Wednesday, August 27, 2014

#Review: Hard Knox .@nwilliamsbooks

Book Title: Hard Knox (Outsider Series 1)
Author:  Nicole Williams |WebsiteTwitterFacebook|
Publisher: Self Published
Genre: New Adult Romance
Series/Standalone: Series Book 1
Format: ebook
Cost: $3.99
Pages: 310
How I got it: Blog Tour Company
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | KOBO
Publication Date: August 12, 2014
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Synopsis:
Knox Jagger. The name inspires resent in every male at Sinclair University, want in every female, and contempt in Charlie Chase. Charlie can be summed up in three words: independent, independent, and independent. To Charlie, Knox epitomizes everything that’s wrong with college males: prolific one-night stands, drunken senseless fights, and a body that hints at prioritizing gym time over study time. As an up-and-coming writer for Sinclair University’s newspaper, Charlie’s tasked with getting to the bottom of who’s been dropping little white pills into girls’ drinks at parties. In an ocean of All-American boys sporting polo shirts and innocent smiles, Knox is the obvious suspect. As evidence piles up against the bad boy of Sinclair, Charlie becomes more and more certain it isn’t Knox. But when her drink is dosed at a party and she wakes up on Knox’s couch the next morning, Charlie’s left with more questions than answers when it comes to Knox Jagger. How can Charlie ever hope to uncover the truth behind a guy so closed off he’s become . . .
This is the first time I have read Nicole Williams' writing, and it won't be the last at all.  I'm so looking forward to Damaged Goods which is book two and I have no idea what it's about but I'm going to enjoy reading it that's all I know.

When I first started i thought " Ugh, why already her attitude is tired. Shut up judgmental bitch. I hate characters who are "superior" only in their own minds because they put others down" Yeah then she turned around and made me eat those words.

I bitched about this book but it actually pulled me in.  This relationship reminds me of Jess and Riley in Sweet by Erin McCarthy, in how frank, real, and raw they were together.  It's funny how much of who they ere was hidden from others but not really from each other.  They fought hard to remain separated and their own people yet they become pretty essential to each other.  When the book first began I hated Charlie because I hate when characters thing they are better than others. Charlie or Ms Chase was a bit of an asshat , shes really naive if she truly thinks that some effing sayings on her shirt is going to save the world. Seriously??? Bitch please, if the Dali Lama who actually works towards world peace can't make it happen you think your passive aggressive t-shirts are going to enlighten someone?? She looked up to a mentor who I disliked from the get go.  The privilege coming off these characters annoyed me so much, then shyt got real and someone got in her face and called her on it and I wanted to scream it was so amazing.  I hated that there were almost no positive female friendships within the book. Not every sorority girl is a bitch, we aren't all out to make other girls look bad, we aren't all dumb because of how we dress, or the letters on our clothing.  Charlie judged women harshly and I wanted to tell her if maybe if she wasn't such a smug judgmental bitch then maybe she would have more friends.

Knox isn't your typical "bad boy"  he's a badass and a bit of a bad guy and he embraces it, and even uses it.  Completely embraces it which makes him pretty unique as a character because normally the bad boy is a guy who really isn't trying to be, nope not Knox, he does his best to live up to his name.

Knox as a character is complicated, it's one thing if you didn't know the consequences of your actions it's another when you do and you still do it. I'm sympathetic to his plight, I get why he did it, he was desperate and needed help and there was no one to help him so he did what he had to do, I get we can't punish kids for their indiscretions because well they're to put it politely.. freaking idiots it's a wonder the world hasn't ended with the different generations but seriously my dude??  Does his actions later make up for his actions before?? I don't know but when we find out his back story I both wanted to kill him and to cry. UGH Nicole you suck!!

The devil however is going to get his due eventually and it's never who we think will pay the price who ultimately does.  Knox paid in the worst way possible and I wouldn't wish that on even my worst enemy.  It brought his actions home in the worst way possible and he could never have expected it and I'm of two minds, while I wouldn't want that to happen to anyone, and yet this way he got a taste of what others had to deal with because of his decisions.  His need to survive fueled their despair.  Nicole doesn't make this easy at all, the ethical dilemma is a hard one, and the clear black and white lines aren't as clear as they used to be in this one.

Can I just say I picture Knox and Charlie as the two people I follow on instagram??  He's big and she's little as hell, they met in college and they both cuss up a storm like Knox??  Yeah they totally remind me of F & D.  Isn't it sad thought that the university of course would rather cover it up?? Than face the truth?? Which is eerily real because recently a couple of big name schools got in trouble for this including Yale University (which is right where I live). (Article here)

This book wasn't cut and dried and it didn't make it easy to like the characters because they were convoluted and complex and flawed like hell but in the end, Nicole pulled it all together and gave all the feels that could be felt.  I highly recommend it. I yelled at the characters, I called them names, I freaked out when things went wrong and I totally loved them by the end.
 ★★★★
Go read it y'all and come back so we can compare our notes on Charlie and Knox.  Have you read it?? Did you hate it, Love it, Like it?? Share down in the comments. 
Happy Reading


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