The List by Kate L. Mary | Review

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review in any way.



Description from Goodreads:

The List. Twenty things every girl must do before she turns twenty...

Body piercing
Get drunk
First Kiss

But thanks to her crazy, over-protective father, Annie Roth is way behind schedule. Good thing it's her first semester of college, because Annie is more than ready to start checking off items...

Fake ID
Skinny dipping
Road trip!!!

Where it gets complicated? Ryan and Chris. Best friends. Both sweet, funny, totally hot, and totally into Annie.

But there are some things on The List that Annie only wants to do with Ryan...

Lose it
Get heart broken
Fall in love

The books I've been reading recently have all been following a similar theme, a girl in her late teens-early twenties starts college with absolutely no life experience, and especially no experience with boys. So, you know, basically my life.

In The List Annie hasn't got a lack of experience due to her own lack of self confidence or unwillingness to go out and date. Oh no. Annie was sheltered by her father and four older brothers. And we're not talking scaring off boys and making it impossible for her to get a date, we're more along the lines of she can't leave the house unless chaperoned by one of the five males in her family. Sounds crazy, but her dad thinks he has a good reason. 

Annie is understandably fed up with how controlling and strict her life at home is, comparing it to a prison. So she moves away for college to break free from her father's cage. As soon as I started reading I knew I liked her, she blunders and trips and gets tongue tied around a cute boy. I know the feeling. I think we all do.

Annie lands a lovely roommate, eager to help her break free of her father's constricting mould they make a list. A list of twenty things Annie wants to do before she turns twenty. I liked the idea of creating a list, especially as it had things like getting your ears pierced and go skinny dipping, fun things that weren't huge decisions. Cami, Annie's roommate is lovely, she's so sweet and the perfect companion as Annie starts changing her life. Not to mention the fact that she also has a gorgeous cousin, Ryan.

Annie quickly finds herself in a love triangle (did you all just shudder with me?), she has Chris the cute guy she met on her first day who is really into her, and Ryan his best friend and determined to follow some stupid 'guy code'. Ugh. Ain't nobody got time for that. Ryan really, really likes Annie, there are sparks and chemistry and raw attraction. They both want each other SO badly, so I just don't get why Ryan kept putting it off! That was my one major peeve with the book, that Ryan said Chris had some sort of 'claim' because he'd met Annie first, and that Annie actually followed that and started dating Chris EVEN THOUGH SHE LIKED RYAN MORE! And she did this once or twice, it got to the point I was nearly throwing my Kindle away in frustration. Annie and Ryan fit together perfectly, and clearly were meant to be together, so I don't understand why Ryan kept delaying the inevitable.

Don't let the love triangle situation put you off the book though, the relationship between Annie, her brothers and her father was really interesting. Annie doesn't have a mother, she died when Annie was a baby and it takes a considerable amount of the time before we find out just what happened. We do know however, that whatever happened left Annie's dad extremely emotionally scarred and unable to deal with the pain. I really felt that Kate L. Mary built the relationship between Annie and her father very well, I cared about Annie and I wanted to know why everything was happening, I also wanted her family to stop being so unfair.

Aside from the irritating Annie/Ryan/Chris situation I really enjoyed The List, it was extremely well written and I'll be looking out for more of Kate L. Mary's work.

Are you planning on reading The List? Let me know in the comments!

'The List' by Kate L. Mary
4 Stars