Easy (Contours of the Heart® Book 1)

Originally reviewed at [...]4.5/5 StarsOk, so to give a bit more detail about the plot in Easy, Jacqueline, who has recently been unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, is slowly emerging from her post breakup slump and trying to move forward. She's ditched the last 2 weeks of a class she shared with her ex, and missed her midterm. Determined not to fail the class, Jacqueline has plans to talk to her instructor and get back on track. But before she can do this, Jacqueline is assaulted and nearly raped as she leaves a frat party. Her attacker, a friend and frat brother of her ex, is stopped at the last moment by a mysterious stranger who tries to convince Jacqueline to report the incident to the police. Refusing, Jacqueline insists she is all right and that she just wants to go home and forget the whole thing ever happened. So this story basically details 1) Jacqueline trying to deal with the break up from her boyfriend and move on with her life and 2) Jacqueline dealing with the attempted rape and sexual assault at the hands of her ex's frat brother.There are many things I loved about Easy but I think it's the authenticity of the characters that I found most impressive. From page one, and the shocking opening scene, Jacqueline's actions and voice felt very real. Aside from the attempted assault and rape, which is something I have thankfully never experienced, I found the MC Jacqueline to be accessible and easy to relate to. I don't know about you guys, but I have been through some bad break ups. And I know all about those feelings of loss and hopelessness that Jacqueline has been dealing with since her longtime high school boyfriend Kennedy, whom she followed to college a year earlier, abruptly ended their relationship. I've experienced those feelings of wondering where to go from here and trying to figure out who you are if you aren't part of a couple anymore. I really loved watching Jacqueline start out as this lost, heartbroken girl, who suffered a horrific attack on top of everything, and emerge as a young woman determined to move forward and seek out a life beyond the confines of a damaged romantic relationship.But there are other fantastic characters in Easy. The character of Lucas, the boy who rescued Jacqueline the night she was attacked is obviously one of them. Lucas comes off as very mysterious in the beginning. He's tattooed and pierced and rides a motorcycle so automatically I assumed he was of the bad boy persuasion. But looks can be deceiving and it was awesome to learn who he really was as the story progressed.Two characters that I really enjoyed more than I originally expected were Benji, Jacqueline's classmate and her roommate Erin. Both provided ample comic relief but Erin turned out to be this amazing force in Jacqueline's life. She stood by her friend through the break up but was also adamant about getting Jacqueline back out there and not letting her wallow for too long. And when Erin finds out about Jacqueline's assault she transforms into this awesome champion of women! She enrolls Jacqueline and herself in a self defense class and she stands up to the fraternity system when it appears that the college isn't going to get involved after another girl is attacked. Erin ROCKS. Shoot, she even dumps her OWN boyfriend when he is less than sympathetic and doesn't defend Jacqueline or her allegations. Erin definitely ranks high on my list of best book BFF's.There are some great elements at play in Easy, and the romantic element is definitely one of them. And yeah, it would seem like from the summary above that there is a major love triangle (GROAN) going on. But really there isn't, and that is made apparent before even the half way point of the book.So you can see from the little disclaimer at the end of the summary that Easy is definitely written for the more mature end of the YA spectrum. Lucas and Jacqueline have AMAZING chemistry, and yes, there are sexual situations. Here is what Dear Author had to say, and it sums it up better than I could:"In college terms, everything up to third base is described in some detail but the home plate is fade to black."Yes, Jacqueline and Lucas do go there, and yes, it is HOT and steamy (in case you were wondering:) But it's also written well and, even better, I found their relationship to be very sex positive. It develops gradually and in a healthy way. There was no guilt, no pressure, both Jacqueline and Lucas thought it through and were responsible and mature about it. And after her dysfunctional relationship with Kennedy, it made my heart all sorts of happy to watch her and Lucas get it right. In my opinion this is the way to approach sex in a YA novel, it sends a positive message: that when you are ready, when you are mature enough to handle the responsibility, a healthy sexual relationship is a good thing. I hope that makes sense...Anyway, I appreciate the way it was written and I'd like to see more of this is YA and New Adult fiction.It could have been easy (no pun intended) to let this book turn into a flowery romance with a damsel in distress protagonist being rescued by the big, strong hero, yet Easy doesn't fall into this category. Whether it is Jacqueline taking back control of her life and getting her act together following her break up with Kennedy; or Erin and Jacqueline enrolling in a self defense class; or Jacqueline finally coming forward and reporting her assault; or Erin's sorority standing their ground and not tolerating any B.S. when another girl is attacked, Easy is full of tons of GIRL POWER moments which I LOVE. Thank you Tammara Webber for this. It is SO important for women, young and old, to always value themselves, know their worth and stand up for themselves and each other. As Erin famously puts it:"Sisters in solidarity and all that sh?t."Aside from the obvious message that you should always report a sexual assault, I would love to see young woman read this book and walk away from it with the message, that no! you don't have to change who you are for a guy, and no, you don't have to mold your life around his to be happy. But if you lose sight of that, you can get back up on your feet, learn from it and move forward, wiser.I loved this book. I found it to be not only romantic and sexy as HELL but very empowering as well. I think it has a really positive, uplifting message written into the text. If you are a fan of contemporaries, a fan of romance, a fan of strong friendships, a fan of humorous dialogue, a fan of New Adult or college settings, and like books that send messages of "sisters in solidarity and all that sh?t" (LOVE:) I really think you will enjoy Easy. Don't just sit there, go pick it up and see for yourself.

