Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

Title: Easy

Author: Tammara Webber

Publisher: Penguin Berkley

Publishing Date: November 6, 2012

Pages/Format: 336, Paperback
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When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. 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, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex's frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night - but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.

When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he's hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

Book in One Word: Like

I don't read a whole lot of New Adult. Actually, I probably average one New Adult novel a year. It's just not my cup of tea, not like Young Adult, and the stories tend to be about lust more than love, and I prefer to read the latter. But Easy was a book I'd heard about when New Adult was just starting to become a thing. It was a standout, a book that was raved about and that people loved and that was supposed to actually be a good book. So when I finally picked it up that's exactly what I was looking for: a good book. And I guess that, in a sense, that's sort of what I got.

Easy was good, and you could also say that it's a good book--you know, it's likable--but it's missing the emphasis and italics: it lacked the good. Maybe part of it was the hype, and the fact that, as far as New Adult goes and what's the best of the best, from what I've seen this is at the top of the list. But I think my "problem" that isn't really a "problem" is that I wanted more and thought the book would go in a different direction. Easy opens up with Jacqueline about to get raped before a mysterious stranger steps in and saves the day. (Throughout the novel Jacqueline says she was almost raped, but from how the scene was described it was my understanding that, in terms of violation, she actually was.) I thought the attempted rape would take precedent in the story and give us a character who's fighting and healing and trying not to drown because of what happened to her, and that someone would help her pull through all that and show her that trust is possible.

But that's not exactly what happened. I mean, everyone deals with things in their own way and I totally get that, but I expected there to be more emotional aftermath from Jacqueline almost getting raped. It's a very, very serious thing, but it didn't quite feel like that? There was definitely stuff that happened or that was felt because of the near-rape, but I just thought there'd be more and that I'd be reading a New Adult book that was different than what so many others seem to be: less lust and more angst and depth and darkness and emotion and feel. It certainly leaned toward the latter and wasn't packed full with the lust factor, but again: I didn't get what I thought was getting.

All in all, I liked Easy, I did! When I think of New Adult novels I think of sex and lust and fun stories, and while this had that (though maybe less of the fun), it was also more than that, and I appreciated it. (I realize how that may contrast what I said earlier, so let me clarify: it had more but, as a whole, wasn't what I'd expected. If that even makes sense.) Jacqueline was an okay character, I really liked Lucas, and the story was a bit of a page turner and I liked reading it. Easy was a relatively easy read, but sometimes I want to read things and stories that are a bit more than that.

Did I like it? Yes!

Did I love it? No.

Would I reread it? Hmm, I wouldn't say no?

Would I purchase it? I actually already own it, but if I didn't I couldn't say that I'd be rushing to get it.

Who would I recommend it to? Fans of New Adult books that defy the category's stereotype, romance and stories that pivot around a tough subject.