Wesley James Ruined My Life
by Jennifer Honeybourn
Pages: 256
Published on July 18th 2017
by Swoon Reads
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Source: Library
Goodreads
Sixteen-year-old Quinn Hardwick’s having a rough summer. Her beloved grandmother has been put into a home, her dad’s gambling addiction has flared back up and now her worst enemy is back in town: Wesley James, former childhood friend—until he ruined her life, that is.
So when Wesley is hired to work with her at Tudor Tymes, a medieval England themed restaurant, the last thing Quinn’s going to do is forgive and forget. She’s determined to remove him from her life and even the score all at once—by getting him fired.
But getting rid of Wesley isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. When Quinn finds herself falling for him, she has to decide what she wants more: to get even, or to just get over it.
I really, really wanted to like Wesley James Ruined My Life. This had the makings of a perfect hate-to-love romance; girl hates boy, boy likes girl, girl and boy work in a Medieval-themed restaurant (which is so darn awesome!) and girl has to deal with her not-so-secret crush on hated boy. But goodness gracious, the whole plot of girl hating boy loses its fun and goes to illogical quickly.
The Good: Tudor Tymes, the Medieval-themed restaurant where Quinn, our main character, works, was great. It was kitschy and grand and charming, stocks to lock people up and all. If the whole book had taken place there, I would have been more forgiving.
I don’t like to bash a book because it’s never productive, so I’m going to be as level headed as possible with my review.
Unfortunately, all of my gripes stem from the main character. Quinn’s mad at Wesley for something that happened when they were eleven. For the first quarter of the book, you’re left thinking, “Wow, whatever he did must have been really bad.” But when the Big Reason is revealed, it’s more far-fetched than believable. Quinn’s anger leads to immature and downright cruel decisions: being mean to Wesley and eventually a crusade to get him fired from Tudor Tymes. Because that will solve her problems with him.
Through Quinn’s childish antics, she’s also trying to raise money for a trip to England while also dealing with her dad’s gambling problem and her grandmother’s dementia. I was willing to be sympathetic to her family troubles, but Quinn’s obsession with destroying Wesley’s life really puts a There’s grasping at straws and then there’s being infuriatingly far-fetched.
Wesley, throughout the whole book, is an okay guy. He’s a little bit cocky but he’s kind View Spoiler », which makes Quinn’s antics stick out. It’s supposed to be cute. It’s not.
I’ve been going back and forth with my rating because there is some redemption at the end, but the overall journey to the end of Wesley James Ruined My Life is paved with bad intentions.
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[…] given author second chances before, but do I give Jennifer Honeybourn one, too? Her first book was not my thing. Maybe it’s time to see if her third book’s the […]
Twitter: Liza
I think this is the lowest you’ve ever rate book! I believe that a lot of the things you mentioned would have been bothered me as well. 🙁
It is. I hope it’s the last lowest rated book in a long time.
Twitter: kagunderman
Yikes! That’s a bummer to hear that it just doesn’t live up to the awesome sounding plot. I was really looking forward to this – it sounded so much fun and like the romance could really end up being sweet. However, I can definitely see where this would just get old after a while. I didn’t read the spoiler section so I’m not sure what the fight they had or anything was about, but it sounds like it should have been something really bad. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and I hope your next read is much better!
Thanks, Kelly. I hope you like it. 🙂
Bummer you did not like this book. I liked it. Yes, Quinn was angry, and when you find out why, you’re kind of like, “huh?”. BUT I took into consideration that this all began in the mind of an 11 year old and grew and grew over the years as things in her home life got worse and worse. I think what saved it for me was how fun Tudor Tymes was and the whole grandma angle. I am a sucker for grandmas and I love when MCs share a long history, as Wesley and Quinn did.
Nothing makes me happier than loving grandmas (and I liked her grandma here). I just wish everything else meshed for me.