Review: Unbreakable

Title: Unbreakable

Author: Rebecca Shea

Genres: New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Publication Date: September 7, 2013

Publisher: Rebecca Shea

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Jessica Harper is the epitome of perfection. She’s a good daughter, makes excellent grades, and always strays on the safe side of life. The last thing she thought would ever happen was falling in love with her best friend’s brother. But sometimes fate just has a way of bringing two people together.

Wide receiver for the University of Arizona, Gabe Garcia, seems to have it all. When his feelings for Jessica come to surface, Gabe will give up everything to be with her.

But what happens when a tragedy abruptly changes the course of your life? For Jessica and Gabe, everything they thought they knew about each other will be questioned. Sometimes, there are scars in life that are cut too deep to completely heal.

Will their love prove to be unbreakable, or will it shatter and prove fate is just another lie?

My Thoughts

First of all, let me just say that I love the cover. So much. It's really gorgeous and amazing. Plus, with the color theme used, it really gives off the feeling that it isn't an easy, fluffy read. With the warning from the synopsis in Goodreads that it has mature subject matter and a tragedy, I mentally prepared myself as I knew that this is one of the books that is different from what I usually read. I really don't know if it was because I grounded myself on that fact too much, or because I had high expectations, or just that the book wasn't for me at all.

*Warning: there might be mild spoilers (ish)

The thing is, reading through the first 30% of the book made me think whether I will DNF it or not. Why?

1. I felt that Jessica and Gabriel's relationship had no solid ground. Hence, I felt little to no connection to the both of them, and I didn't feel invested in their relationship. Established as the brother of her best friend, Jessica and Gabe have known each other for years. With the alternating point of view, it indeed, can be seen that two of them are in love with each other. This may be one of the biased reasons why I didn't like the book because I like romances better wherein I could really see and be with the characters as they discover their love for each other. Their relationship wasn't just like that, for me.

2. I didn't like how the two of them were too cheesy, and it just didn't feel natural anymore. The way they kept on repeatedly saying I love you's made me feel irritated in a sense that it became a tell not show kind of relationship. Because of their words, I know that the two of them love each other. However, I just wasn't able to feel it. I guess, it may be because I strongly believe that actions speak louder than words. True, they made out and made love with each other a lot of times (hey, these are actions), but I guess I was looking for a different kind of thing to set the foundation of their love.

3. The time frame of the story moves too fast, and it felt alienated to me, in the way that I didn't even know that a few months or a year has already passed. While I thought that only a few weeks had passed, it turns out that it was a few months, which got me distracted at some parts. This was okay though, since the time frame didn't really play a big role at the beginning.

4. Lastly, Jessica was so annoying with her whiny, childish and insecure character, that I could not just feel connected with her. She was also easily swayed, especially when it involves Gabe, which constructed her image as somebody who couldn't stand on a solid ground, alone. At some point, I found myself skimming through the narrations, and reading at the conversations instead, when it was in Jessica's point of view.

But, I decided not to DNF it because by the time I could decide, I was already halfway through, and things got better.

1. The tragedy happened. But honestly, because I didn't like Jessica that much at the beginning, I couldn't really sympathize with her that much. Moreover, as she constantly remained in a tug of war relationship with her loved ones, it was annoying to see how she'd push them away, then approach them, then push them away again. Also, I felt that the issue wasn't really dealt with properly, which made the entire thing seem less serious than it was supposed to be. It was an endless cycle, and I was at my wits end. BUT. I love her growth as a character, and I admired her for what she did. In the end, I found myself cheering for her.

2. Landon. The second guy. He is the sole reason why I kept on reading. His selflessness and love for Jessica are just so amazing. It pained me to read his perspective, but I found myself rooting for him more than for Gabe, which is really rare because I normally don't have the second male lead syndrome. But, yeah. I love him. Can I have him for myself? Please.

I may not have a good start when it came to reading Unbreakable, but the ending helped me think that I'd like to read the next book because it's Landon's story (OMG!!!!). Anyhow, Unbreakable might not just be the one for me, but other romance readers might like this one.