Dear everyone who recommended this book to me: you were right.EASY is... such an amazing book. It takes basically everything I don't like about the new adult genre and turns it on its head. It's a college-set romance where all of the characters actually work hard on homework and studying for tests. It has a realistic portrayal of frat life, with all of the pros and cons that come with that. It has feminist themes and an interesting heroine and an adorable emo love interest with a devastatingly tragic backstory that brought me to tears. It has a sex positive heroine who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to set boundaries. It has positive female friendships. It reflects a vision of college life that mirrored my own and made me feel all the nostalgic feels, like I was reading about someone I could have known from my own life.When we meet Jacqueline, she's having a pretty awful time. Her boyfriend of three years just broke up with her and then someone she used to consider a friend tries to rape her in the parking lot while she's leaving a costume party. She's saved by a mysterious guy named Lucas, who makes sure she gets home safely without being invasive. Lucas ends up coming into her life again and again because he has dozens of odd jobs around the university, in addition to being a student himself. He's also a genuine nice guy and manages to be protective without being chauvinistic, which is a nice subversion of the "dominant" male leads cast in the mold of Christian Grey and Edward Cullen and Travis Maddox.Jacqueline is a great heroine. I loved her friendship with Erin and how she wasn't one of those "not like other girls" heroines. I loved Erin, and I liked their support of Mindi and that surprising show of sisterhood in the sorority. I loved that Jacqueline started taking self-defense classes and that she worked so hard for her grades. I loved that she was sex positive and that she knew what she wanted, and I felt like all of her fears and insecurities were real. I loved that psychologists were presented as a normalized response to trauma and mental health, and that it was dropped in so casually. More of that, please.And Lucas-- I wish I'd read this book when I was in college because when I was a college student, I craved stories like these. It has all of the drama and romance of a K-drama, and I read huge chunks of this book at a time. For a while, I put off reading EASY because I had lumped it in with books like THE EDGE OF NEVER and BEAUTIFUL DISASTER, but it's really nothing like any other new adult book I read, except maybe THE DEAL. I just loved the romance and the love interest so much. I read a lot of trashy books with heroes who I would run from in real life, but Lucas is the kind of guy you would run to, and he would catch you every time. I'm not normally into guys with tattoos and piercings but I feel like the message of this book is that sometimes appearances really are only skin-deep and people can end up surprising you in the best possible way. It was just so sweet and I seriously can't recommend this book enough. Just look at me, handing out four and five star reviews like candy.Reading has never been so easy.4.5 to 5 out of 5 stars

