Review: Torn

Title: Torn

Author: K. A. Robinson

Date of Publication: May 7th, 2013

Formats Available: Paperback, E-book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: Chloe hasn't had the best life. With a mother who is gone more often than not, she has had to raise herself. After graduating high school, she leaves to start a new life away at West Virginia University with her best friends Amber and Logan, determined to leave her demons in the past.

On her first day, she meets a stranger who takes her breath away at first sight. Until she met Drake, no one had ever sparked her interest. Now this tattooed and pierced bad boy is all she can think about, no matter how hard she fights it.

Falling for Drake was never part of her plans, but when it happens, things seem to do anything but fall into place.

Dealing with a tragic past, Drake has never cared about anyone else but himself and his band. But when Chloe takes the empty seat next to him in class, things start to change. Instantly drawn to her, he begins to wonder if one girl can take a cold hearted womanizer and change every part of him?

Long hidden feelings are revealed and friendships tested to the brink.

My Review:

When I saw the beautiful cover for Torn I just knew that I had to read it. I've been going through a major New Adult kick lately and Torn looked like the perfect novel for me to continue my current obsession. Despite not being the most original read Torn turned out to be highly entertaining and I ended up enjoying this novel quite a bit, despite the fact that the main plot of the novel turned out to be a love triangle... and we all know how I feel about love triangles.

The biggest reason I dislike love triangles is because I just can't stand to listen to the main character moan and complain about which boy she likes more. Generally by the end of the novel I find myself hating both love interests just because of how often I had to hear the main character whine about them. However, Chloe spent very little time complaining and because of that I was able to look past the love triangle and look at Drake's and Logan's personalities and actions to really decide which one I liked more. Robinson really knew how to make the love triangle work for the story and I think this is one of the few times in my life I've actually enjoyed a love triangle.

Chloe was an entertaining main character and, as I said before, I enjoyed her more down to earth personality as well as learning more about her back story. Both Drake and Logan made for interesting love interests but being a girl who's into tattoos and piercings there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted Chloe to end up with Drake. Clean cut Logan had a few points in his favor as well but he just wasn't as developed as Drake. I was a little disappointed in the lack of character development among the secondary characters, especially in Amber and Logan. Both of them had weak personalities and I had a hard time feeling connected to them because I knew so little about them. Logan was a little more developed as Amber, as he played more of a protector role to Chloe, but I finished the novel wishing I knew more about him.

The main reason this novel didn't get a higher rating from me was the lack of originality. Torn was a fun story but it's also a story that I've read a million times. I really enjoyed the more serious moments about Chloe's mom and everything Chloe had to go through growing up, but the majority of the novel turned out to be just fluff. However, with the cliff hanger ending I have a feeling that the next novel will be a little more serious and address a lot of the issues that I've been curious about. There were also a few awkward sentences and some moments of forced dialogue but they were fairly easy to overlook and didn't majorly impact the readability of the story.

Overall Torn was a really entertaining read and I would no doubt recommend it to fans of Chick Lit and New Adult. With plenty of romance, two completely opposite love interests, and a cliff hanger ending that will leave you desperate for the sequel the Torn series has plenty of potential and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel and see how this all plays out!

3/5

*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.