Author: A.J. Pine
Series: Only You #2
Genres: Contemporary | New Adult
Release Date: 20th October 2015
Publisher: Intermix
Source: Review Copy - A.J. Pine
Rating:
Every time life throws Zoe Adler a curve ball, she changes her appearance. Freshmen year, after almost following in her mother�s alcoholic footsteps, she said good-bye to her blonde, girl-next-door image and opted for jet black hair and piercings galore. After her brother Wyatt�s death, she escapes to the city to teach a summer art program for kids. Her black hair goes blue, and she finds solace in the arms of a longtime friend, in his heart, and in his bed, but her guilt makes her unable to accept the love he wants to give.
Spock might be the guy to save Zoe, but when she learns the truth about his past, the edge she�s teetered on since losing Wyatt drops out from under her. The girl who kept it together for everyone finally falls apart. Now Zoe must choose between drowning in guilt about Wyatt or asking for help. But even if she gets the help she needs, Spock may not be waiting for her when she�s ready to let love in.
Ugh, I think I should start with a confession. I'm starting to go off NA. Silly I know, I've just finished reading One Life, a New Adult book that I actually really came to enjoy, but generally, I fear the NA vibe is just not for me. Sure, there was a lot about One Life that I quite liked, but there are some traits, some NA cliches that I'm starting to dislike seeing, and if I'm honest, it's affecting how much I enjoy them. Alas, Pine does something to me that, after a point, makes me forget about the issues I have with NA and fall in love with her characters and their stories completely. Bah, 'breaks people's hearts' you do indeed do Pine, you do indeed.
Let's get straight to it. Here's what irked me about One Life to start with:
- I couldn't click or connect to Zoe like I had in One Night. With most books, I have to connect to the main charcater, and in contemporary, even more so, but for some reason, I felt extremely disconnected to Zoe through 60% of One Life. I could relate to her issues on opening up to people, feeling vulnerable and as though you won't be accepted being yourself, but I definitely felt as though her development took too long to get started, and that her growth hinged a lot on Zach 'mending her broken pieces.' Bah, you gotta put your jigsaw back together yourself girl, and sure thing, she did eventually, but it took a little too long for my liking.
- I felt as though I never really got to know Spock. I admit, I seriously loved the addition of his perspective right near the end - my heart peoples, it broke, but besides that, I don't feel as though we got to explore his personal demons and how they affected him, his relationships with his family and people he surrounded himself with. Yes, this story was more about Zoe, but I really wouldn't have minded getting to know Spock a little more.
- A lot of One Life felt like filler content.. Bah, do you know how much it pains me to say this? Pine is one of my super awesome favourite authors, but I'm not quite sure what the point of the story was, besides taking a look at addictions and learning to grieve. There was a party or two, and some actual day-job activities, but besides that, there was just a lot of - sex.
- How did Jess not see something was up with Zoe? As somebody who's suffered from depression myself and keep on top of controlling it, I definitely feel as though I can spot when something is a little more than 'wrong' with someone. For someone who went through so much, who suffered a lot of pain and knew how unhealthy is was to let things get so bad there's no choice but to confront the problem, I would have thought that Jess might have stepped in sooner. Maybe that's just a me issue, but that troubled me pretty much throughout.
Ow, but now I've made it sound like I really didn't like One Life, and that's simply not true. I actually found myself extremely invested in the characters as time went on, and I really appreciated the depths to with Pine went when exploring addiction and depression, and sometimes one can influence another. I appreciated how Pine delved into numerous different addictions, breaking stereotypes that addiction isn't just about drinking, smoking or drugs, but so many other elements. How she delicately highlighted the connection between depression and addiction was definitely the best I've read, and that's something I can only compliment her on prefrustly.
I also have to give a round to applause to Pine for being as daring as she was to explore sex as much as she did. I admit, sometimes there was a little too much sex (I know, too much sex, how could one say such a thing?!) but I appreciated how she didn't shy away from details other authors wouldn't dared to have included. It was nice to once again have some teasing and foreplay involved, to highlight how natural other sexual pleasures are and why they're important to feature in fiction, no matter the age range. Pine always ticks the box on sex in her books, and One Life was no different in that respect.
Sure, the romance between Zoe and Spock felt like it'd already been set in stone in One Night, and I definitely felt as though there was a large chunk of One Life that could have given the chop merely because it didn't interest me as much as other areas, and while it's my least favourite of her novels, I still very much enjoyed reading it, and rate her highly as one of my favourite authors of all time. If I never read another New Adult author in my life, I will always be drawn to Pine's work through her characters, through their romances that seem always to squeeze tears out of me, and her never wavering passion to explore tough subjects and take sex education in literature a route it should go down. Just because we don't love something, doesn't mean we can't appreciate it, and appreciate One Life I did.
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