Tear by Rachel Van Dyken

1 Star

 

When I finished this book, the first thought that came to my head was . . .



Sadly, Tear was about the most vapid waste of time I’ve spent in recent memory. HOWEVER, with that being said let me tell you this cost zero dollars and is so far the only Rachel Van Dyken I haven’t enjoyed. Okay, “enjoyed” might be a bit of an understatement. I had dabbled unsuccessfully in NA a bit before stumbling across The Consequence of Loving Colton. That book made me ask . . .



I’ve since read a couple other Van Dyken stories with nearly the same reaction, but this one? This was nothing but a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad Twilight knock-off. Tear is the story of Natalee – 18 years old and never been kissed. All that changes when brothers (and members of the band One Direction AD2) Alec and Dimitri transfer “far away from their homeland” (*cough Canada cough*) to her school (in Oregon) and she experiences an “intense exchange” when one of them retrieves her fallen pen . . . .



Yeah.

It doesn’t take long for the other brother to single her out as well and then???? Well, what’s a girl to do? I mean really who could blame her? These fellas fell straight out of a Men At Work song – all 6’4” and full of muscle. They also apparently doused themselves in some form of pheromone-containing cologne “probably Abercrombie” (which must mean they smelled like baby prostitutes) and Natalee got all . . .



The story then evolved into a very not healthy AT ALL tale about their bizarro love triangle and it was at that point I told my husband . . . .



Now, I’m not opposed to stories with love triangles and I’m not even opposed to a bit of unhealthy obsession in my romance (I freely admit I enjoyed Twilight just fine). I do, however, have a BIG problem with the female lead going from not being allowed to wear make-up (by 100% absentee parents, no less) – to being allowed to sleep over at the rockstars’ house, to being unsure if she would be able to say NO when necessary because “every time I was in his arms I felt wanted.” Just no. Not to mention Brother 1 was a rapey über creep. In MY OPINION Natalee should have had a couple of dates with him until his true personality was exposed and then jumped ship into the arms of Brother 2 without all of the back-and-forth drama llama bullshit. Instead, the entire story had me saying . . .



Sorry Ms. Van Dyken that I had to 1 Star your book. Good news is I’m still anxiously awaiting the release of The Consequence of Seduction. Hopefully this didn’t put me on the naughty list. And just in case the big guy is reading this . . . .