Book Review: Love Hurts by Beverly Scudamore

NOTE: I received the ARC through Netgalley.

It's tough to review a book that seemed so unremarkable that I forgot what it was about the day after I read it. And it's been about a month since... I think you get my meaning. I had to read the blurb and several reviews, just so I could refresh my otherwise pretty good memory. It worked. Sort of.

Now that I'm better prepared, I can give my two cents on this story. First though, I'd like to say that I've read several books on the topic of violence and abuse in the past months, so I have to say that Love Hurts pales in comparison. A lot. Here's why:

- the title is all wrong; Love Hurts implies that there is love in the first place. Well, there never was anything beyond attraction which quickly transformed into fear.

- the writing style was unpolished.

- there were scenes/dialogues that sounded quite unrealistic.

- the girl, Melody was way too gullible. She was supposed to be smart, but it seems that in books, the smart girls always ALWAYS lack common sense and do the stupidest things ever. Like Melody here - after her best friend Dustin hooked up with someone else, she threw herself in the arms of the first guy who looked her way. She didn't even try to get to know him better before she started dating him. Sure, she did a little fb background check, but even though the results startled her, she didn't get suspicious. Later on, when she put two and two together, she just went with the flow, being afraid that Colter would somehow hurt her. Well, duh. He already did, isolating her from her friends, her sport team and social life.

- Colter was badly painted as a psychotic guy. I think that his character was made to fit the crimes, and not the other way around (which would've been the more accurate approach).

I don't really understand one thing, and it's common for all Teen books. Why do teens NEVER share their problems with their parents or with adults who are capable of helping? After all, that's what parents and such are there for - guidance, help, protection, etc. It's their job to take care of children of any ages, so why are they always absent or not caring? Surely, the statistics aren't that dire, are they?


My rating is 2/5