As many people say, the hype always lies.Before reading the book: OMG look at that cute cover! Definitely looks like a nice, enjoyable summer read!After reading the book: I was warned that Waiting For You was ridiculous. I was even given examples of the ridiculousness. But my curiosity and that too-pretty-for-its-content cover forced me to read it despite that. As soon as I read the first few pages, I knew I had made a mistake by picking this up.Let me explain.The charactersBailey.What to say about her? At first, she seemed to be a relatable MC. She has overly strict parents, a Dad who's a mayor so even more pressure, has had a lot of restrictions all her life, always gets perfect grades, and one day she's got of enough of all that and decides to 'rebel' and speak up. Fine, okay till now. Typical teenage behaviour. However, things became not fine when we found out that her way of rebelling is to drive off with a guy to whom she hasn't spoken in 8 years, and leaving everything behind her without a second thought. I get that she wanted to 'rebel'. But she's 18. You'd think that being mature, she would sit down and have a conversation with her parents like an adult, but no, she has to throw a tantrum during her valedictorian speech, drive off with some stranger and mess up her life. I found it unrealistic for both her and Dylan for throwing away their scholarships as if they were old socks. I don't care if they were best friends when they were 3, or if they secretly liked each other even when they didn't have any physical contact at all during 8 freaking years, but running off with some weird creep who can't even remember how many times he got arrested, smashed people's car countless times, and is aggressive towards people who try to talk to him? NO NO NO, JUST NO. That's not the only problem I had with Bailey. She was whiny and kept thinking about sex all the time, and sometimes I thought that she was purposely provoking Dylan just to get a reaction. She was just plain annoying. There was nothing likeable about her, except her spunk sometimes but it was barely noticeable among all her other shortcomings. Dylan.Don't even get me started on that self-centered jerk. The banter between Bailey and him was funny in the beginning but he soon turned into a possessive bastard and instead of starting to like him, I decided he was a complete douche. Freaking out and becoming violent when the girl you like is only dancing with someone and having a good time is pure, irrational jealousy. Not only that, but he also beat a guy to a pulp when he caught him kissing Bailey when he, himself was previously checking out a married woman in front of Bailey. He actually scared me at some point, and although the 5* ratings say otherwise, I personally think that this book is an example of how an abusive relationship is okay when it's not. It made me want to bang my head on a wall when they would fight, say horrible things to each other aiming just where it would hurt, and then go back to their lives as if nothing happened. Their only solution? Have sex, sex and more sex. How realistic. OH, and the most important part? There's a scene near the end bordering rape. Yes, rape. Forcing Bailey to give him a blowjob just to see her suffer was just appalling behaviour. There are so many things wrong about that guy, it's just UGH.The plotThe story started fine but went downhill as soon as it shifted to Dylan's POV. I was under the impression that Bailey would finally see sense somewhere in the story and go back to her family and set things straight, but no, Dylan had already gotten to her. And that plot twist near the end? I didn't see it coming, but Bailey's reaction to it was unbelievably pointless. I don't understand why she was feeling 'betrayed' or having any strong negative feelings towards Dylan. It was HIS mother who died, and HER father who killed her, not the other way round. I get that she would be pissed at her father, but pissed at Dylan for 'using' her? Yeah he was totally using her, but she doesn't get to be pissed because her mom didn't die. She was the idiot who agreed to go with him.There were also a lot of grammar mistakes that made me want to pull my hair out. Some of them were so damn stupid that even an 8 year old kid would be ashamed of him/herself. Some scenes were really unneccessary too. There were too many almost-sex scenes with Bailey begging for sex each time and they got old pretty quickly.However I think this book deserves 2 stars because despite the negative points I mentionned, there was some meaningful writing in there. Some paragraphs really make you think about life even if Shey Stahl didn't deal with the sensitive issues present in this book properly. I hate to say that, but I don't recommend this book to anyone. The moral lessons aren't worth the torture. Maybe some people will like this better than I did (and I'm sure of it considering all the 4* and 5* ratings) but this book was not my cup of tea.
