Ashlyn: A lonely society princess living in New York City. Daddy hired you to be my bodyguard.
Colin: Childhood enemy, now her protector.
Daddy thought I’d be safe. He thought I’d never fall in love. He thought he could keep me forever.
Charles: obsessed with keeping her safe, keeping her his, he hires the one person he knows she could never fall in love with: Colin.
Daddy was wrong.
Review: How did I feel about this book... that is the question. No, honestly, I really have no idea. It was a difficult read for me because the pacing was slow and the characters and story were unbelievable yet I still got thorough it and, dare I say it, possibly enjoyed it.
The story itself is very cliche and unrealistic, with numerous plot holes. I did understand why Ashlyn's father acted so overprotective, but didn't understand why he'd employ Colin, who had no proper bodyguard training, surely a dad so set on protecting his daughter would choose somebody with proper training. I also felt as though certain areas of the plot weren't developed well enough, for example we're told at the beginning of the book that Ashlyn hates Colin - is even scared of him but we're never given any explanation of why, the reason seems to be because he chased her down the beach with a crab as kids, but this doesn't seem to warrant hatred and fear.
The book does deal with some sensitive issues though, which give this book a level of depth. There is kidnapping, attempted rape and Ashlyn having to deal with an overprotective father and a mother who isn't all there, as well as her parent's break up. These things were dealt with in a realistic but sensetive way.
The characters were neither relatable or particularly likeable but I didn't really dislike them either, they never seemed real enough to develop any type of connection or feelings for. In fact, they were pretty forgettable, that's not to say that they were bad characters, they just lacked development. I didn't believe the relationship between Ash and Colin as it was all too cliche and expected, they also didn't really have any relationship obstacles to surpass, which made it uninteresting.
My main issue with this book was the writing though - Laurens seems to describe what Ashlyn is wearing every three pages (I'm not even kidding, it drove me crazy) as well as this, there was some crazy scene hopping that seemed really rapid and I wasn't a fan of. Laurens wasn't a bad writer, in fact the writing was very smooth and easy to read, it's just the bad habits that annoyed me.
Overall, Overprotected was an okay read that lacked depth. This book is a quick and easy read but is very cliche and unoriginal. Cheesy chick lit for teens!
Overall Rating: C-
Stand Alone/ Series: Stand Alone
Release Date: April 29th 2011
Publisher: Grove Creek Publishing
Book recieved from the author in exchange for an honest review
I liked this as a quick contemp read - I agree the characters weren't all particularly likeable, and bits were cliche, but I enjoyed it overall. Thanks for the review! :)
ReplyDeletegood honest review Jade! Its a shame you didnt like it because Ive had my eye on this one for a while but I am still tempted to read it and see what I think myself, or at least try one of her other books! :)
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