Title: My Life with the Walter Boys Author: Ali Novak
Format: Audiobook
Jackie does not like surprises. Chaos is the enemy! The best way to get her successful, busy parents to notice her is to be perfect. The perfect look, the perfect grades-the perfect daughter. And then...
Surprise #1: Jackie's family dies in a freak car accident.
Surprise #2: Jackie has to move cross-country to live with the Walters-her new guardians.
Surprise #3: The Walters have twelve sons. (Well, eleven, but Parker acts like a boy anyway)
Now Jackie must trade in her Type A personality and New York City apartment for a Colorado ranch and all the wild Walter boys who come with it. Jackie is surrounded by the enemy-loud, dirty, annoying boys who have no concept of personal space. Okay, several of the oldest guys are flat-out gorgeous. But still annoying. She's not stuck-up or boring-no matter what they say. But proving it is another matter. How can she fit in and move on when she needs to keep her parents' memory alive by living up to the promise of perfect?
What I Liked:
- The Premise - This has been on my TBR for so long, because of the premise. One girl that has only had a sister from NY pushed into a house with 12 boys on a ranch? That is my kind of read!
What I Didn't Like:
- Show don't tell - So if you are a writer or have taken any English class, you have heard this. Show, don't tell. This book had a huge problem with this. It didn't show us anything. It just vaguely told us.
- The Characters - The characters were so flat. I feel bad saying this, but they were. Cole seemed to be a jerk through the entire book and we are supposed to like him? All the boys and Jackie were one dimensional. We are in Jackie's head and I feel like I didn't know her. So much time was spent on how prissy she was. Okay, and then what? Cole has great abs, is that it for his personality? Alex is a gamer, what else? The only character that was reasonable was Danny and that is stretching it.
- Trauma - Jackie's entire family died three months ago when this story begins. We are told she is sad about it, but pushing it down. Now being told that you would think this would be delta with throughout the book, right? It never is. It is brought up tons of times at weird places, but never actually dealt with.
- The Timing - Most of the time I didn't know when anything was happening. It wouldn't tell me when they were switching scenes or places and randomly someone else is speaking that is referred to as "him". There is 12 guys in this book. Him who?
- The Love Triangle - I am not bashing love triangles. I actually really like a good love triangle, but this one wasn't one of them. Jackie dangles the boys in front of the others and then acts like she has no idea what is happening. She purposely hurts both of them, for what seems to be her own amusement.
- Jackie - I know I said characters up there, but this deserves one of it's own. Jackie was a terrible character. She was extremely self centered. She even made one of the boys going to the hospital about her. She was just very annoying.
Overall I gave this a 1/5. I really didn't like this book. I actually stopped listening with 30 mins left in the book, because it got to the point that I just couldn't do it anymore. I really hate giving a book this bad of a rating and I honestly think not enough editing was done between Wattpad and it being published. I will still give Ali Novak's other books a chance, because this was her first and it was done a long time ago.
Edit: So after reading the book on Wattpad I have found that it is actually a lot better. I am not for sure why some of the characters and events weren't in the actual book. If you like the premise of this book, I recommend that you read the Wattpad version. It still has some of the elements I didn't like, but not nearly as many.
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