Confession of a Book Junkie: Bad Rep

Bad Rep - A. Meredith Walters

Posted by OnyxHIikari

Maysie Ardin is soaking up the summer before her junior year of college, shopping, hanging by the pool and shopping some more. But when her black belt in spending lands her in trouble with her parents, she is forced to take a second job at a local bar to dig herself out of a deep financial pit.

She thought she’d be miserable. But then Maysie didn’t count on Jordan Levitt, the hot, pierced and tattooed, drum playing bartender who also happens to be very interested in her. And the feelings are totally mutual.

It had the makings of the perfect romantic set up. Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Boy has girlfriend? Okay, maybe not.

But attraction is a hard thing to ignore and soon Jordan and Maysie find themselves in the middle of a gossip induced firestorm. Maysie has to learn whether she can set aside her fear of public disapproval in order to be with the one she wants. Or will she let the opinions of others dictate her life and her heart?

Rating: ★☆★☆
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(current Pricing Amazon 0.99)
Version Read: Kindle

This book reminded me of a cross between Beautiful Disaster and My Favorite Mistake. But it was still unique enough to be on it's own. While I was torn between 3 1/2 or 4 stars, I decided to round up. Masyie and Jordan have a lot of sexy moments and very tender moments, all wrapped up in what seems to be the drama of being attracted to someone you shouldn't, but fate has a different idea for you. Even though the description states something about Maysie and her spending habits, it's really just a blip in the whole story, enough to get the ball rolling where she has to take a job to basically to keep up with Joneses. So don't let that turn you off.

The story in itself is a story about learning to standing up for yourself. Finding that it doesn't matter what others think of you but rather what you think of yourself. It also shows how bad group mentality, bullying and rumors can be vicious, although again this is just a side blip. It's a coming into yourself story, that includes self forgiveness, realization, and learning not to hide but rather stay and fight. But....

The only thing that seriously bothered me was the "guilt" in this story. It almost seemed to focused on, making it almost annoyingly frustrating in some parts. I couldn't understand why, if she understood her issues, had a friend to help her point out her issues, the same issues of self esteem kept coming back into focus over the same subject in several chapters, why she couldn't help herself and do something to get past it or honestly, professional help. At some point you almost think she might actually be happy there instead of just lost. (If you have read Dublin Street, it almost to that point, but magnified.) You just wanted to shout enough already, yes this and this happened, but it doesn't make you this horrible person that you think chapter...after chapter....after chapter, literally. Even when Jordan is blatantly honest with her at one point, baring his soul, she whips something out of left field and then basically stands there and lets him go because of herself. In a way she seemed selfish, but with legitimate reasons that I think could have been solved sooner in the story.

While it is told in first person, I really think it would have benefited from a third person POV as most of the time you have no idea what is going on with Jordan, or how the situation is effecting him. I say this because in some sense while he seems sympathetic to Masyie's plight, he's almost oblivious to the harsh nature of the way she's being treated. There's no way if the campus was that small that he wouldn't have at least heard or seen something that would have tipped him off to the backstabbing she was going through.

With that said, I didn't like the story immensely. The ending was good, even if the self-realization was a tad rushed. Jordan was sweet and romantic wrapped up in a Alpha male. The sex scenes had me fanning myself several times. They weren't overly done or graphic, but just right enough to be hot. Again his POV would have been nice because of the sheer nature of the relationship as well as the main situation storyline of the book. It was worth read and I will re-read it. at it's price on Amazon, it's worth it. I was involved in the characters lives. I sympathized with them and their choices. That is the reason I starred up instead of down. Would I recommend it? Absolutely as I think we can all identify in one way or another.