There You’ll Find Me Book Report

There You'll Find Me 
By:Jenny B. Jones
Genre: YA Christian Fiction
Coffee Beans: 4/5
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Minor
Disclaimers: This book was provided for review by Netgalley
Favorite Line: You sounded down on the phone yesterday. You can talk to your old dad about anything, you know. Except boys. And bras. And that Bieber fellow.

I was supposed to be reading another book, but opened this one by mistake. Once I started reading, though, I couldn't stop. I have to say, I didn't know what I was getting into when I picked this book up, but I'm glad I did. There You'll Find Me is a YA light romance about a young girl who's still trying to cope with the loss of her older brother and at the same time trying to renew her faith and relationship with God.

Publisher's Summary:

When Finely books her trip to Ireland as a foreign exchange student, all she wants to do is let her heart heal, see the sights in her brother's favorite country, and work on her college audition piece for a prestigious music conservatory. She plans to use her brother's journal from his time in the Emerald Isle as her guide during her stay, yet from the moment she boards the plane and sits next to Beckett Rush, teen star of the hottest vampire flicks, nothing goes according to her well-ordered plan.

The peace and beauty of the Irish village are no match for the chaos that soon becomes her life. When she gets roped into working as Beckett Rush's personal assistant, she finds this famous wild child is not quite what he seems. And as she grows closer to the mysterious actor, her own secrets refuse to stay put.

I love how Jones "rips from the headlines" her characters. I got a good chuckle out of the fact that Finley is the daughter of a hotel mogul who's got herself in a bit of trouble with her partying ways after the loss of Will, her brother. And that Beckett is a teen heart throb actor who's currently filming a vampire movie in Ireland. It's the typical Girl-is-not-impressed-by-hot-guy-every-other-girl-wants-so-as-a-result-guy-really-wants-plain-girl. But I was okay with that. The bantering relationship between Finley and Beckett was fun and didn't grow boring. I found myself laughing quite a few times out loud.

Jones does a good job slipping in the reality that everyone has their secrets for whatever reasons, and some are more dangerous to keep than others. Jones slipped in some subtle hints throughout the book that Finley might have an eating disorder, but it leaves you guessing one way or another until well into the book. The book goes into depression and body image and self-esteem that every young girl goes through, and Jones does so in a very believable, natural-to-the-story way. I found myself nodding many times thinking, "yup, been there before, plenty of times".

The story is smooth and believable with the protag's internal struggle with her own depression from beginning through the climax to the end, and shows just how easy it is, with the right conditions, for a person to spiral down certain paths. There were also many emotional points throughout the story that made me tear up a little. Mainly Finley's own struggles (been there, done that) as well as her relationship with others.

Now for the bad. And it's really not that bad. Finley was a well-rounded, deep character. Beckett was pretty okay, considering we're seeing him through Finley's eyes. The others? Not so much. I felt they were pretty flat and could have been a little more intricate. Like Beatrice. Yeah, she's the queen bee biotch, but there could have been more complication with her than there was.

Anyway, it's a fun, sweet, good book. Worth the read and kept me turning the pages, always thinking about what was going on between Finely and Beckett when I wasn't reading. Even though the only character I found 3-D enough was Finley, the author did such a good job weaving the story together and making me want to get back to it whenever I was away. Because of that, I gave it a good, solid 4 coffee beans.

Pick it up and give it a read. Decide for yourself. Happy reading, my friends!