Review: Wait for You by Jennifer L. Armentrout (J.Lynn)

My Thoughts

Sweet, funny, angsty and moving standalone
that I enjoyed from beginning to end!

Synopsis

Some things are worth waiting for…

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing…

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet…

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for…

My Review

I had been so excited for this book and it was so worth it! It was my first J.Lynn story and one that was very different from the Covenant and Lux series (which I LOVE, see my post here talking about those books). Sweet and touching and captivating… it was a great standalone book!

“There were two things in life that scared the ever-loving crap out of me. Waking up in the middle of the night and discovering a ghost with its transparent face shoved in mine was one of them. Not likely to occur, but still pretty damn freaky to think about. The second thing was walking into a crowded classroom late.”

And so the story begins with Avery Morgansten running late to her first astronomy class at the university.

“Racing up the wide staircase, I barreled through the double doors and smacked right into a brick wall. Stumbling backward, my arms flailed like a cracked-out crossing guard… Oh dear God, I was going down… Something strong and hard went around my waist, stopping my free fall… The wall was strangely warm. The wall chuckled. ‘Whoa,’ a deep voice said. ‘You okay, sweetheart?'”

And hello, Cam.

“Startling, deep blue eyes framed with thick, black lashes fixed on mine. A blue so vibrant and electric, and such a stark contrast against the black pupils, I wondered if they were real… Sweet baby Jesus, Blue Eyes was… He was gorgeous in all the ways that made girls do stupid things. He was tall, a good head or two taller than me…An athlete’s body–like a swimmer. Wavy black hair toppled over his forehead, brushing matching eyebrows. Broad cheekbones and wide, expressive lips completed the package created for girls to drool over. And with those sapphire-colored eyes, holey moley…”

As Avery runs into Cameron Hamilton, well-known, sexy stud on campus, she freaks and runs… but then HE runs into her, and then she discovers he lives across the hall from her in her apartment complex!

“You running over me, me almost running over you? Cam elaborated. It’s like we’re a catastrophe waiting to happen.”

Avery is attracted to hunky Cam, of course, but something holds her back… a past high school experience. She reminisces that she “almost didn’t survive high school.” Cam is intrigued by Avery and he sweetly asks her out every week for months. As you get to know Cam, you can’t help but love him. He’s funny, owns a pet turtle, and engages in the best verbal banter with Avery. This book is so many things, and I really enjoyed the humor… and the flirting!

“You’ve been checking me out, haven’t you? In between your flaming insults? I feel like man candy!”

You have some really funny support characters in Avery’s friends, Jacob and Brittany and in Ollie, Cam’s roommate. And I love that Cam is sweet, so sweet to Avery. He is relentless and slowly chips away at the walls Avery has built around herself. One day, he’s at her door, eggs in hand, early on a Sunday to make her breakfast, and that becomes their weekly tradition. It’s so stinkin’ cute. And with them spending so much time together in class, as astronomy partners and through their Sunday breakfasts, they inch closer together.

“No that wasn’t a kiss. His lips brushed mine in the most tantalizing, promising way. That was a goodnight.”

But despite the lightheartedness surface of the book, serious undertones emerge. And as they come together, slowly, Cam confides his dark past with Avery, only to have Avery hold back on what ails her. Cam becomes increasingly frustrated and can’t understand why Avery won’t be honest with him.

“How can there by any future for us if you can’t be honest with me?”

You learn about Avery’s painfully tragic past and how it has shaped her in becoming defensive and closed-in. You feel awful for what she went through and better understand why she acts the way she does. But you love Cam even more for sticking by her.

There are so many notable elements to this book. The verbal banter, the flirting, the cookies, the turtle… so many things you laugh at and so many things that make you smile. There are even some sweet and steamy scenes in there to make you swoon. This book is about coming to terms with painful experiences, rising above your past and allowing yourself to love. Sweet, serious and funny. It’s a great book that can stand alone, but luckily, there is a sequel coming up called Be With You!

“Everything was okay. Maybe not perfect, but life wasn’t mean to be perfect. It was messy and sometimes a disaster, but there was beauty in the messiness and there could be peace in the disaster.”

I think the book is pretty different from the other books I’ve read from Jennifer Armentrout (Lux series, Covenant series) in a number of ways. The series books are more angsty, alpha-maley to me (which I love) and of course, paranormal… But what is consistent is the way she successfully engages her reader. You will enjoy reading this book! And congratulations to Jennifer on having Wait For You be the FIRST self-published ebook to hit #1 in Digital Book World!!!

Cam & Avery:

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