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{January 20, 2014}   {Review} Double Clutch by Liz Reinhardt (Brenna Blixen #1)

Double ClutchFrom Goodreads: What happens when you fall in love with the perfect guy… twice… in one day?

Brenna Blixen spent her freshman year homeschooling in Denmark; now that she’s back in the States, she’s determined to make her sophomore year unforgettable. And by unforgettable, she imagined awesome classes, fun friendships, and maybe a little romance.

What she got was a whole lot of romance, and all at once.

The same day that dark, brooding Saxon Maclean charmed her with his killer good looks and whip-smart wit, Jake Kelly stole her breath away with his heart-wrenching smile and intelligent, thoughtful focus.

But Saxon is a proud player who makes it clear that he doesn’t know why he can’t get Brenna off of his mind and out of his system, and Jake’s sweet and humble attitude hides a secret past life that might be more darker and more complex than Brenna’s willing to handle.

Complicating the matter is the fact that Saxon and Jake were once best friends and are now arch-enemies… and the more Brenna finds out about their connection to each other, the more intrigued and worried she becomes.

Between keeping the peace with her lovingly over-protective parents, designing t-shirts for her high school’s rising punk band, keeping up her grades in both academic and technical high school, and running the track like a maniac, Brenna has enough to worry about with out juggling two guys who make her heart thud and drive her crazy all at once.

She has to make a choice. But how can she when giving her heart to one of them might mean breaking the other’s?
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I started out really liking this novel. It’s very well written and it definitely holds reader attention, however, as the plot thickened, I found myself becoming more and more disgusted with the main character, Brenna, due to her actions. Her tantrums over her boyfriend Jake, and her inability to stay away from Saxon, made me lose a lot of respect for her… I just felt like she wasn’t making wise choices and was ultimately becoming a playgirl.  Add to that her ridiculous tantrum about sex when Jake asked her to respect his wishes and slow down, and well, her immature attitude just sent my head spinning.

Brenna’s constant sense of secrecy and the fact that she falls in “love” so quickly, within 3-4 weeks, also rubbed me the wrong way. The first time she tells Jake she loves him is after a sexual escapade, and in truth, I just felt like she was a bratty young woman concerned only about herself, confusing love with lust. I do understand the teenage mind and how easy it is to get wrapped up in these types of feelings, misconstruing signals, but the way Brenna handled herself and dealt with her feelings left me shaking my head on many an occasion.  The fact that she’s a very real portrayal of the teenage mind adds validity to it all, but also scares me just a bit…

And yet, I was drawn to the story as I watched her continually do petty and immature things, and I did like the novel, overall–I just didn’t like the main character, and for me, that’s a huge part of my books.  I almost felt like Brenna was a train wreck and I just couldn’t look away which, in the end, made for a fairly interesting read.  It’s definitely worth the read; even though I wasn’t a fan of Brenna doesn’t mean you won’t be… and although I really didn’t like her, I did enjoy Jake and Saxon—they are two beautiful young men and I just adored them and their tolerance of Brenna’s craziness; they definitely help make the story.  Three stars.

3 stars

I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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