Well... finally, a much-anticipated book that actually delivered. After being so hyped up about 'Matched' and then being let down with it's mediocrity, I tried not to get too excited about this book and prepared myself for another monumental disappointment.
But no.
I'm always rather dubious when it comes to romance novels; if you find a good one then you can be reeled in and swallowed up, it can stay with you for a very long time... but so often this is not the case. The amount of times I've dared to enter into a romance story with high hopes and found nothing but cheesy, star-struck "I can't live without you"s are countless. They are often plagued with cliched characters and storylines and I found myself awaiting something similar from 'You Against Me'.
And I loved it. No, seriously, I really did. The chemistry sparked off the pages without being over-emotionally cheesy. There was no getting lost in their eyes, no "oh gosh, did our hands just accidently touch?"
I liked and genuinely cared about both characters. Plus, it was so much more than a love story, the dark backdrop of sexual abuse is told through different eyes, tackling the 'slut' issue that is a very real hindrance to prosecutions in rape cases. The fact that anyone can even ask the question: "If a girl is wearing revealing clothing, is she asking for it?" just shows how important this novel is.
Was it perfect? No. I had an issue with the ending, or lack of if you want to be precise. Perhaps the author was leaving it open for a possible sequel but nothing has been mentioned so far. There are very few cases where ambiguous endings work (The Handmaid's Tale is one) and this book required something more at the end. But I liked it so much that I would happily say yes to that sequel.
