Review: Interrupted

Title: Interrupted (Progress #2)

Author: Amy Queau

Date of Publication: July 15, 2013

Formats Available: Paperback, E-book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: After the emotional turmoil that was ‘Jesse’ subsides, Charlie manages to find peace with her decision to leave him, despite her conscience telling her otherwise. Saying goodbye to the drama proves to be an easier task than she anticipated.

And although Charlie’s life continues to test her strength, her will, and her motivation to pick herself up and dust herself off, she carves a new path. Making positive changes in her life, she gets a new job, a new apartment, and a new guy; everything is nearly perfect. Nearly.

Hundreds of miles away, Jesse isn't faring too well in their aftermath. But within his darkness, he finds a purpose and reconstructs himself with one goal in mind:

He needs to find his Charlie.

My Review:

After how Progress ended I absolutely could not wait to get my hands on Interrupted! I was excited to see that this novel starts right where the previous novel left off and didn't start a few days afterwards with a flashback of what happened that night. This novel really threw me for a loop, I wasn't expecting any of the events that happened and that's what made this novel such a fantastic read. Queau creates such developed characters with such strong personalities that it's nearly impossible to dislike them or their story!

Charlie changed and grew so much as a character in this novel. She went from being a scarred and insecure girl to a stronger and more independent woman; she finally begins to let go of some of the things that were holding her down and embrace herself for who she is. The majority of the novel focused on Charlie with only a short section devoted to Jesse. I was a little disappointed to not hear more about him but in the end it was what the story needed and when Jesse makes a reappearance we get to learn more about what happened to him while he was gone. As much as Jesse frustrates me there is still something about him that I can't help but love, he always has his moments where he just says or does the right thing and maybe, like Charlie, I just want to fix him.

I'm not one for love triangles, I never have been and I don't think I ever really will be. However, Queau was really able to make the love triangle in this novel work. One of the biggest reasons I hate love triangles is because there is always one character I love and one character I hate; in Interrupted I found myself faced with two characters that I really liked. Sam is the perfect love interest, devoted to Charlie and drama-free his cute dates made me smile and, even though I didn't think I would, I ended up loving him toward the end. Jesse on the other hand is always a wreck and half the time he and Charlie don't even get along, but at the same time there is something beautifully tragic about him and their relationship. The more I read the more conflicted I felt, which made the love triangle work perfectly!

The biggest problem I had with the first novel was the third section, told from the point of view of an observer I felt that I just couldn't connect with the characters the same way that I had in the first two parts. However, Interrupted didn't have this problem at all! Even though the novel was set up the same way Queau's writing has improved so much that during the section told from the observer's point of view I didn't get the alienated feeling that I got before. The novel flowed much smoother between the transitions in perspectives and I really liked how instead of going from Charlie to Jesse to the observer Queau mixed it up a little and started with Jesse then went to Charlie and went back to Jesse before the final observer section. Interrupted was organized so much more effectively than Progress that, in the end, I think I liked this novel even more than the first because of how well everything flowed.

The Progress series just keeps getting better and better and I absolutely can't wait to get my hands on the next installment! Fans of realistic fiction definitely need to check out this series. There is no doubt that readers will no doubt fall in love with Charlie and Jesse and find themselves desperate to read the rest of their story. I highly, highly, highly recommend this series!

4/5