Review: Love Story

Love Story, by Jennifer Echols. The GoodReads summary:

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true.

Just based on the summary, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into with this book. Drama, drama, drama. And, well, as much as is kinda pains me to admit it . . . I totally loved it. This book was just so ridiculous, I couldn’t help adoring it. There’s a fine line between melodramatic books that have me rolling my eyes too often and getting frustrated too much, and melodramatic books that have me rolling my eyes and getting frustrated just the right amount. And this book fell into the latter category for me. It probably hit the same spot for me that Hallmark and Lifetime original movies do—that spot that needs some totally pointless and overwrought romance once in a while.

I just loved every minute of Erin and Hunter’s tumultuous relationship. All the fighting and jealousy and lies, when it’s totally obvious they both love each other but are too prideful to admit it—it’s not the kind of thing that usually works for me in books, but for some reason it worked for me in this one. Maybe I was just in the right mood. Or maybe Jennifer Echols is a more talented author than I give her credit for.

Anyway, I’m going to wrap up this review now, since I’m feeling a bit silly about how much I enjoyed this book, considering it wasn’t exactly super high quality or anything. I think I’d recommend it if you’re in the mood for a guilty pleasure that doesn’t need to live up to high expectations. But I’ll just admit, in closing, that I’ll be stockpiling the rest of Jennifer Echols’s books for the next time I’m in the mood for this kind of story—which is probably more often than I’m willing to admit.

Rating: 4 / 5