Published: May 24th, 2012
Breaking Lauren (The Lauren Series # 1)
By: Jordan Deen
Black Rose Writing
ISBN-13: 9781612961101
Seventeen-year-old Danny Cummings' life is far from a fairytale, but that's okay since he doesn't believe in happy endings. After spending a year in juvenile hall for maliciously beating his sister's boyfriend, Danny embraces his badass image. Spending most nights drinking, fighting and collecting gambling debts for his Uncle, Danny's life is out of control. His addiction to the bad boy lifestyle won't let him do anything about it, even with his family begging him to go straight. But, when fifteen-year-old Lauren McIntosh stumbles into one of his nightly escapades, the self-proclaimed anti-romantic can't concentrate on anything except Lauren and the fact that she's on the same path his sister was on. Danny knows true love happening for the villain is as common as gamblers paying their debt on time, but he's never backed away from a challenge before and he hates the idea that history will repeat itself.
Growing old with the man she loves—in the small town where she was born—is the only dream Lauren McIntosh has ever had; that is until her family is practically run out of town amidst rumors of arson and adultery. So, when she meets Danny at her new school and hears the rumors about his activities from her new friends, she wants nothing to do with him or the gossip that seems to follow Danny everywhere. After a dangerous and ill-fated attempt at sneaking out, she develops unwelcomed feelings for Danny that he seems to reciprocate. But, Danny’s unrelenting pursuit makes Lauren nervous, especially since he's the only one that wants to know the secrets surrounding her family’s move. Lauren can't tell if Danny's intentions are true or if he has other plans for their newfound and unlikely friendship. The only way to figure out is to let him in and that could destroy everything, including the popularity and social acceptance she desperately seeks.
Review
Considering how long the above summary from Goodreads is, I'm just going to skip straight to my very large and in charge opinions about this book (if you can even call it that). I went into this book expecting a raw, thrilling romance like Between the Lines by Tammara Webber with main characters from different sides of life. But what I got was a decent guy caught up in a truly bad situation, who is desperately trying to hold on and a popularity obsessed, spoiled, pouty, whiny, brat who is the source of an unimaginable obsession. Seriously, what does Danny see in Lauren? She is so melodramatic that I wanted to wring her neck at times. Especially when she finds out that her supposedly perfect popular boyfriend Josh trashed the reputation of one of her friends - and still chooses to be with him! She sticks her head in the sand a lot for someone who's family has so many issues. Even with his drug and alcohol abuse, part in his Uncle John's bookie business and family issues with his Dad, Stepmom and Sister, Danny is still more down to Earth and good-natured than Lauren by about a mile. She idolizes her parents, wanting to be a popular cheerleader like Mom and marry a guy like Dad. You know, they're just perfect if you ignore the fact that Dad cheated and Mom burned down the house in the town they moved away from to retaliate. Those two have the PERFECT MARRIAGE according to Lauren. Danny spends the whole book chasing after Lauren and trying to sober up for her, while she flat out says to his face that she'd rather have her little girl fantasy (Josh) than try to have something real with him. I practically CHEERED when Danny's sister Sara told Lauren that he was too good for her and not the other way around like everyone else seemed to think. She repeatedly shoved herself in Danny's face while trying to act like she was better than him, plus when she mysteriously gets the $500 Homecoming Dress she wanted, the moron assumes her parents changed their minds!!! WTF?!! Yeah right, her parents are going to buy a dress that costs that much for a high school dance! I actually wasn't too far behind her parent's disbelief at her utter stupidity on that one (the dress was really from Danny). Just what-the-hell-ever people. Not a good book in the least. Minus Lauren it could've been a decent book about a teenage guy with some serious issues, trying to clean up his life. With her it was a poorly written, unintelligble mess that makes me want to hurl something breakable at the wall. I'll give it ALMOST one star for Danny. That's all I owe this book.
VERDICT: 0.75/5 Stars
*I
received
an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or
favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published May 24th, 2012.*
