Book Review - Be With Me by Jennifer Armentrout

Be with Me by J. Lynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blurb from Goodreads

Teresa Hamilton is having a rough year—she’s in love with her big brother’s best friend, but he hasn’t spoken to her since they shared a truly amazing, mind-blowing, change-your-life kiss. She got out of a terrible relationship. And now an injury is threatening to end her dance career for good. It’s time for Plan B – college. And maybe a chance to convince Jase that what they have together is real.

Jase Winstead has a huge secret that he’s not telling anyone. Especially not his best friend’s incredibly beautiful sister. Even though he and Teresa shared the hottest kiss of his life, he knows that his responsibilities must take priority. He certainly doesn’t have time for a relationship. But it doesn’t help that all he can think about kissing the one girl who could ruin everything for him.

As they’re thrown together more and more, Jase and Tess can’t keep denying their feelings for each other. But a familiar danger looms and tragedy strikes. As the campus recovers, the star-crossed couple must decide what they’re willing to risk to be together, and what they’re willing to lose if they’re not…

I guess when reading, the first thing that you shouldn’t do is read reviews. It can seriously affect the way you perceive the book in one way or the other. This is what happened to me when reading this one.

The intensity of the book started off excellently. The whole Jase issue got me interested. Most especially that Tess is not the typical female character who doesn’t know when to back off when being rejected. Tess maturely back off Jase’s ass and did not make a fool of herself which is a BRAVO.

What I did not understand is and what got me reeling is the way Jase is acting after he blatantly told Tess that he was sorry the “kiss” happened in the first place. The “he wants to be friends like we used to” thingy is acceptable but his next move are like the mother of all jackass moves.  He went to Tess when he was drunk. When you have unresolved feelings for a guy and that guy shows at your doorstep drunk and a hot mess there’s a 100% probability that that will not end well. The following morning? The guys forgets everything that happened and this now left the girl much broken hearted than before. This is what exactly happened.

And then it keeps on repeating. Jase rejecting Tess. And all throughout this pace I want to punch Jase in face. In the first place, Tess didn’t do any moves to provoke him. It’s all him. He loves her and wants to be with her. He does every boyfriend does to Tess. He keeps on giving signs but is afraid of commitment. It’s all his indecisiveness and he keeps on rejecting Tess as if she ever did something, say something when all Tess was doing is trying to move on and live a life for gods sake!

This is me to Jase for his indecisiveness

I think this is the first Jennifer Armentrout book that doesn’t belong to my list of best-book-boyfriend.

Jase’s character never did touch my heart the way others do. His indecisiveness, his issues made me hate him. He became the douchebag of all douchebag when he dumped Tess amidst all the tragedy that happened to Tess’s life. There were no words for this scene. Like seriously I just want to break down and cry for Tess. And I am so proud of her character. She never let all Jase’s BS to get her. She moved on when needed and what she did when she found out about Kari was I guess the most amazing thing she did.

And this is me after Jase dumped Tess right after they have sex for the first and after all the tragedy in Tess life.

Also one thing that got me thinking is that I thought Cam’s the overprotective brother. But all throughout the book he is absent during the major conflicts. He does not check up on Tess like I imagined. Well…

All other scenes and conflict in this book is amazing although I don’t like the history repeating itself thing or the coincidence of Debbie and Tess. There are scenes like when Tess remembered about the pink scarf that got me Goosebumps. Jase major issue and the one he keeps on using in rejecting Tess was quite predictable. There are one to many scenes that gave up his situation. While the whole Kari situation was not was I was expected. I guess even if Tess and Jase ended up together, I think there will always be Kari. Tess is right; she cannot compete with her even if Jase loves her. There are unresolve feelings and guilt. I guess finding out that your boyfriend cheated you than competing with someone you can’t.

Yep, I was annoyed. I didn’t like the story partly because I read a review where Jase indecisiveness was pointed out but I am not putting it on Jennifer. Douchebags like Jase really exist and unfortunately for this book. This is what makes this book really amazing. The fact that I was annoyed means the effectiveness of Jen’s writing. This just sees how Jennifer has a wide array when it comes writing. She still has that excellent writing that will keep you entertained and hooked. I think this is one of the books where even though little scenes are cliché. The story as a whole isn’t.

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Till next time
JOYCE