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Sunday, November 17, 2013

Review: Undeclared by Jen Frederick


Undeclared is the first book in Jen Frederick's New Adult Contemporary Woodlands Series. I have to admit this one intrigued me from the start just by reading the blurb! I loved the idea of a modern day pen pal relationship that could turn into more. There were a lot of things that I liked about this story and some things I didn't. But for the most part this story was very unique and different from other New Adult stories, and I ended up enjoying Noah and Grace's book.

In what begins as a class project, Grace becomes pen pals with Noah while he is overseas in Afghanistan. They write back and forth for four years until Noah's deployment ends. Through their letters, Grace ends up falling for Noah. When Noah sends her a Dear Jane letter at the end of his deployment, and tells her he sees her as a little sister it breaks Grace's heart. But two years later Noah is back and has decided to attend the same college as Grace in order to win back her heart. Grace has never been able to move on from her feelings for Noah, but letting him in again isn't something she is willing to do easily. Noah sets out to get to know Grace again and prove to her that the relationship they had begun with their letters can work and be better than ever. But with so much uncertainty in Grace's life and future, can he convince her to give him another chance?

I really liked Noah and Grace. I thought that they were both very interesting characters. One of the best parts of this book for me were the letters they sent each other. I loved getting to see both of their POVs and thoughts and I thought that their letters really allowed the reader to get to know these characters in a way that otherwise wouldn't have been easy. Noah was sweet and strong and extremely patient with Grace. I loved that he gave her time and space when she needed it. Grace was sweet and loyal. At times she was a little indecisive and naive. I know that much of that is due to the age of her character, but at times it was pretty frustrating. I really felt like Grace and Noah were great together. Very believable, and they were cute and sweet together. Of the few problems I had with this book, they were not one.

I did however have some problems with the pacing. I felt the entire first half of the book moved extremely slowly and at times I felt like I wanted to skip ahead and get to the good parts. I know that they had a lot to overcome after the last letter and the heartbreak that Grace felt, but their relationship just seemed to progress a little too slow after they reconnected. I think I might have felt differently if they had even just kissed or something, but there was just nothing. I also felt like even though they weren't together for the first half of the book, that there was very little conflict until the end of the story. Without giving anything away, it just seemed to not have much going on and I felt as if the story was lacking because of that. Despite these issues I had though, Noah and Grace were so likable that I did enjoy this story. I just think that they had such a promising story that unfortunately for me fell a little flat when I was hoping for more. That being said, I really enjoyed reading about all the characters and i'm really excited to read their stories in the upcoming books. I think that most fans of New Adult stories will enjoy the uniqueness of this book and find it to be an enjoyable read.

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository |



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