Saturday, August 3, 2013

Review: Lost & Found by Nicole Williams

Title: Lost & Found (Lost & Found #1)
Author: Nicole Williams
Pages: 358 pages
Format acquired: eBook (Kindle)
Published on: May 7th 2013
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



There’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling.

After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.

Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.

Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.

When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

I'm going to start this off by saying that I hate anything country with a passion. I think that Country music is the devil trying to speak to you, I think that leather pants were created to help with amputation and that these boots were not made for walking. The closest I ever got to anything country related is watching Blake Shelton on The Voice. But after reading Lost and Found, I think that I'm willing to rethink my distaste for anything country.

I admit that I was kind of hesitant to read Lost & Found, mostly because I was still in my Crash series high and I thought that nothing could live up to its swoon factor... but I was wrong. It's not always that you hear about books with a heroine that's a bad girl while the male protag is the goody two shoes one. Sometimes it's so refreshing to read a book that isn't about such a mainstream topic. Nicole Williams brings in a fresh and enjoyable perspective to the boy-meets-girl idea. We have Rowen who is a tortured artist and the resident bad girl and there's Jesse, the human form of all that is good in the world. Well, not that good, if you know what I mean. *wink wink, nudge nudge* Though it's pretty evident that Rowen has a pretty messed up past (and present, looking at her mom) you probably wouldn't be able to guess it at first. Maybe that was just me, though...

While bad boys may be easy to accept, bad girls are slightly harder to. Not because of a double standard or anything, but it's just there, you know? That was why I was kind of iffy with Rowen at first. She wasn't just a bad girl who did drugs and drank, she was whiny and cursed a lot of people too. She was the complete package. Rowen really grated my nerves and definitely rubbed me the wrong way but as expected, she started to grow on me as well. It wasn't because she became wholly good but you will start noticing differences with her, by the way she spoke and the way that she acted. Those weren't the only reasons I started liking Rowen, it was mostly because of her insecurities that made me like her so much. Rowen is such a deep person and no one has really taken the time to get to know her or really see into those blue eyes that hold so much. She showed so much of her humanity that it really gets to you. Her insecurities (which I am sure we have all experienced) really showed through, her not deserving Jesse or her not being good enough at anything or her being a general bad seed. It was so painful reading all that, but it's reality. The only way for Rowen to be able to express herself and vent out all her feelings is through art, and I am so glad that she actually has a way to channel all that because keeping all that emotions in will kill a person. And through it all? Rowen kept her head up high, her back straight and got her snark on.

This is as much as Jesse's as it is Rowen's. I'm not just talking about him because he's totally swoony or something. Lost & Found is just a sneak peek of who Jesse really is (I finished Near & Far a couple of days ago so I know.) Jesse can literally do no wrong in my eyes, he is such a selfless person, through and through. He doesn't do things because he feels obligated to, he does it because he wants to. Jesse Walker is a great man and any girl would be lucky to have him. Jesse has been through some pretty tough things but still came out the victor, he never let those things affect him negatively because thinking about what happened will do nothing but piss you off further. Rowen's shining moments were mostly when she was Jesse because not only does he bring out the best in her, their banter is way too funny to pass up. I love reading about them together because their relationship eases the tension from the book.

I'm going to be honest and admit that I'm totally digging Garth Black. While Jesse may be the epitome of the hot goody-cowboy, Garth is the epitome of a TDH cowboy (tall, dark and handsome for those of you who don't know.) He and Rowen are really alike but also different in many ways. Don't worry, there's no love triangle in this story. My heart hurt for Garth, he thinks that he doesn't deserve anything which is why he became so destructive, pushing away even his best friend.

Nicole Williams has written a heartwarming and toe-curlingly sexy love story that I'm sure romantics out there will love. Lost & Found is about redemption and finding love in the most unlikely of places. No one is too broken and too unworthy of love because there will always be someone who will find those missing pieces for you and turn you into something new. Love isn't about changing for the one you love, it's about finding someone who makes you want to change for yourself. Rowen learned this and so did I. I cannot express how much I love this book. Dreamy sigh.

Rating:

2 comments:

  1. Haha. I also had that phase when I don't think I'll be appreciate anything country. But there are so many country artists with good music. Plus, I like the hat and boots. Haha. So eventually, I was able to see the beauty. Anyway, great review. :)

    Arra
    Style Reader

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Arra! :) I'm still not a fan of Country music but with the right incentive, I may give it a try. LOL

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