Wow - this was such an adorable story! I loved the romance between Julian and Cami, and the fun quirks that they both had as characters. More than anything, what I enjoyed so much was how realistic their relationship was. I loved that there weren't any bad plot devices or stupid misunderstandings between them that are put there to create more 'conflict'. That said, I'll admit, there's not a huge amount of conflict in general that doesn't revolve around relationship angst. I absolutely tore through Stir Me Up, and then as I was sitting around a few hours later and still swooning over how cute they were together, I asked myself, "Wait, what actually happened in that book?" And so, while I didn't have any sort of amazing plot to ruminate over or a huge twist that blew my mind - I walked away with a huge amount of satisfaction with Stir Me Up.
Cami is torn between two guys - her boyfriend Luke, and an injured Marine who is now staying in her house while he recovers. He's an absolute jerk - at first anyway. But it's okay, we can forgive him for it - he's got a whole lot going on what with the whole injured war veteran thing. We get it. And overall, Luke was a good guy too - just not for Cami. The tension between Cami and Julian was pretty intense! Julian has lost half of his leg in a war injury, and he's convinced that Cami deserves someone whole. And Cami is not afraid to tell him what she thinks about that theory - even if it means throwing a muffin at his head to get her point across. There were definitely times when I was holding my breath waiting to see what they were going to say to each other next.
You know those romances where there are two really animated and funny characters involved, but then as soon as they get together, they somehow lose all that it was that made them so awesome? Luckily, that does NOT happen in Stir Me Up. When Julian and Cami are together, they still banter and fight and remain true to themselves. In fact, the way in which Julian tried so hard to make sure that Cami didn't change herself for him is what really drew me to him. They dreamed together, and he wanted to make sure he never held her back. I loved that about him.
This whole review is more like a giant pile of feels that I'll just leave here at your feet because you should really already have picked this book up by now because it was amazing. Truly. The only thing holding it back from perfection would have been just the slightest bit more conflict somewhere in there. Just something to really kick it up a notch even further. I'm still just sad the Stir Me Up is over - I want more Julian and Cami!
I'm really looking forward to reading this one! I read an excerpt on JLA's website and I think it sounds really cute. And your review makes me want to read it even more :D
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a light and fun read, and I hope I'll get to read it soon. Great review, Helen :)
Richa @ City of Books