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When Love Can Give You Wings
Love Me, Love Me Not
Young Adult Fantasy
Entangled: Crave
February 22, 2016
Kindle E-book
211
Dating isn’t easy when you’re in the middle of a blood feud.
Anastasia Vila’s family can turn into swans, but just once she’d like them to turn into responsible adults.
After hundreds of years, they still cling to the blood feud with the Renard family. No one remembers how it started in the first place—but foxes and swans just don’t get along.
Vilas can only transform into their swan shape after they have fallen in love for the first time, but between balancing schoolwork, family obligations, and the escalating blood feud, Ana’s got no time for love. The only thing keeping her sane is her best friend, Pierce Kent.
But when Pierce kisses Ana, everything changes.
Is what Pierce feels for her real, or a byproduct of her magic? Can she risk everything for her best friend? And when the family feud spirals out of control, Ana must stop the fight before it takes away everything she loves.
Including, maybe...Pierce.
He Loves Me…He Loves Me Not…Wait, do I love Him?
The general premise of this story is fresh and new: a Romeo and Juliet style blood feud, with shape shifting thrown in for good measure, topped off with a healthy dose of teenage angst. Overall, this is a quick and satisfying read.
There was a great deal to like about this book, especially the tension between life-long friends Ana and Pierce. As someone who married one of her best friends from high school, I appreciate Pierce’s feelings over being “friend-zoned” and Ana’s apparent obliviousness to his feelings for her (and her feelings for him), throughout most of the book. The friendship between Ana and Pierce is one of the most authentic parts of this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed throwing my hands up in frustration over Ana’s continuous dismissal of Pierce as a possible suitor, and later her disbelief that he could really be interested in her.
Unfortunately, the other relationships in the book are not as satisfying. The blood feud story line is not as developed as it could have been, and several opportunities for a classic YA-style love triangle between Liv (one of the fox girls), Pierce, and the ever-oblivious Ana are missed. But really, this book’s main failing is in being too short! A few more chapters, or even an entire second book, would have helped to address these shortcomings.
That being said, Love Me, Love Me Not is an entertaining read. It is fresh, fast-paced, and witty. Teenagers who are grappling with the same relationship questions that plague Ana and Pierce will find the characters to be very relatable. (Side note: even at 30-something, I found them to be very relatable!)
So, does Pierce give Ana true love’s kiss, allowing her to embrace her birthright? You’ll have to read the book to find out…and I recommend that you do!