Oh I was hooked, this exactly my type of book and it kept me up late enough I dropped my kids off at school a tad late, any who, I liked the plot the angst the best friend the new friend etc it all had a purpose, all I will say though is that I like a bit of a sex scene and while it wasn't totally out the picture of visuals it also didn't give me any excitement except for 'finally' I loved like but I also think that as intense as he was, he could be come across as passionate towards her, instead especially through text he seemed ambivalent which was a contrast to how we knew he watched her. Love a bit of email banter it just adds a other dynamic to the book, and I also like that it wasn't typical as far as the ex was concerned, yeah he was a bit of a twat with his decisions but he did care it was just too little too late and a bit selfish

I’ve read this book twice now and I still can’t articulate just how amazing it is. Let me just start by saying that if a character has two different names within the story take that as a warning that your going to have your emotions trampled on, just saying :)Easy is one of those books that you can read time and time again yet the emotions it invokes are as raw as the very first time. It’s a multi-layered story incorporating some very sensitive issues including sexual assault. Tamara Webber manages to convey the issues within the story with sensitivity while not detracting from the emotional punch they pack. Easy is intense and emotional from the very first page and doesn’t let go even after you finish that last page. Lucas and Jacqueline burrow their way into the readers hearts and stay there.Told from Jacqueline’s perspective, it is her character development that is the foundation of the narrative. Having lived in her boyfriends shadow for the past few years, to the extent of putting her own dreams on hold to follow him to college (you do want to scream at her for that). It’s a major dent to her self-esteem when he breaks up with her to ‘sow his wild oats’ (douche). Not only does she lose her boyfriend but also her social circle that revolved around him. For someone so level-headed she is really thrown off track by that selfish A****. Leading to other incidents that would have broken a weaker person, Jacqueline works hard to gain control of her life and move on.It’s very difficult not to give away spoilers to the story as so much happens yet is interlinked in the most ingenious fashion. Previous events are woven into the story by means of flashback giving insight and understanding to the current events. The use of email within the narrative adds impact visually as well as progressing the story-line. I absolutely adored the banter between the characters :)Tragedy, secrets and crazy, abusive douche-bags all add to the tension/drama within the story. While love and acceptance aid the character development.For me, Easy takes the role of damsel in distress alongside the gallant white knight (can’t you just picture Lucas as a white knight) throws in a ton of barriers for them to overcome to form a beautiful yet heart-wrenching and smexy modern fairy-tale.

Although, I love this book (I really, really do!!) it’s not perfect and I’m not so blinded by my love for it that I cannot see this. Honestly, it’s not much of a surprise that Lucas and Landon are the same person, from a readers perspective it’s pretty damn obvious straight off the bat. But I don’t think this matters – what matters are the two sides of the guy that we can love. Lucas is a bad boy, rebellious and yummy in the eyes of Jacqueline, whereas Landon holds all the qualities that are needed for a long term happy relationship. Basically Lucas/Landon represents my perfect man, he’s complex and intriguing, troubled and smart, loyal and deep (not that I want to have my cake and eat it or anything!), he’s like the bad-boy you dated in high school but all grown up and mature. And most importantly in my opinion he is obtainable - we don't know about Lucas' past but he doesn't appear to be a player or incapable of commitment, which is a story line used by so many. There's also a lot of mystery surrounding Lucas that the reader and Jacqueline never uncover in Easy , yes the big secret of his past (aka: The Event) is revealed, but after finishing the book I still felt like I didn't really know Lucas. Lucas' character, and the story, is realistic in the way that by the end of the book we still don't know that much about him and that reflects the amount of time Jacqueline has been in a relationship with Lucas and how long they have known each other. Its nice that Easy is realistic in this way. However, I was left craving for more, which explains Breakable!There are other great things about Easy other than The Guy, like the way that it deals with the subject of rape outside of the normal parameters of a typical romance novel. I especially think that the scene where Jacqueline and Mindi testify to the sorority about the rape is an extremely important part that reflects, unfortunately, broader issues regarding rape, sexual abuse and harassment. It is also particularly strong because it is women asking the questions and justifying the rape, which sadly again reflects reality. This is not to say that rape only effects women, because it doesn't, and it certainly isn't a female only problem (as represented by the male characters in this story). The president of the sorority, Katie's, speech holds a really powerful message it in: there is no justification or excuse for rape and, questions of virginity or being in a relationship with that person, are completely and utterly mute points. I admire Tammara's ability to incorporate a rape story line into a contemporary romance novel with skill and tact that fits the readership so seamlessly.I've also noticed throughout writing this review that I haven't really mentioned Jacqueline, the main character, which would be sort of surprising had I have not already come to terms with the fact that although I love Easy I don't really connect to Jacqueline as a character. There is nothing wrong with her, in fact she gets brownie points from me for NOT being an annoying main character falling in love, her actions are rational and she is realistic, which is perhaps the point. I would go as far as to say she is one of the most realistic female main characters I have read, and in someways this is the problem/brilliance as it makes her seem kind of passive, she doesn't really have any problems to overcome or growing to do and she is fairly well rounded and normal - she is an "every-women" for lack of a better term. Overall, it made connecting with the story easier and it emphasized the relationship with Lucas which is really what the book felt like it was about.

