A review by smitch29
More Than Her by Jay McLean
4.0
Overall, this was a good book, that was a bit long and filled with too many grammatical errors, but still managed to make me want to read the next in the series.
So quick synopsis, this is Amanda and Logan's story. After meeting this characters a little in the first novel of the series, we find out there was more going on during that time frame than we got to see. In book 1, we saw Logan's man-whorey ways a fair bit, but Amanda only popped up in one scene. In this book, we get caught up on just what happens right after Amanda's appearance at Mikayla's family's wake. We see how Logan tried to woo Amanda a bit before getting scared and backing off. After over a year of trying to run into her again, his wish comes true and he talks his way back into her life. Only this time, Amanda has been through the wringer in the last year or so, which has made her trust a whole lot harder to earn.
Over half the story is this give and take became Amanda's trust issues and Logan's fear of hurting Amanda one way or another. Eventually, they settle into a routine where they are happy together. Naturally, this is a perfect opportunity for all of Logan's past demons to come back and haunt him. In a twistedly poetic way, it is sort of perfect that these demons are, in a way, brought around thanks to the same demon-bringer of the first book, Megan (Mikayla's ex-best friend).
The ending actually surprised me because it was a bit of a cliffhanger. It wasn't all that bad as cliffhangers go (other authors could learn something about how a cliffhanger ought to be used from this book). There was an uphill slope right before the cliff's drop off, but rather the story was already starting to wind downwards when the cliff showed up and got me interested in the next book.
The cliffhanger surprised me because I didn't expect a second book from these characters because this was already a pretty darn long story. Their give and take about trust issues and overcoming fears that I mention before that took over half the book, was a bit long and exhausting. I even ended up having to stop reading and pick up another book. I am actually a bit glad though that I chose to finish reading this one. I don't know if the writing was too long and poor and redundant or if I just was in more of a mood to read something edgier. I suppose I'll never really know.
Granted, the story was still intriguing and had a great mix of characters. They were all loveable but with their own personalities; it was just a pool of quirky support, it was an amusing array of flawed and humorous personalities.
For the quality of the story telling, the grammatical errors littered throughout this novel was atrocious. There were too many ridiculous mistakes that it made me question if the author just said the book aloud and had an eight-year-old transcribe it for them. I get that this wasn't a big publisher-production type of book, but it still makes it hard for me to take this book seriously when it barely seems polished at all.
So quick synopsis, this is Amanda and Logan's story. After meeting this characters a little in the first novel of the series, we find out there was more going on during that time frame than we got to see. In book 1, we saw Logan's man-whorey ways a fair bit, but Amanda only popped up in one scene. In this book, we get caught up on just what happens right after Amanda's appearance at Mikayla's family's wake. We see how Logan tried to woo Amanda a bit before getting scared and backing off. After over a year of trying to run into her again, his wish comes true and he talks his way back into her life. Only this time, Amanda has been through the wringer in the last year or so, which has made her trust a whole lot harder to earn.
Over half the story is this give and take became Amanda's trust issues and Logan's fear of hurting Amanda one way or another. Eventually, they settle into a routine where they are happy together. Naturally, this is a perfect opportunity for all of Logan's past demons to come back and haunt him. In a twistedly poetic way, it is sort of perfect that these demons are, in a way, brought around thanks to the same demon-bringer of the first book, Megan (Mikayla's ex-best friend
Spoiler
who slept with Mikayla's boyfriend and helped get her family killed; also, long lost sister of LoganThe ending actually surprised me because it was a bit of a cliffhanger. It wasn't all that bad as cliffhangers go (other authors could learn something about how a cliffhanger ought to be used from this book). There was an uphill slope right before the cliff's drop off, but rather the story was already starting to wind downwards when the cliff showed up and got me interested in the next book.
Spoiler
SPOILER: the cliffhanger: so the demons that showed up were Logan and Megan's dad and Megan's ex-boyfriend, and they beat up Logan and messed up Amanda a bit. Megan's ex tried to rape Amanda, but things were stopped before that happened. The next thing we find out is that Logan never visits Amanda in the hospital because he is done with her from what we assume is his fear of his past hurting Amanda. She goes to confront him and pleads for him to fight for her and their relationship, but instead he does nothing. His parting words were to tell her he loves her. The story then all of the sudden ends 5 weeks later with Amanda trying to move on and Logan doing who knows what while traveling the world.The cliffhanger surprised me because I didn't expect a second book from these characters because this was already a pretty darn long story. Their give and take about trust issues and overcoming fears that I mention before that took over half the book, was a bit long and exhausting. I even ended up having to stop reading and pick up another book. I am actually a bit glad though that I chose to finish reading this one. I don't know if the writing was too long and poor and redundant or if I just was in more of a mood to read something edgier. I suppose I'll never really know.
Granted, the story was still intriguing and had a great mix of characters. They were all loveable but with their own personalities; it was just a pool of quirky support, it was an amusing array of flawed and humorous personalities.
For the quality of the story telling, the grammatical errors littered throughout this novel was atrocious. There were too many ridiculous mistakes that it made me question if the author just said the book aloud and had an eight-year-old transcribe it for them. I get that this wasn't a big publisher-production type of book, but it still makes it hard for me to take this book seriously when it barely seems polished at all.