Review: Trying Not to Love You by Megan Smith

Trying Not to Love You

By Megan Smith

book rate: ★★☆☆☆ (1.5/5)

goodreads

I know I go against the current by giving this book such a low rating. I don’t like to write bad reviews, but I need to share my thoughts with someone about this book. I've mentioned in previous reviews that what I consider the most important in contemporaries is the journey of self discovery the characters go through, the characters’ personality and the way it’s written instead of the plot itself. Obviously, in my opinion, there’s a lack of character building in our main character, MacKenzie. I also found the writing to be nothing special.

MacKenzie’s life has always been controlled by her overprotective older brothers. She could not have a boyfriend because his brothers wouldn’t allow it and would threat any boy who went near her. But then Dominic stands up to them and they start dating. However, when they go to college Dominic starts changing and MacKenzie is not sure if she can trust him. During this troubled times she grows closer to Hunter, their brothers’ best friend, and the long time hidden feelings they have for each other began to resurface. Her brothers will never allow their relationship. Hunter must choose between his best friends or the girl she loves.

The plot sounded promising and I was enjoying the first 20 pages or so of this book, until we were told how far their bothers were able to go to protect their sister. Beating up kids three years younger than them just because they broke Kenzie’s heart, following her around everywhere she went, always demanding to know what she was doing and who she was with. I think they overreacted in almost every situation and that most of their actions were unnecessary. Another thing that threw me off was when there was a problem involving Kenzie, they would “take care of it”, which meant kick some guy’s ass behind her back.

Maybe this book wouldn't have been so bad if we had a good main character, but MacKenzie was a disappointment. She was supposed to be 19 years old but she was so childish and naïve that I kept imagining her as one of those annoying 15 year old girls. She was so naïve she could not see what was right in front of her, something that everybody could see except for her.  I also hated how she kept pitting herself and how she refused to listen to what people were saying, like she knew better than anyone else. Instead of seeing her character grow I felt like she kept getting younger! There was no character development whatsoever. 

Hunter was a slightly better character, he was nice, charming and knew exactly how to deal with Kenzie, he was always there for her no matter what. Of course he made mistakes and had his jackass moments but at least he didn’t act like 15 year old boy.

To sum up, a bad reading experience. If you’re never certain which NA book to pick like me, I wouldn't recommend this one. I'm actually considering giving up on NA all together since this is not the first NA book that I've read and loathed.

If you've read this book, feel free to share your thoughts down below.