Review: Taking Chances – Molly McAdams

Eighteen year old Harper has grown up under her career Marine of a father’s thumb. Ready to live life her own way and experience things she’s only ever heard of from the jarheads in her father’s unit; she’s on her way to college at San Diego State University.

Thanks to her new roommate, Harper is introduced to a world of parties, gorgeous guys, family and emotions. Some she wasn’t expecting yet, and others she never knew she was missing.

She finds herself being torn in two as she quickly falls in love with her boyfriend Brandon, and her roommate’s brother Chase. Covered in tattoos, known for fighting in the Underground and ridiculously muscled…they’re exactly what she was always warned to stay away from, but just what she needs. Despite their dangerous looks and histories, both adore and would do anything for Harper, including stepping back if it means she’s happy.

Her first year away is turning out to be near perfect, but one weekend of giving in to heated passion will change everything.

Series: Taking Chances #2
Release Date: October 16, 2012
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Amazon, via my own wallet
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Reviewer’s Thoughts

This book has sat on my Kindle for a while, just waiting to be read.  It was pushed further and further down the TBR list by other books that either needed to be read for review or were more obviously at the front of my mind for reading.  It was until a friend of mine read that book and raved about it that I finally remembered it was on my Kindle and maybe I should move it to the front of the line.  Now that I’m a week removed from reading it, I still feel as if I might just want to chuck my Kindle across the room when thinking about it.

The story is about eighteen year old Harper, who journeys to San Diego State University and discovers much more freedom than she ever experienced while leaving with her Marine father at Camp LeJeune.  She quickly bounds with her college roommate, Brea, and enter the college party scene courtesy of Brea’s brother Chase.  We follow Harper as she navigates college life, including her relationships with Chase and her boyfriend, Brandon.  It’s about living life and taking chances, but also dealing with the consequences when things don’t go exactly as planned.

I had a really hard time with Harper.  Granted, she is an extremely sheltered eighteen year old, who’s life existed around the marines her father trained.  But I would have have thought that living around those young men, even if they were fearful of her father, would have made her a bit more worldly.  Instead, when Harper gets to SDSU, she’s completely out of her element and doesn’t know how to fit into social situations.  So it was a little strange that her relationship with Brandon started so quickly.  But even more bizarre was the fact that she was so “in love” with Brandon, yet had all these feelings for Chase.  Both guys were hot and any girl/woman would have been ecstatic to have either of them fighting over her, but it just seemed a little strange for a girl who had never had a boyfriend to now find herself stuck in this love triangle of her own making.

In my opinion, she truly did string both Chase and Brandon along.  She loved Brandon and she just knew he was “the one”, yet she wasn’t willing to let go of Chase no matter what he said or did to push her away.  It made me sad to think that both of these guys, who were so emotionally invested in this girl, had to be torn apart because she couldn’t really follow through with what she knew in her heart she wanted.

And then the guys.  Brandon was a big, tough, fighter, who was putty in Harper’s hands.  He loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her and would do anything for her.  He was understanding when it came to her virginity and made an effort to ensure she didn’t feel like he was pushing her towards having sex.  He was a forever kind of guy and he made sure Harper knew he wanted her forever.  Then there was Chase.  He may have come off as a complete ass, but Chase was a very emotional guy when it came to Harper.  He wore his heart on his sleeve and at his worse, acted like an elementary aged boy pulling the pig tails of the girl he liked.  No matter how mean he was to Harper, you could tell how it devastated him and how much he wanted her.  But it came to a point where I got tired of Brandon being a doormat for Harper to walk all over and Chase always being their for her when he knew she didn’t feel the same way about him.  It made me said for both of the guys and wanted them to find someone better.

Now the Kindle throwing part of the story comes about halfway through and it truly quite devastating.  Not because of what that means for Harper, but because of what that meant for the character.  After this, I really didn’t care what happened to Harper and just wanted to the story to be over.  Harper could whine, cry or carry on about whatever she wanted, but I was done.

There are a ton of readers out there that adore this book and Harper’s journey to find her happily ever after.  But for me, the events at the 50% mark took the air out of my reading sail.  From that point forward, I didn’t really care about any of the characters. Which is too bad, because it was a well written read.  To Molly McAdams’ credit, it’s a nod to her as a writer to be able to evoke such an emotional response.  She may not have been looking for my reaction, but it’s a testament to her writing that I’m still mad over what happened a week later.