My Review
I’ve noticed a lot more books that deal with teenage pregnancy are surfacing lately, and I’ve read a couple of really, really good ones lately. Because I Love You falls into that category – it was definitely a great read that dealt with a really difficult topic that is being discussed in YA fiction more and more – and it’s about time.
Because I Love You tells the story of sixteen year old Andie, who recently gave up her virginity to her best friend, Carter. Knowing that she cared about Carter, Andie thought she would be safe and everything would be okay – until she discovers that she’s pregnant. When Andie tells her other best friend, Heather what’s going on, she decides to say it was a different guy rather than ruin their friendship over her sleeping with Carter (since the three of them are inseparable). When Andie decides to tell Carter that she’s pregnant with his baby, things don’t go over as well as planned. Carter doesn’t want anything to do with the baby – he believes that it will mess up his plans for college and he just isn’t ready to be a dad, so he denies the fact that the baby is his. When Heather hears that it’s Carter’s baby, she doesn’t just get upset – she sets out to make Andie’s life absolutely miserable. She and another group of girls taunt her, make fun of her, and continue to cause her emotional distress every day.
Eventually Andie and her ex-boyfriend Neil end up spending time together – Neil still has feelings for Andie and wants the very best for her, so he starts trying to help calm her down after the girls torture her and make school unbearable.
As Neil and Andie start to form a relationship, Andie is still faced with her pregnancy. As she goes to doctor appointments and hears the baby’s heartbeat and sees the ultrasound pictures, she really begins to picture her life as a mother, even though she doesn’t know how she is going to make it all work out.
This book is definitely a book that will bring out a lot of emotions. It made me happy, angry, sad, elated…just to name a few. There’s a lot going on in this book, and it’s one of those books that kind of felt like the romance aspect ended up taking center stage over everything else. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing necessarily, because the romance in this book was beautiful and well done (Andie and Neil definitely had some chemistry!), and it was definitely a swoon-worthy part of the book. It seemed like Neil had become Andie’s knight in shining armor.
I liked Andie’s character, especially in the beginning. She seemed strong, like she could get everything together and figured out, and do what was best for herself and her baby.
I really didn’t think that some parts of this book were realistic…I’m not going to say because I don’t want to give away spoilers, but there’s something that happens with Andie’s mom that just really ticked me off. It just felt like it shouldn’t have been a part of the book, or it could have been more tastefully done instead of just throwing it out there out of the blue.
Along with teenage pregnancy, this book does deal with adoption, which is a turn that most YA novels don’t really take, so that’s something to think about as well. Andie’s mother tries to get Andie to consider giving her baby up for adoption to a couple who really want a baby and have the means of raising one, as opposed to a single teenage mother with no job and no way to take care of a baby on her own. When Andie’s mother reveals a secret to Andie, it takes the story in a whole new direction, as well.
Either way, this is definitely a contemporary romance that I would recommend, especially if you enjoy realistic fiction!
Blaze Publishing is happy to announce the release of the YA Contemporary Romance BECAUSE I LOVE YOU by Tori Rigby! You can get your copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or you can order a signed copy from our website. We’d love for you to help us celebrate at the Facebook party May 17th from 12pm to 11pm EST.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Adopted at three-days-old by a construction worker and a stay at home mom, Tori Rigby grew up with her nose in a book and her fingers on piano keys, always awaiting the day she’d take her own adventure. Now, she goes on multiple journeys through her contemporary and historical romances. She longs to live in the Scottish Highlands, and her favorite place in history is Medieval England—she’d even give up her Internet and running water to go back in time! Tori also writes high-concept genre fiction as Vicki Leigh, and when she isn’t writing, she’s kicking butt in krav maga or attending classes to learn how to catch bad guys.
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