Komal
“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”
As many people say, the hype always lies.Before reading the book: OMG look at that cute cover! Definitely looks like a nice, enjoyable summer read!After reading the book: I was warned that Waiting For You was ridiculous. I was even given examples of the ridiculousness. But my curiosity and that too-pretty-for-its-content cover forced me to read it despite that. As soon as I read the first few pages, I knew I had made a mistake by picking this up.Let me explain.The charactersBailey.What to say about her? At first, she seemed to be a relatable MC. She has overly strict parents, a Dad who's a mayor so even more pressure, has had a lot of restrictions all her life, always gets perfect grades, and one day she's got of enough of all that and decides to 'rebel' and speak up. Fine, okay till now. Typical teenage behaviour. However, things became not fine when we found out that her way of rebelling is to drive off with a guy to whom she hasn't spoken in 8 years, and leaving everything behind her without a second thought. I get that she wanted to 'rebel'. But she's 18. You'd think that being mature, she would sit down and have a conversation with her parents like an adult, but no, she has to throw a tantrum during her valedictorian speech, drive off with some stranger and mess up her life. I found it unrealistic for both her and Dylan for throwing away their scholarships as if they were old socks. I don't care if they were best friends when they were 3, or if they secretly liked each other even when they didn't have any physical contact at all during 8 freaking years, but running off with some weird creep who can't even remember how many times he got arrested, smashed people's car countless times, and is aggressive towards people who try to talk to him? NO NO NO, JUST NO. That's not the only problem I had with Bailey. She was whiny and kept thinking about sex all the time, and sometimes I thought that she was purposely provoking Dylan just to get a reaction. She was just plain annoying. There was nothing likeable about her, except her spunk sometimes but it was barely noticeable among all her other shortcomings. Dylan.Don't even get me started on that self-centered jerk. The banter between Bailey and him was funny in the beginning but he soon turned into a possessive bastard and instead of starting to like him, I decided he was a complete douche. Freaking out and becoming violent when the girl you like is only dancing with someone and having a good time is pure, irrational jealousy. Not only that, but he also beat a guy to a pulp when he caught him kissing Bailey when he, himself was previously checking out a married woman in front of Bailey. He actually scared me at some point, and although the 5* ratings say otherwise, I personally think that this book is an example of how an abusive relationship is okay when it's not. It made me want to bang my head on a wall when they would fight, say horrible things to each other aiming just where it would hurt, and then go back to their lives as if nothing happened. Their only solution? Have sex, sex and more sex. How realistic. OH, and the most important part? There's a scene near the end bordering rape. Yes, rape. Forcing Bailey to give him a blowjob just to see her suffer was just appalling behaviour. There are so many things wrong about that guy, it's just UGH.The plotThe story started fine but went downhill as soon as it shifted to Dylan's POV. I was under the impression that Bailey would finally see sense somewhere in the story and go back to her family and set things straight, but no, Dylan had already gotten to her. And that plot twist near the end? I didn't see it coming, but Bailey's reaction to it was unbelievably pointless. I don't understand why she was feeling 'betrayed' or having any strong negative feelings towards Dylan. It was HIS mother who died, and HER father who killed her, not the other way round. I get that she would be pissed at her father, but pissed at Dylan for 'using' her? Yeah he was totally using her, but she doesn't get to be pissed because her mom didn't die. She was the idiot who agreed to go with him.There were also a lot of grammar mistakes that made me want to pull my hair out. Some of them were so damn stupid that even an 8 year old kid would be ashamed of him/herself. Some scenes were really unneccessary too. There were too many almost-sex scenes with Bailey begging for sex each time and they got old pretty quickly.However I think this book deserves 2 stars because despite the negative points I mentionned, there was some meaningful writing in there. Some paragraphs really make you think about life even if Shey Stahl didn't deal with the sensitive issues present in this book properly. I hate to say that, but I don't recommend this book to anyone. The moral lessons aren't worth the torture. Maybe some people will like this better than I did (and I'm sure of it considering all the 4* and 5* ratings) but this book was not my cup of tea.
