Ebook provided in exchange for an honest review
Pamela DuMond’s The Story of You and Me could have been one of those heart-gripping romances, the kind that drive readers to the brink of a bawling, teary mess. I am a big fan of devastatingly heartbreaking romances and so when I read the blurb for The Story of You and Me, I went into it with expectations of a sobfest in my near future.
Overall, I really liked The Story of You and Me. It just did not move me as much as I thought it would so I’m giving it a 4 out of 5 stars.
Blurb:
Pamela DuMond’s The Story of You and Me could have been one of those heart-gripping romances, the kind that drive readers to the brink of a bawling, teary mess. I am a big fan of devastatingly heartbreaking romances and so when I read the blurb for The Story of You and Me, I went into it with expectations of a sobfest in my near future.
Overall, I really liked The Story of You and Me. It just did not move me as much as I thought it would so I’m giving it a 4 out of 5 stars.
Blurb:
Recommended for New Adult and Mature Young Adult Readers:
She's driven to save her life. He's haunted by breaking one. Some secrets are risky to share. But nothing's more powerful than falling in love... Nineteen-year-old Sophie has the kind of hope that makes her do weird things—like leave her family and friends behind in her small hometown and travel thousands of miles to a strange city—Los Angeles. She didn’t plan on getting into the middle of a bar fight on the USCLA campus her first night in town. She didn’t want to be rescued by twenty-one-year-old Alejandro, the hottest guy she’s ever met. She has no time to fall for a guy because her stakes are high—life and death. Sophie’s starting a promising, experimental USCLA Medical study that could heal her debilitating disease. But California’s filled with all kinds of alternative healers offering medical miracles. When she ventures on her own to find them, she quickly discovers that L.A.’s a tough city, with bad guys more than happy to take advantage of her. She hires Alejandro to be her driver and her bodyguard. Their journeys take them to sunny beaches, dicey ghettos, campus hang-outs, gang-infested hoods and celebrity parties. And she learns that healing doesn’t always come the way you think you need it. Sophie’s healing is six-foot-two-inches tall, has stunning hazel eyes, black, shiny hair and a rock solid chest that shelters her. Her healing is a smart, gorgeous Alpha Boy with a killer sense of humor—Alejandro. As they fall in love, she realizes Alejandro isn’t your typical college party boy—he has a dangerous past. And Sophie isn’t the only one who keeps secrets. A Story of Hope. A Story of Love. A Story of Redemption. (HEA for Sophie and Alejandro.)
The Story of You and Me seemed more YA than NA, despite of the characters being within the NA age group.
The characters were very endearing. Sophie Marie Priebe was diagnosed with a progressive, degenerative disease at the young age of nineteen. Her grandmother has lived with the same disease for thirty years and in an effort to save her Nana’s life, Sophie takes on a journey of a lifetime… she just did not know that yet. When she traveled to Los Angeles to undergo stem cell treatment USCLA and check out other alternative healing modalities, she did not expect to get involved on a bar-fight on her first night there, much less meet the devastatingly handsome Alejandro Maxwell Levine.
Alejandro Maxwell Levine is a Driver. He formed the Drivers with his friends as a group that aimed to help wasted college partyers get from one place to another safely. I knew there was a story there somewhere and I kind of had an idea right from the start about what it was about. I mean, Alejandro could have been your typical college party boy but instead, he willingly chose to be DD forever. I was intrigued, to say the least.
When Sophie enlisted Alejandro’s help in her mission to find a cure for her and her Nana’s disease, she did not expect to fall head over heels for the guy. But Alejandro’s sweet, gentle, protectiveness for Sophie did her in. It was really heartwarming to see the two of them falling for each other. But I think it kind of lacked in the development department. I just thought everything was too snappy between Sophie and Alejandro. I appreciate build-up in a romance. The love at first sight thing doesn’t really appeal much to me. I felt as if the love between those two characters would have been more intense and more profound if they got to know more about each other. It’s as if they jumped from being acquaintances to lovers just like that. Insta-love? Not really a fan.
Of course, what’s a YA/NA book without dark tortured pasts and angst-laden backstories? Sophie, endearing as she is, is a character that people can relate to. She’s going through her life fearing of what would come tomorrow. Her fears are holding her back from truly living her life. She seemed caged in by the disease that threatens to destroy her little by little, bit by bit. In her eyes, she’s broken. And I guess, it takes two broken souls to put the pieces back together. Alejandro was scarred by an accident he can’t seem to move on from. The tattoos may have obscured some of the physical scars but he knew there was no hiding the emotional ones. Sophie’s and Alejandro’s vulnerabilities gave some much-needed depth to their characters.
