Save Me by Jenny Elliott, Book Review

By: Jenny Elliott
Published by: Swoon Reads
To Be Released on: 1.6.15
Source: arc from publisher to review, in exchange for my honest review
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Debut-novelist Jenny Elliott’s thrilling romance, chosen by readers, writers, and publishers for the first list in the new Swoon Reads imprint, pours on the tension and danger in an addictive combination that will keep you turning pages!

Something strange is going on in the tiny coastal town of Liberty, Oregon. Cara has never seen a whale swim close enough for her to touch it—let alone knock her into the freezing water. Fortunately, cute newcomer David is there to save her, and the rescue leads to a bond deeper than Cara ever imagined.

But then she learns something about David that changes everything, and Cara is devastated. She turns to her best friend for support, but Rachel has changed. She’s suddenly into witchcraft, and is becoming dangerously obsessed with her new boyfriend….

Cara has lost her best friend, discovered that her soul mate is off limits, and has attracted the attention of a stalker. But she’s not completely alone. Her mysterious, gorgeous new friend Garren is there to support her. But is Garren possibly too perfect?

Set in the beautiful, small coastal town of Liberty, Oregon, SAVE ME is a book unlike any other YA paranormal I've read. I never would have imagined reading a book that included whales, witch craft, angels, demons and romance. I liked this mix. It's different, and it worked for this story.  The premise for SAVE ME is one of the things that attracted me to the story. Well, that and the book's stunning cover. I think this is one of the most beautiful YA covers I've seen. It captured the setting of the book perfectly. 

SAVE ME has been one of my most anticipated reads for 2015. Unfortunately this wasn't a book I loved like I had hoped I would. I started out liking it, but when I finished it, it ended up being just okay. That bothers me, because I wanted to like this book more than that. There were things that I felt needed to be polished more in the writing, and the way things were executed, in order to make it a solid 5 star book. I reviewed an arc of the book, and it's possible that some of the things I felt were lacking and needed to be fixed, were fixed in the published book. 

Here's what worked for me.
SAVE ME is a quick read. I liked that this book was one of those books I was able to just sit and read, and not put much thought into it. You know the books I'm talking about right? The kind of book that you can sit and just breeze through in no time. Sometimes it's nice to spend time with a book like this. It was just the kind of book I needed to read when I read it. 

I loved the small Oregon coast setting. Being that I'm from the NW may make me biased for books set there. I really like the whale element to the story. It was something totally different and not something I've read in any other YA book. At least not one that immediately comes to mind. I loved Cara's love for whale watching. There's something absolutely amazing when it comes to whales and whale watching. I loved the whale element of the book, and how Jenny captured that. The tropes. It's been awhile since I've read a book with quite a few tropes. I kind of liked reading about them, which is unusual. They didn't bother me as much as it would have other wise. In fact, I felt that the tropes kind of fit the storyline.

What didn't work for me.
The storyline was predictable. I don't like it when I can just about figure out everything that's going to happen within the first couple of chapters of the book. The only thing that wasn't predictable was the angel element. I'm not sure why I didn't pick up on it sooner, but I didn't. There were things within the story that were either lacking or missing, that had they not been, would have made this a much more solid storyline for me. 

The characters are nice, but I wanted more than just nice characters. I wanted characters I felt like I connected to, and really got to know. These characters were one dimensional and lacked personality. I am a reader who needs dimensional characters. I liked reading about the characters, but missed having some sort of connection to them. Without that, I didn't find myself emotionally drawn to the story. 

I needed Cara to be more challenging. I didn't like how she just accepted things vs questioned things. Especially when it came to a certain character. I needed her to question this certain character, who all of the sudden shows up in her small town, knows things about her, and has all the answers for the weird things that start happening around her, and to her friends. There were a few other very odd things this character does, that should have been a warning or at least prompted Cara to question the character vs accept everything about him. The insta-love didn't work for me either. Don't get me started on teacher-student relationships. I can't stand them, though this one starts out prior to school starting, and neither one knowing each other's ago, so I can't fault them in the beginning. I give props to Cara's mom in how she first handled that relationship. I also liked how the main love interest end up handling it as well. Yes, I'm purposely leaving out names so that this review stays spoiler free.

Overall, I saw so much potential with this story, but in the end, I was left wanting more from the story than what I got from it. I really hate it when I don't enjoy a book I've been looking forward to reading. It pains to not be able to say I loved this book. To be honest, I felt that this book needed to go through editing one more time to fix what was lacking. I seriously wanted this book to be a 5 star book. In the end, this book and I just didn't end up connecting. That doesn't mean that it won't be a read someone else will love. Being that this is Jenny's debut book, I am looking forward to reading her next book. 

*What this book includes: light romance, make out scenes, soul mates, angel, demon possession, exorcism. 
Rating: 2 Stars - I Wanted To Like It More Than I Did