Amber Walker and her older brother, Jake, have an abusive father. One night her brother's best friend, Liam, sees her crying and climbs through her bedroom window to comfort her. That one action sparks a love/hate relationship that spans over the next eight years. Liam is now a confident, flirty player who has never had a girlfriend before. Amber is still emotionally scarred from the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. Together they make an unlikely pair. Their relationship has always been a rocky one, but what happens when Amber starts to view her brother's best friend a little differently? And how will her brother, who has always been a little overprotective, react when he finds out that the pair are growing closer? Find out in The Boy Who Sneaks In My Bedroom Window.
My Review:
I don't think I've had this many issues with one book before.
First off, the grammar was atrocious. Seriously, subject verb agreement errors? Was there no editing/proof-reading at all? I know some people don't care about grammar as much as the actual plot, but to me, if this book is being sold for actual money, I expect it to be edited well.
I didn't like Amber...like, at all. She came off as a supercilious, judgemental bitch 90% of the time, and a clueless airhead the other 10%. She is also the epitome of a Mary-Sue character, pretty but she doesn't think she is, "A" student, athletic, perfect body, no parental supervision whatsoever, the list goes on and on.
Liam is basically Amber's boy-toy/slave, he sleeps in her bed every. single. night. for 8 years to stop her from having nightmares, he makes her breakfast every morning, he drives her around, tells her she's the most beautiful girl in existence, but all this means absolutely nothing to Amber, because she hates "man-whore" Liam. This same "player" sleeps in her bed every night, not random girls' beds, but he's still a player somehow.
The whole sexual abuse aspect of the story seems like it was added for the sole purpose of reeling people in when they read the blurb on the back of the book. Amber says she's traumatised but shows absolutely no sign of being so. She sleeps with a guy in her bed every night, cuddling up to him and his ever-present boner, has no problem at all with sitting around in her bra andthong in front of him (this was before they were together), has no issues with constantly making-out-with/dry humping him. Unless of course she remembers that she was molested as a child and puts a stop to the making-out/humping sessions. This happened twice in the entire novel, without any kind of conversation afterwards or progress or even an acknowledgement by Amber that she should see a psychiatrist and deal with her issues, or even that she has issues.
There were too many misogynistic words/phrases thrown into the dialogue carelessly by the characters. I think one of the worst moments for me was when Liam, the guy who supposedly loves and respects Amber says "don't you worry your pretty little head", like in a serious tone, not being sarcastic, and she just accepts it.
There were too many variations of "ho/whore/slut" used to describe basically all the females in the book...I don't think even one female character escaped unscathed.
Did I mention the complete and utter lack of parental supervision throughout the novel? They may as well have been college students, living on their own like that. I honestly don't understand why they had to be high school age if they didn't act at all like high school kids. No high school kids live with that little parental influence. No school would allow students to ditch that often without so much as calling a parent. Everything that happened at school sounded like it could have happened at the mall, there were no references to actual classes or actual teachers so much as the cafeteria and everyone ogling/fighting over/betting on the hot guys on campus.
Another thing I don't get is the mother, if she was abused by her husband for years and is basically cowering in fear every time he sets foot in the house, and then she is freed, he's gone, why didn't she report her husband to the police? Get a restraining order while she can without the threat of violence hanging over her head? No, she decided to get a job that keeps her out of town for 3 weeks per month, leaving her (then 15 and 13 y/o) teenagers alone at home for 3 week stretches while their abusive angry MIA father is on the loose. Totally rational.
Then there's the fact that the abusive (alcoholic?) father waschased out of his home by a pair of 15 year old boys...I'm sorry, but I can't see that happening, ever.
Also, Liam and Jake are both supermodel-athlete good looking and have hordes of admiring female fans who follow them around because, being female, teenage, secondary characters, what else would they do at school? What do you mean attend classes? There are classes in high school you say? and teachers too? no way!
Lastly, there were the completely random story arcs that didn't contribute a thing to the novel, except maybe to make it seem longer and more complicated. The whole pregnancy thing felt so out of place...like the author was planning on ending the book with a HEA+baby and changed her mind but decided to keep the chapters in there anyways. The Kate/Johnny/Jake love triangle-ish thing was distracting and ended up fizzling out. Multiple male characters waltz into the story, attempt to maul Amber, get intimidated/beaten up by Liam and waltz right back out. It just feels like a bunch of random things stuffed into the novel that don't get elaborated on and just exist to add to the word count.
The only redeeming factor in the entire novel is "night Liam", which is how Amber refers to Liam when he's being sweet and not a jerk, and the one star is for his sake alone. I'm using the term to refer collectively to all the cute things Liam does throughout the book. I can't honestly say that I liked Liam as a character because the author couldn't seem to make up her mind about his personality and he ended up coming across as having multiple personality disorder. One minute he's an absolute ass and the next he's comforting Amber.
Ever Yours~
The Know-it-all
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