Published September 3rd, 2013Atria Books
272 pages (Paperback)
Chloe hasn't had the best life. With a mother who is gone more often than not, she has had to raise herself. After graduating high school, she leaves to start a new life away at West Virginia University with her best friends Amber and Logan, determined to leave her demons in the past.
On her first day, she meets a stranger who takes her breath away at first sight. Until she met Drake, no one had ever sparked her interest. Now this tattooed and pierced bad boy is all she can think about, no matter how hard she fights it.
Falling for Drake was never part of her plans, but when it happens, things seem to do anything but fall into place.
Dealing with a tragic past, Drake has never cared about anyone else but himself and his band. But when Chloe takes the empty seat next to him in class, things start to change. Instantly drawn to her, he begins to wonder if one girl can take a cold hearted womanizer and change every part of him?Long hidden feelings are revealed and friendships tested to the brink. (From Goodreads)
A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion.
I'm going to start by saying that I adore this cover design, and that's about it. Torn started alright, but quickly fell apart and left me nothing but disappointed.
This is your quintessential New Adult novel. There is a bad boy and a love triangle and questionable sex. Not a single condom was mentioned. There is sexual assault. It's kind of sad how common this plot line has become.
I actually had a lot of hope at the beginning. Chloe was a great idea for a character for the first few pages. She was made out to be different than the average protagonist, and a little bit edgier. She had gauged ears and an attitude, but things went downhill from there...
Turns out Chloe cannot function without a man to support her. Whether it be Logan or Drake, Chloe is useless without them. Add her oblivion to everyone around her and I was unimpressed. I'm not even going to discuss Logan or Drake. I think the real problem here is that there is absolutely NO development. She remains this whiny, oblivious, needy girl through the whole book. Even an ounce of development would have made a huge difference in Torn, but instead we are left with a girl who can't decide which guy she likes more, so decides to have sex with the one she is NOT dating! I just have no respect for that.
Beyond my obvious issues with the characters, Torn has continuity issues. For example, one minute Logan is in PJ pants, the next Chloe is taking off his jeans. If this were an isolated incident, it wouldn't be such a big deal. The issue is that it happens several times and is truly noticeable.
If you're a fan of New Adult titles, you may enjoy torn. It has a very similar feel to Beautiful Disaster. That being said, Torn is far from perfect and the complete lack of character development left a lot to be desired.
I've read the odd NA novel that surprisingly didn't follow that plot line, but I say "surprisingly" because I think you're right--this is all too familiar. I really can't wait until we start to see more genres of stories in NA besides straight up romance/contemporary. And can I just say, I wouldn't be able to read this book with a love interest named Drake and not picture former Degrassi star turned rapper from T.O. :P Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one, Samantha! (Oh, and I agree that the cover is pretty great. Love the rings!)
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