Maren is facing the greatest loss of her life, and her family needs her more than ever. Between caring for them and building her future, Maren doesn’t have time for a social life, much less a relationship, but she can’t push a certain green-eyed professor from her mind. She sees in him what others don’t, but that might not be enough.
My Review...
Fall Semester is a student/teacher contemporary romance. When I started reading it I kept in mind that the author was inspired by Sylvain Reynard so it was highly possible for it to be another Gabriel’s Inferno with slight changes here and there.
Well, it wasn’t. Not really.
Malcolm Vashal is a professor at University of Louisiana. He’s disappointed by life and seriously contemplating ending it.
Maren Gardner has abandoned the studies in Denver to be close to her family in the last months of her father’s life. She’s the kind that always makes sacrifices without thinking what it means for her future.
When she meets Malcolm, something changes and she starts hoping that maybe something good can come out of this tragedy.
I’ll be honest, I was really disappointed by the first half of this book. It just drags and it lacks consistency.
Malcolm is a strange character. Keeping up with his mood swings it’s an exercise in futility. One moment he’s funny and warm, the next he’s depressed and contemplating suicide or downright rude. You never know what to expect for him.
Another thing that was poorly described was his relationship with Maren. It lacks essence. The reader will have a hard time understanding how it developed. One moment they’re trying to build a friendship and the next they’re in love with nothing much in between except a dinner.
Another thing that gave me fits was how the author tried to portray Malcolm as sophisticated, mature and mysterious. This was an attempt at creating someone like Sylvain Reynard’s Gabriel but it backfired. Instead, he appears immature, moody and insecure. And all that British English mixed with American English in their speech. What’s up with that? What was the point ??
Maren also was a contradiction. One one side, she tried to make her appear as confident and strong but she ended up sounding pushy and, one the other side, she is humble, insecure and weak.
The last 40% saved this book from being a total waste of time. The story picks up a little bit and it’s full of emotion. At least, it was like that for me.
The writing style is really, really confusing. Stephanie has potential but she has to be more careful and get her ideas in order before putting them on paper.
The ending was predictable and a little bit rushed.
All in all, I think it could have been better. The base for a great story was there but the author went the wrong way in presenting it.
Happy reading!!
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