A surprisingly refreshing novel I couldn’t stop reading.
(Please note that this tale was bonus material following Expelled.)
I am pleasantly surprised with the author in regards to this story. I’m not much for college romance stories, but Claire Adams hooked me fairly quickly with the dream-bachelor-on-campus practically stalking an art student who recently ended a long-term relationship with her ex who had been having a long-term affair with her roommate at the same time. Talk about the ultimate betrayal and humiliation. Not just a one-night stand but a parallel relationship with discussions on how stupidly blind our broken heroine was to be so oblivious. I would have crawled under a rock and stayed here for at least a decade had I been her.
Length: Short novel. (I understand it originally was serialized which I detest. The combination as one novel was far more preferred, and I am glad I read it in that form.)
Character development: I know a lot of people would think that Natalie is so completely obsessed by her cuckolding by her boyfriend and should just put him in the past and let bygones be bygones, per the reviews. I know it may sound ridiculous, but there is a very strong biological force behind this behavior among women.
I watched a very interesting documentary on NHK, the English version of the Japanese broadcasting company. It was looking into why older couples were accounting for the highest rate of divorce nowadays. They brought in a professor at University of Michigan who was researching this phenomenon. One of many interesting scientific observations made was that men had a tendency to forget or discount physically or emotionally dangerous situations because evolutionary-wise, the hunter would balk the second time around when faced with a dangerous situation. By not being as affected by such a situation, this only helped them repeat the same chore without any hesitation. (That’s why soldiers will still keep doing what they were doing.) Whereas women always remember bad things that happened even fifty or seventy years ago which still affect their avoidance. (Boy, can I vouch for both!) So any reader who thinks that Natalie needs to get over her sense of betrayal and get on with life, guess what? In some women, they are far more affected and will take longer to bring about closure. This is all hardwired in our brains while we’re still fetuses.
As for the MMA colleague team being man whores, again, the higher the testosterone, the more the temptation for this behavior because of the biological imperative to begat progeny by any and all women (even though consciously, I’m sure they don’t want to be targets for child support). Does this excuse this kind of behavior? I would like to say no, but it is very hard to buck up against hardcore hormones. Maybe because of the extremeness of their sport, perhaps it takes a lot of sex to calm things down after even the harsh practice sessions, let alone the tournaments. Jet’s sexual behavior only worsens(?) with Natalie because sometimes when these guys finally meet up with very compatible sex partners, the sex becomes even better, thus eliminating the man whore behavior. My only question is how long will this hypersexuality last and if these guys go into male menopause earlier than the usual guy or what… Hey! It’s just the way I think!
Emotional factor: There is definite chemistry between Natalie and Jet – initially positive for Jet and negative for Natalie. But the subconscious Natalie only sabotages the conscious Natalie as it gives in to Jet’s persistent behavior despite what the conscious Natalie wants to do. I just couldn’t put this book down.
Speed of action: Everything just kept moving along at a refreshing clip.
Predictability: I was predicting a few losses with Jet’s MMA bouts, but this didn’t happen. Hmm… no is that good, can they be?
Credibility issues: Okay, I can’t say anything about MMA because I’m really not in that. I can say that living next door to a boxing master who never took a head shot and never lost a bout, I learned a LOT about the biomechanics of boxing which is fascinating. I might not enjoy watching a boxing match by myself, but when I’m with him, I’m glued to the screen as we discuss who’s leaving what part of his body open for a knock-out shot and who’s fatiguing and physics of beating the hell out of people. With that, the fighting was pretty much on par of what I would expect. Don’t ask me about the technicalities of the specific moves or training sessions. I’m not THAT compleat (NOT a misspelling) of an editor.
Grammar and technical errors: The author needs a medical consultant. Here’s a good example: “He lucked out by only having a fracture in his cheekbone, not a broken bone. He was still yelling out in agony, though.” The words “fracture” and “broken bone” ARE the same thing! We are still having missing words as in this stream of thought: “Her lips, the taste of her, were like a drug, and I was hooked. I wanted more. I would have kissed those lips alone all night long, and still been satisfied.” It should had been “still NOT have been satisfied”. BIG difference. This should have been caught. I even spotted this speed-reading.
This book really grew on me more than Expelled and any other bonus material. Because of that, I’m seriously considering buying this bundle.