Standing Up

Kate
Forrest
Genre: 
New Adult

Mike Lewis and Jill Kramer are two university students with burning ambitions and big dreams. Who would have thought a jock and a physicist could hit it off? But that’s exactly what happens; causing both of them to really look into themselves to see whether sacrificing their dreams is worth saving their relationship. Or whether their relationship is not worth giving up what they have worked so hard for.

 

Both character and plot driven, the author does not make it easy for Mike and Jill to go through the peaks and troughs of a relationship. Both outer and inner conflicts work together to give depth to both the plot and the characters. How many times has one resorted to using ‘underhanded’ tactics as a means to an end? Pretty Machaivellian. However, this is where the author’s prowess comes from. She is not an apologist for human nature. She tells it as it is and this is what makes her characters multi-faceted. She explores some of the fears and insecurities of her characters making them someone a reader can relate to. The secondary characters – particularly the parents - may at first look like paper cut outs; but the more one gets into the story, the more the reader sees them for who they are. Any parent who reads this might just be given a little food for thought.

 

This would have merited a perfect 5 had it not been for the somewhat rushed ending. Still, this is a novel that one should not miss.

 

M.P. Ceja