped it would be this one was just a good read for me.  Easy is a good read though, don’t get me wrong, and its well worth reading. I don’t award all the stars quite easily, and because there is so much love going round for this book, I though I should make clear the reasons why before going any further in this review.

Webber deals with some important issues in Easy, such as the loss of self and identity in relationships, and the importance of truth and trust, all of which are relevant in Jacqueline’s life.  We meet Jacqueline a couple weeks after she’s been dumped by her boyfriend of three years, a pretentious douche named Kennedy, who, mindful of the fact that a future career in politics may be jeopardized if he’s caught fooling around with an intern, decides he wants to sow his wild oats while at college.  Obviously long-term girlfriend Jacqueline, or Jackie, as Kennedy calls her (she gave up everything for him including her music college dream and her name) doesn’t figure in this plan, so he brushes her aside to go hook up with cheerleaders and sorority girls and the like. I love this guy already, don’t you?

Jacqueline is at an all time low.  She’s flunking a class she shares with Kennedy, because she can’t bear the thought of going along and seeing him there with his girl du jour, and then, while walking back to her car one night after a party, she’s assaulted by a guy she knows.  Thankfully Lucas, the hot stranger of this piece, turns up just in time to stop the attack, but Jacqueline’s nightmare at the hands of her assailant is just beginning, because he’s not going away, and he doesn’t like taking no for an answer. This all just leads to further complications in Jacqueline’s life and while I couldn’t fully understand her actions at times, I could at least sympathize with Jacqueline, because she made the mistake of making one guy the center of her life, and in doing so, she lost an important part of herself.

For this reason and others, Jacqueline is not the most forthright or confident character, but this book is all about Jacqueline finding out who she is, it’s all about standing up for what’s right, and it’s all about a girl learning how to trust and to love again, even when she’s had her heart broken so badly that it physically hurts.  But at least there are hot guys to help Jacqueline get over her ex. First up is Lucas, hot, intense and all round yummy, Jacqueline is physically drawn to him, as he is to her, or at least she thinks so, because his signals are mixed, to say the least.  Then there’s Landon, the online tutor whose mind she loves, and who likes to flirt.  However, it soon transpires that Lucas and Landon may not be all that they seem, and soon Jacqueline is wondering if she can truly trust anyone but herself.

 A strong contemp with some tough issues, a raw edge, and a sweet ever after Easy by Tammara Webber is a compelling read that will be loved by many, especially those who like their contemps with a healthy dose of steam!