Undeclared by Jen Frederick
4 of 5 stars
For four years, Grace Sullivan wrote to a Marine she never met, and fell in love. But when his deployment ended, so did the letters. Ever since that day, Grace has been coasting, academically and emotionally. The one thing she’s decided? No way is Noah Jackson — or any man — ever going to break her heart again.
Noah has always known exactly what he wants out of life. Success. Stability. Control. That’s why he joined the Marines and that’s why he’s fighting his way — literally — through college. Now that he’s got the rest of his life on track, he has one last conquest: Grace Sullivan. But since he was the one who stopped writing, he knows that winning her back will be his biggest battle yet.
This is a mature New Adult book. I see that it is classified as YA - not sure how to change that - but I wanted to be clear that it has explicit love scenes in the story.
Excrept -
Found on Jen Frederick's webpage
Noah
Bo was lounging against my truck when I returned from Grace’s apartment. He was chatting up some blonde chick who looked like all the other girls he’d ever been with. They were interchangeable to me, and likely to Bo, too, since he called them all “babe.”
I figured I would know if he ever fell for a girl when he called her by her first name instead of some random endearment.
“That was a clusterfuck, eh?” he asked as I approached.
“Yup,” I climbed into my truck and threw my books into the back. I revved the engine a couple of times to signal that I wanted Bo to get in the damn truck. He could pick up chicks another time.
“At the risk of sounding like a girl, do you want to talk about it?” Bo asked when he finally got into the passenger seat. I threw the truck in reverse and peeled out of campus parking lot.
“No, Bo Peep, I don’t,” I bit out.
So much for being good at doing.
“What were you thinking?”
“What part of ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ did you not understand?”
“Are you giving up?”
“What?” I swung my head toward him. Bo threw up his hands. “No way.” I looked back at the road.
“Then let’s strategize.”
“I’ve already made every strategic mistake possible. I left too late last night to catch her. I surprised and maybe embarrassed her after class. If I see her at a party and spill beer all over her, my trifecta of stupidity would be complete.”
“So now what?”
“Now, it’s time to regroup.”
“You want to fight or drink tonight?”
“Both.”
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| About Jen Frederick |
Jen Frederick lives in the Midwest with her husband, child, and one rambunctious dog. She’s been reading stories all her life but never imagined writing one of her own. Jen loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at jensfrederick@gmail.com.
Links for Jen Frederick:
Jen's 5 star Review
I received an ARC copy for an honest review -
This book totally rocked! I loved it!
The book starts off with a sweet letter from Grace to Noah - her first of many over the next four years as their pen pal friendship slowly progresses into more.
but by the time Noah gets out of the Marines, he is a mess. I've read about this before with people coming back from combat, they don't know how to live in the world today after so many years of fighting. It breaks my heart, but Noah knew that seeing Grace now wouldn't be a good idea, he needed to get himself pulled together. He knew there was a chance she wouldn't want to be with him after he wrote that letter to her, but he just knew he couldn't do it yet.
Grace's heart was broken, and for 2 years.. make that 6 years (including the 4 years they wrote) grace's heart belonged to one man. At the age of 19 she knew it was silly to keep hoping she would again see him, but she still couldn't help herself.
When she heard the news about 2 fighter's being exchanged to her little collage, she couldn't help but feel the hope rise. She knew it was a long shot. And her BFF Luna was there to put her back in her place.
Noah had been stalking Grace for a while. He knew her schedule, where she worked, where she went with her friends to hang out. He was just too chicken to approach her. Bo, Noah's BFF - or better known as a Battle Buddy, told him to talk to her, or get over her.
For years Grace had written Noah, sent him care packages when otherwise no one would even had bothered with her. He made his plan...
When Grace came out of her classroom and saw him standing there. She didn't know what was worse. What she was wearing, or what she was feeling. Instead of running into his arms, she ran off in tears. He broke her heart once, he could do it again.
Noah knew this would happen, but luckily Bo was right there to help him keep his head in the game.
At a college party, Grace was sitting by herself minding her own business, when she started getting harassed by a drunk guy. Noah came to her rescue. She didn't want to talk to him, but she had to know why he disappeared for 2 years without a word.
like I said, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the feel of Noah being in the Marines, it made him real with the wanting to fight. he was a good guy, and he really enjoyed the fight. Not because it was drilled into him, but because he loved the sport of it.
He also was a sweetheart. A true southern gentleman.
Grace was a sweetheart, too. She didn't know where she wanted to go in life, and she was always afraid of getting her feelings hurt. But once she decided to take that step out of her comfort zone and give herself up a little, things starting to get better for her.
These two were definitely a great match :)
OH and just wait - it gets better! Bo's Story comes out in August ! I can't Wait to read his story!!!
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