Nineteen-year-old Star
Collins never intended to return to her hometown, Avenue. That part of
her life ended when she was nine years old, and child services took her
away from her hoarder mother. Her mother chose her stuff over her
daughter. That part of her life was supposed to be in the past.
But her mother has just passed away and Star finds herself giving up her summer to quietly clean out her old home. She just wants to sell it and move on with her life. However, things aren't going the way she planned. With her dyed-black hair and tattoos, she's attracting almost as much attention from the small town residents as Ash Winthrope, the guy who was just released from prison.
All Ash wants is a chance to start over. He screwed up and he knows it, he's going to have to live with the guilt for the rest of his life. But he's stuck in Avenue until his parole ends, and no one, not even his own parents, wants anything to do with him. Nearly out of money and completely out of options, Ash takes the only job he can, helping Star haul stuff out of her mother's house.
Neither of them expects anything to happen between them, or for their lives to change. But sometimes meeting the right person is all it takes.
But her mother has just passed away and Star finds herself giving up her summer to quietly clean out her old home. She just wants to sell it and move on with her life. However, things aren't going the way she planned. With her dyed-black hair and tattoos, she's attracting almost as much attention from the small town residents as Ash Winthrope, the guy who was just released from prison.
All Ash wants is a chance to start over. He screwed up and he knows it, he's going to have to live with the guilt for the rest of his life. But he's stuck in Avenue until his parole ends, and no one, not even his own parents, wants anything to do with him. Nearly out of money and completely out of options, Ash takes the only job he can, helping Star haul stuff out of her mother's house.
Neither of them expects anything to happen between them, or for their lives to change. But sometimes meeting the right person is all it takes.
Usually, I write a little blurb for the book but not this time. I'm just going to get down to business. I was excited about reading All It Takes because I love a broken character. I enjoy seeing how the author will have them overcome whatever it is that is going on in their life. I like seeing that progression and transformation. That is what I was looking for with this one because really, these characters seemed screwed up. Really screwed up. And they were ... somewhat ...
Gosh, I just really don't know where to start ... I have so many things to cover. I'll just start at the beginning of the book and then work through my list from there. Whew. I think that the first thing that really bothered me with this one was how Star and Ash just kept talking about how hot or sexy the other one was. Yeah, this sounds like no biggie, right? I'm all for appreciating someone's appearance. I'm even for saying it repeatedly but this was just completely excessive. It was ALL THE TIME. The "he's so hot" and "she's so hot" shallow nonsense became old very quickly. It made the story seem as shallow as the characters were.
Another thing... I cuss. More than any lady should. Hell, more than any person should. This Houston traffic has brought on a potty mouth for me like I never imagined. But Ash's character cussed all the time. ALL THE TIME. It was every other word at times and mostly at times when it was just unnecessary. Do people really talk like this? Of course, I'm sure there are but they sound like idiots. A few well-placed f-bombs are great. It doesn't need to happen this much though. And if I (someone who curses all the damn time) has a problem with it, I know that people who hardly ever cuss are going to have a serious problem with it. Again, it just took away from the story and made it seem shallow.
The town that the story takes place in is just ... weird. It's like it takes place in The Twilight Zone or Wayward Pines. It was sooo weird. Yeah, this story is in a small town. Is everyone nosy in a small town? Does everyone know what everyone else is doing in a small town? Sure. But there was this one part that was just weird as shit and out of left field. It felt like it didn't even belong in the story. I have an advance copy of the novel and that's why I can't say what the scene was ... it may end up getting taken out of the final copy and I really hope that it does because it detracts from the story.
All in all, this was an okay book ... the characters didn't seem very authentic and almost confused because their personalities didn't match up with how they were described. I didn't feel one iota of connection to anyone within these pages. It's sad. I can't stand not liking a book and I really, really hate having to say less than flattering things about something that someone has worked so hard on but ... it is what it is.
* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *
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