Waves of Fiction is excited to be a part of the blog tour for the new release, Subject to Change by Alessandra Thomas!
Subject to Change by Alessandra Thomas
Published June 25th 2013
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
About the book:Joey made her dad a deathbed promise that she would become a doctor, and dedicate herself to fighting the very cancer that took his life. There’s just one problem -three years into her pre-med classes, she's struggling to stay on top of the curve, let alone prove she's dazzling enough to earn a spot in an Ivy League medical school. In a Hail Mary move, she throws a basic Business 101 class into her semester schedule, banking on a perfect score to boost her GPA.
That is, until she’s paired for a final project with Hawk, the bartending, motorbike-riding, gorgeously bedheaded loser who falls asleep in class and communicates in one-word sentences.
Hawk does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, which sets Joey on edge – in every possible way. As they get to know each other, her urge to scream at him is curbed only by her fantasies of tearing his clothes off. Soon those fantasies become reality, and Joey realizes Hawk makes her feel more fully herself than any of the rich boys her mother and sorority sisters approve of.
But the promise to her father hangs over her head, and the harder Joey tries to succeed in her chosen career, the faster everything falls into a hopeless tailspin of bad grades, broken promises and guilt. It doesn't help to have Hawk sitting like a devil on her shoulder, insisting she should be free to live however she wants to live - like he does.
The only thing Joey knows is that her neatly organized life is crushing her - and Hawk's bad attitude might be the only thing that can save her.
My Thoughts
Subject to Change was a pleasant surprise and that was before I realized it was a second book in a series. I didn’t read Alessandra Thomas’s first novel, but I’d like to safely say that her books are complete enough to stand on their own, which I truly enjoy. The characters are fully developed, the story-line is cohesive, and there’s no annoying cliffhanger that would have you kicking the wall in frustration. Thomas does a great job of building a complete novel with all the right elements to keep you entertained.In Subject to Change, we get to meet Joey who is in her senior year of college struggling through her pre-med courses. She decides to take a business class to alleviate the pressure on her GPA and gain her some leverage into med school. When Joey learns that the class involves a team project, all hopes of getting an easy A suddenly diminish. She’s paired with Hawk who can’t seem to make the project meetings and is constantly late or missing from class. As she begins to learn more about her project partner and his challenges, she soon realizes that her own academic goals are not that solid either. Joey and Hawk inevitably discover not only an attraction for each other, but a daunting realization that their future might need to be redefined in more ways than one.
As with most New Adult literature, I have to admit how much I like the more mature concepts and considerations that find their way into these story-lines. Most often, these novels introduce characters that are grappling with some heavy issues, while at the same time trying to define their path and future. Subject to Change is no exception, where the story includes two likable characters that have a lot to consider when it comes to defining who they will become.
I feel that despite Joey and Hawk’s constant stops and starts, they made a decent pair. Hawk was a bit more likable than Joey, but I must confess that I understood her extreme academic drive and commitment to her goals. I remember going through the exact same thing when I was in college. Grades and grad school were the most important thing to me and I remember facing obstacles with the same vengeance Joey did, so I sort of felt a connection with this character.
Overall Alessandra Thomas has a clear grasp of what concepts resonate best in New Adult. She’s able to share a realistic story with a cast of relatable characters. I’ll be sure to keep my eye out for more of her novels. I enjoyed it.
3 Suns
Alessandra Thomas is a New Adult writer who swears she was in her twenties yesterday. Since she's not, she spends her time looking back on her college years fondly, and writing sexy stories about guys and girls falling in love and really living life for the first time. When she's not writing, you can find her with a spoonful of ice cream in one hand and the newest New Adult release in the other.
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