Title: Love Story
Author: Jennifer Echols
Release Date: July 19, 2011 (paperback)
Publisher: MTV Books
Pages: 256
Source: ARC provided by author

Overall: 4 Stars

Summary:

SHE’S WRITING ABOUT HIM. HE’S WRITING ABOUT HER. AND EVERYBODY IS READING BETWEEN THE LINES.

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions—it’s her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family’s racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin’s college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a local coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she’s sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He’s joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin’s heart with longing. Now she’s not just imagining what might have been. She’s writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true. 

My Thoughts:
Jennifer Echols is among my favourite YA contemporary authors... so it really came as no surprise when I found myself instantly falling for Love Story! I always find her writing ever so addictive and it's only with great difficulty that I can even put her novels down for a moment! She gets right into the minds of her characters, building up the tension steadily and throwing complications into the plot that bring out the drama I crave in her stories.

Erin and Hunter. Oh my goodness, they could both be so stubborn and infuriating at times! Just when you think Erin and Hunter will finally work things out, something new happens to sway one of their opinions of the other for the worse... and then it's like you're back to square one. A hot and cold relationship between characters can really grate on me sometimes... but for Jennifer Echols, it always seems to work. I get so swept up in the story, and with an almost desperate nature, I'll flip through the pages eagerly hoping for the best possible outcome for everyone.

For all their faults though, there were no doubts about the chemistry between Erin and Hunter! It might not be so apparent to the pair that they should be together, but for everyone else, it was quite obvious to see. They share a complicated past together and Erin's loss of her inheritance, due to her Grandmother recently deciding to give it to Hunter instead, certainly isn't helping. Erin is determined to make her dreams of becoming a writer come true though and hoping to escape from tragic memories rooted at her home back in Kentucky. But with Hunter's arrival at her creative writing class, she may have to confront the past to move on in the future.... something she's afraid to face.

Going Too Far may still hold the title of being my favourite novel by Jennifer Echols, but I certainly wouldn't count out Love Story as being another dramatic, angst-ridden romance novel which I could easily lose myself in. If you've never read a novel by Jennifer Echols, what are you still waiting for?