"Choosing to be with you isn't a difficult decision, Jacqueline," he breathed, pulling back one final time to stare into my eyes. "It's easy. Incredibly easy."Over the past 12 months around the blogosphere, all I've heard about is Easy by Tammara Webber. Nearly every person who reads this type of genre has recommended this book to me. And why you ask? Because, it's awesome and yes, everyone is so right!Easy is one of them novels that everyone is going to love, it's got a fantastic story line with awesome characters and a love story that is spine-tingling hot - really hot! The story deals with a very true and troubling subject - rape. Because of the subject, it's a story that will speak to many people and I have to applaud Tammara Webber for taking such a difficult story and making it work so well.I have to say, I was expecting a novel that was highly emotional because of the topic of the story, but while we did get some emotions from the main character Jacqueline, I felt she dealt with her emotions very well and was honestly quite a strong character. She did have a little break-down but, she picks herself up and tries to move on from it. Not many people could do that but it just proves how strong she was. And Lucas - swoon-worthy Lucas who is a very hot mystery. I was constantly asking myself "what are his secrets? What is he hiding?" and I have to say, it took me a few chapters to catch on who is actually was. He's plays a role in Jacqueline's life from the very first part of the story even if he doesn't always to appear to be there. Also the scenes between Jacqueline and Lucas are very intense and addicting from the start. There's something about them together that I just loved - they bring out the best in one another and really show each other what it really means to love. I just loved how connected I felt to these two."I'm trying to protect you. From myself. I don't do..." he swung a finger back and forth between us"...this."Overall, Easy is a highly charged and gripping read, and if haven't not picked up this book yet, then I highly recommend you do. You surely won't be disappointed - I know I wasn't, and I can't wait to read more work from Tammara Webber.

I am definitely feeling this New Adult genre!! I liked Easy, and it was an entertaining read. I didn't give it five stars though due a number of factors. I think the most pertinent factor was that I just finished Losing It by Cora Carmack, which utterly blew me away. They were kind of similar in some respects and maybe if I had read Easy first I would have liked it better, but I didn't. So Easy has suffered the same fate for me as Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles did when I read Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry first... when you connect so much with one book, others kind of pale by comparison.That said I really did enjoy reading Easy, and I made time to hang out with Jacqueline and Lucas. They were a great couple, and Lucas has certainly done something for lip rings which I have never liked before, but I felt like he was just too flaky. He wouldn't call Jacqueline for days on end and she kind of let him get away with that - it drove me nuts!!I actually really respected the heck out of what Easy had to say about rape and its victims though. I think that aspect really provoked thought, and I hope it helps someone out there to prevent such an awful thing happening. I loved how the self-defense was worked into the story, and Jacqueline's BFF Erin made me grin a bunch of times with her enthusiasm for groin kicking! ;)I felt like the epilogue went a touch too far into perfectville, but I can't complain because I was reading this for a Happily Ever After, so I absolutely got what I paid for.