Olivia Miller is off to college at NHU with her boyfriend, Cameron McClain. She’s looking forward to having freedom from her parents. But now that they’re in a new place and around new people, will Olivia turn out to be one of those clingy, possessive girlfriends? Will she be able to find her own way?
College is a time for figuring out who you want to be, what you want to do, but as she tries to adjust to the unfamiliar environment, she realizes she’s led a pretty sheltered life. Embracing the college culture isn’t as easy as she expected it to be. It doesn't help that sometimes things—and people—aren't what they seem, especially her roommate.
"... for all I knew, the other girls were there to reinvent themselves, just like Ann was. It would be hard to get to know people if everyone was on a mission of personal transformation!"
When things get difficult and confusing, Olivia retreats back into her pre-college insecurities and loses her perspective. At her worst, things spin out of control, and she messes up something that's really important to her. What's it going to take to pull her out of the dark place she finds herself in? Thankfully her former boss and mentor, Mrs. K, helps her figure out what she’s searching for and brings her Christian faith into focus.
"I hadn't realized that was what I'd been missing. ... It ... all held a certain magic for me."
"... the push I needed in order to figure things out."
Now, is it too late, or can she recover what she's lost? While she’s still trying to work all that out, she gets a frantic call from her sister, Emma, who’s upset about their mom. Will Olivia’s newfound, yet fragile, confidence to be of any help? Can she continue to build on her Christian faith, and will she ever work up the nerve to confront her father’s judgmental and critical attitudes?
Even though this was a bit romancy for me I did enjoy the plot quite a bit. I really like the authors writing style. It is quite fluid and very easy to follow. At first I thought the book could have ended much sooner than it did, but I actually got pretty wrapped up in the story and got a bit swept away after discovering there was so much more to the story than the romance between our protagonists. There were several life issues that were addressed in this story. Issues like abuse, anger management, sex, relationships, religion and more. This does read like a Christian Fiction which is fine for me, I quite enjoy that, but if you are put off by that then you may struggle through the story, but I did not find it preachy at all.
I liked the characters a lot more in this one. I felt like I got to know so much more about them in this installment and I really like who they are and how they deal with real life issues. They almost read like characters from an Ellen Hopkins book which is fantastic. Most of them were very realistic and quite likable. And then you have those who you just want slap around a bit. All are developed quite well I think.
I recommend this book/series to anyone who likes YA Romance or even those who enjoy Ellen Hopkins. I am hopeful that I will be able to review the next book in this series as I am quite attached to these characters. Since I really enjoy physical copies of books over my Kindle, I have high hopes that these books will come to paper so I can get the series for my library.
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