Kristie J’s review of Dropout (Good Guys, Book 3) by Jamie Schlosser
Young Adult published by Amazon Digital Services 26 Apr 17
I’ve been reading this series out of order. I started with Outcast, Book 4, and was so enchanted with it I wanted to read more by this author. So my next choice was a book that didn’t work quite so well, and then I gave this one a read. This is the story of Jimmy, older brother of Ezra from Outcast, and MacKenna, a young woman who went through a horrific situation before the start of the book.
Jimmy is a college dropout, thus the title of the book. He had his chance, but he partied so wildly his grades dropped significantly and all the money his parents spent on his education went down the drain. Now, to teach him some responsibility, he’s spending the summer with his grandmother, helping her out with all her chores. This is a sentence he doesn’t mind at all, because he adores his grandma and he’s determined to make up for disappointing his parents.
Once he arrives at his grandmother’s, he meets her Very Attactive Young Neighbour MacKenna. He’s attracted to her right from the start, but she’s giving him mixed signals. At first she seems interested and then out of the blue she turns cold. Jimmy’s never had trouble having girls interested in him, so he’s a bit thrown. But the reader knows that MacKenna had a stalker ex who abused her and then tried to kill her. In order to saver herself, she had to shoot him and he’s now in prison. When this went down, the whole town turned against her and she’s very wary now. Before the book opened, she left the small town and became a modest success as a singer, but that became too much for her to be on stage. So now she makes a good living as a rather reclusive songwriter.
She returns Jimmy’s interest, but until she tells him of her past, she’s hot and cold. But once she does, he’s very supportive of her, and their attraction turns to love.
I had issues with this book, which is their ages. Jimmy has only turned 19 and as such doesn’t have the maturity to deal with a lasting kind of love. He just bombed out of college because of his immaturity and I don’t for a moment think he gained a great deal of it overnight. He’s still being supported by his parents and currently living with his grandmother.
MacKenna has more maturity going for her. She’s older than Jimmy by a couple of years; she’s lived on her own, and I’m sure because of the trauma she went through she had to grow up quicker than most. As I closed this book, I don’t think is was a relationship that will withstand the test of time. Too much growing on the hero’s part is needed.
Grade: C
Summary:
MACKENNA
I have everything I need to live out my dream of being a reclusive songwriter—my guitar, my notebook, and blissful silence.
At least, I did until Jimmy moved in next door.
He’s got bad news written all over him. And last time I got with a bad boy, it ended with me pointing a gun and pulling the trigger.
Talk about going out with a bang.
Jimmy makes me want things I shouldn’t want, which means I have two options: avoid him or piss him off. But no matter what I do he isn’t fazed, and I’m quickly realizing there’s more to Jimmy than I originally thought.JIMMY
Over the past year, I’ve been called a lot of things. Slacker. Troublemaker. Party animal.
I thought I was on top of the world. Turns out, I was pretty close to rock bottom.
Now I have a new title: college dropout.
But I’ve got a chance to redeem myself—one summer of squeaky-clean behavior at Grandma Beverly’s. Two months to prove I’m not a complete f*ck-up.
And four rules to follow with the gorgeous girl next door. Rules aren’t exactly my forte, but I only plan on breaking one of them.
I want to get back to being one of the good guys.
No excerpt available.
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