READ: REVIEW ✧ WAIT FOR YOU. PDF, EPUB online free reviews.

“I’ve wanted to be with you since the first time you turned me down. I’ve just been waiting for you to come around.”

☆☆☆☆

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…

Ok, this book has been on my TBR list (that’s to-be-read list for the acronym-challenged) for what seems like years. I can’t even remember when I added it to my Goodreads, but apparently it was half a year ago so that’s still a long time. I’ve seen a bunch of people on my feed reading this book and raving over how great it is so I figured that I should give it a shot. I actually thought this was by a different author that I’d read before shelving this book so when I finally got around to picking it up I was surprised to see it was actually by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I hadn’t read anything by her before but I had heard of her and I know that a lot of people across my social medias enjoyed her books and her writing so that alone gave me hope. Thankfully, that hope wasn’t diminished because this turned out to be SUCH a good read!! I wasn’t really planning on reviewing this book here, since most NA books go through the same cycle, but when I got to the halfway point something changed and I felt like this book was absolutely worth a formal review. So, let’s get started!

THE GOOD

I feel like the most important thing about this book is that it dealt with incredibly heavy subject matter but was done in such a good way. As you can probably tell from the synopsis, something bad happened to Avery and it’s not a spoiler to say that she was sexually attacked. And most of her story revolves around how she initially dealt with it and how she continues to deal with it. Even though Avery herself always believed she was the victim in the situation, no one else around her looked at her that way, blaming her for spreading lies and essentially slut-shaming her, even though it 100% was not her fault, and I think it was an important thing to address. It also explores what happens when someone doesn’t come forward, even though they want to, and how the subject of rape and sexual assault is constantly addressed in society. It’s such a heavy and important topic and I feel like the author did a great job with it.
One of the things I loved most about Avery and Cam’s relationship is that it’s a friends-to-lovers relationship. I always love seeing relationships initially built on friendships because you already have that level of comfort and meaning between them and then that lightbulb goes off where they’re like “uh oh…..I like them more than as a friend.” To me, this is probably the healthiest kinds of relationships (in NA at least) because they appreciate each other for who they are instead of what they can do *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*.
Cam himself deserves some praise. There was this one quote where Avery said that he was different, and I think that true not just for her but in the general NA male love interest sense. In majority of the NA books I’ve read (and there are a lot) the male has always been a player or womanizer or manwhore in one way or another. He’s always banging a different girl every night but once he meets the protagonist she makes him see things in a different light and she ends his ways. But Cam? He’s the complete opposite. Right off the bat, Avery learns from her friends how Cam was a “reformed playboy” which I suppose is somewhat true but I would akin it more to him growing up. But anyways, the point is that sure, girls like Cam and try to get something out of him but he doesn’t have a never ending parade of girls leaving his apartment. He’s been nice to Avery right off the bat purely because he wants to be nice to her and he never expects anything out of her. He does ask her out pretty much everyday but he doesn’t take it to heart when she turns him down and it kinda turns into an inside joke between them and as a reader you think it’s cute. Also, the man knows how to bake. He’s like Zeke from High School Musical because he’s so proud of his baking skills. I’m not saying he’s a saint, because he still has his share of fun, but out of all the NA boys I’ve met he’s definitely the closest. Boys go on and on about how the girl “isn’t like most girls” but you, Cameron Hamilton, are not like most boys and I thank you for that.

THE BAD

While I loved the overall writing of this book, from the plot to the characters, the one thing that bugged me was that it was all written in past tense. I don’t know what it is, but reading NA in this tense is such a pet peeve of mine. I can’t even say that this makes the book bad because it’s more of a personal preference. But I guess another bad thing was that it was all from Avery’s POV and while I understand why it was solely her voice I feel like adding Cam would’ve given the book more depth. Thankfully, the author wrote a “novella” type book that retells the entire story from Cam’s POV so everyone wins in the end.
I can’t really say that there was miscommunication between Avery and Cam, aka the #1 killer of all relationships, but there was definitely lack of communication. Obviously Avery didn’t want to go around telling everyone what happened to her, but it bothered me that even when she got to such a trusting point with Cam that she didn’t tell him her story. It’s just such a big contrast from another book that deals with similar subject matter, The Deal by Elle Kennedy, where the girl tells the guy her story maybe a couple weeks into their friendship. I can understand that Avery would be afraid to tell Cam what happened but I guess as a reader it just makes you frustrated seeing your ship being blown up by something like this.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Compared to the rest of NA books, overall this one is pretty refreshing. It has such a wonderful friendship that turns into a beautiful relationship, tackles heavy subject matter in a great way, and is full of characters that you cannot help but love. Just don’t wait 6+ months to read it like I did.

BONUS: how this book made me feel in a GIF