The premise of the story is really good and I enjoyed reading about Sophie’s journey and how she found healing, not in the myriad of alternative treatments as she originally planned, but in the way the mattered most. The pacing was a bit weak and it did not leave much room for better character and story development. I think this is a point for improvement. It was too slow in some parts that I had to really force myself to read through those part thinking that something exciting was bound to happen soon. On the other hand, the story flowed so fast (too fast IMHO) in some parts that it gave me whiplash and it left me thinking what just happened?
I’m also hoping for some kind epilogue. I am dying to know what happens to Alejandro and Sophie after The Story of You and Me. Yes, they found their way back to each other in the end. Yes, it has an happy ending. But for how long? I’m curious as to how they would deal with Sophie’s disease.
All in all, The Story of You and Me is a worthwhile read. It’s light, breezy read but at the same time, it also tugs on the heartstrings. It is the story of a girl’s fight against herself and the fears that hold her back from everything. It is the story of how she finds the strength to face those fears, how she finds healing in the most unexpected places (or persons, as the case may be).
Oh, and that cover is seriously hot. Love it!!!
The characters were very endearing. Sophie Marie Priebe was diagnosed with a progressive, degenerative disease at the young age of nineteen. Her grandmother has lived with the same disease for thirty years and in an effort to save her Nana’s life, Sophie takes on a journey of a lifetime… she just did not know that yet. When she traveled to Los Angeles to undergo stem cell treatment USCLA and check out other alternative healing modalities, she did not expect to get involved on a bar-fight on her first night there, much less meet the devastatingly handsome Alejandro Maxwell Levine.
Alejandro Maxwell Levine is a Driver. He formed the Drivers with his friends as a group that aimed to help wasted college partyers get from one place to another safely. I knew there was a story there somewhere and I kind of had an idea right from the start about what it was about. I mean, Alejandro could have been your typical college party boy but instead, he willingly chose to be DD forever. I was intrigued, to say the least.
When Sophie enlisted Alejandro’s help in her mission to find a cure for her and her Nana’s disease, she did not expect to fall head over heels for the guy. But Alejandro’s sweet, gentle, protectiveness for Sophie did her in. It was really heartwarming to see the two of them falling for each other. But I think it kind of lacked in the development department. I just thought everything was too snappy between Sophie and Alejandro. I appreciate build-up in a romance. The love at first sight thing doesn’t really appeal much to me. I felt as if the love between those two characters would have been more intense and more profound if they got to know more about each other. It’s as if they jumped from being acquaintances to lovers just like that. Insta-love? Not really a fan.
Of course, what’s a YA/NA book without dark tortured pasts and angst-laden backstories? Sophie, endearing as she is, is a character that people can relate to. She’s going through her life fearing of what would come tomorrow. Her fears are holding her back from truly living her life. She seemed caged in by the disease that threatens to destroy her little by little, bit by bit. In her eyes, she’s broken. And I guess, it takes two broken souls to put the pieces back together. Alejandro was scarred by an accident he can’t seem to move on from. The tattoos may have obscured some of the physical scars but he knew there was no hiding the emotional ones. Sophie’s and Alejandro’s vulnerabilities gave some much-needed depth to their characters.
The premise of the story is really good and I enjoyed reading about Sophie’s journey and how she found healing, not in the myriad of alternative treatments as she originally planned, but in the way the mattered most. The pacing was a bit weak and it did not leave much room for better character and story development. I think this is a point for improvement. It was too slow in some parts that I had to really force myself to read through those part thinking that something exciting was bound to happen soon. On the other hand, the story flowed so fast (too fast IMHO) in some parts that it gave me whiplash and it left me thinking what just happened?
I’m also hoping for some kind epilogue. I am dying to know what happens to Alejandro and Sophie after The Story of You and Me. Yes, they found their way back to each other in the end. Yes, it has an happy ending. But for how long? I’m curious as to how they would deal with Sophie’s disease.
All in all, The Story of You and Me is a worthwhile read. It’s light, breezy read but at the same time, it also tugs on the heartstrings. It is the story of a girl’s fight against herself and the fears that hold her back from everything. It is the story of how she finds the strength to face those fears, how she finds healing in the most unexpected places (or persons, as the case may be).
Oh, and that cover is seriously hot. Love it!!!
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