Book Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

Pages: 304
Genre: New Adult/Realistic Fiction
Pub. Date: November 6, 2012
Source: Publisher for review
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, "When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life. Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex's frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night--but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound. When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he's hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy."

Jacqueline pulls a Felicity (except she is actually dating the guy) and follows her boyfriend to college even though she has always wanted to go to a music conservatory since she is a talented musician.  Just as we all expected, her boyfriend, Kennedy, breaks up with her sophomore year and Jacqueline falls apart.  She stops attending her economics class, because he is in it and she doesn't want to face him and his entourage of sorority girls.  Consequently, Jacqueline finds herself in a precarious situation: she is going to fail economics unless she gets it together. She has even missed a midterm and needs a tutor.  To make matters worse, after a frat party, she is sexually assaulted in the parking lot and thankfully, a mysterious stranger saves her from the sexual predator, who happens to be one of her former friends, Buck.  This mysterious stranger, also known as Lucas, is in her economics class, but he spends most of his time sitting in the back row doodling and nodding off.  Her outgoing roommate, Erin, decides that Lucas should be Jacqueline's rebound guy and they make a plan for her to bounce back from Kennedy. Lucas seems to be a good guy, but he has a TON of secrets that he is keeping from Jacqueline; things are never what they seem.  Easy by Tammara Webber is another home run for the "new adult" genre.

Hmmm. I want to say I immediately liked Jacqueline, but that was not the case as she was moping for the first part of the book. I couldn't believe that she followed her ridiculous boyfriend to a school that she didn't even want to go to.  I was frustrated with her, because when girls do this we all know how that story usually ends.  Jacqueline falls to pieces when Kennedy breaks up with her and she even lets her economics grade suffer.  Thankfully, I started to like her more when she took control of her life and basically said "screw Kennedy."  Erin, her roommate, helps her by giving her confidence and support, which her parents clearly do not give her.  

My heart went out to Jacqueline when she was assaulted by Buck.  I know this happens everyday on college campuses and it broke my heart.  Thankfully, Lucas was there to protect her, but Buck ends up pretty much stalking her and she realizes she needs to take matters into her own hands. I applaud her for doing this and not running away from the situation.  So, needless to say, Jacqueline grew on me as Easy progressed.  Obviously, Easy deals with some heavy issues, like date rape, sexual assault, stalking, violence, etc, which is not to be taken lightly.  If you are looking for a fluffy read, this isn't one for you; however, I felt Webber handled such a serious situation very well. 

Easy also deals with a common problem....girls who lose their identity to pompous boyfriends.  I mean she even gave up her name, Jacqueline, and went by Jackie, because Kennedy liked it. She was his Jackie O.  Seriously?  I was glad to see Jacqueline gravitate away from him and branch out to new friends that weren't so self-absorbed.  I guess that is what college is all about- learning about who you really are and finding your way in the world.  In that case, Webber did a great job developing the character of Jacqueline.

Lucas is an interesting character in Easy.  His connection to Jacqueline was instantaneous and I loved the romance.  There were some scenes that were pretty intense and had me blushing.  I also thought Webber did a good job creating such a mysterious character in Lucas. I knew he wasn't showing all of his cards to Jacqueline, but I wasn't quite sure why. It was interesting to figure out his backstory as Easy unfolded.  The secondary characters are also well done. I loved Erin, the fun roommate, and Jacqueline's economics tutor, Landon, who she has a lot of fun flirting with through e-mail.  I was never been so interested in reading emails as I was when it came to Landon and Jacqueline's.  

Another aspect of Easy that I enjoyed was the college life.  *Sigh* I loved, LOVED college.  The classes, the coffee breaks, the friends, the dating, the parties, etc, and Webber did a fantastic job portraying all of that. It took me right back to one of my favorite times in my life and that's the mark of a well-written novel.

I can't believe that Easy was originally self-published and I'm glad to hear that it got picked up.  This whole "new adult" genre is definitely becoming one of my new favorites. I just can't get enough!  If you are a fan of mature contemporary reads that deal with serious issues, but also have some good romance in them, definitely check out Easy.  It's currently only $5.99 as an e-book.  Can't beat that deal!