Review: Wesley James Ruined My Life by Jennifer Honeybourn

Title: Wesley James Ruined My Life

Author: Jennifer Honeybourn

Genre: YA, contemporary romance

Publication date: July 2017

Published by: Swoon Reads

Source: Purchased paperback

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Synopsis:

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.

My rating: ★★★★☆
So, I’m not a big contemporary reader. I love my books with some sort of supernatural element to them or maybe some murder. I have to be in a certain mood to pick up a book like this. But this one sounded really cute so I gave it a shot. And you know what, it wasn’t too bad! I think i’m getting turned around on this whole contemporary thing. Lol. (Also, this book takes place in Seattle and I read this book just after I was there for the weekend, so that was pretty cool! I like when a book is set in familiar place.)


I had one big issue with this book though: Quinn, the main character. So, as the title suggests, Wesley James (supposedly) ruined Quinn’s life, so naturally she wants revenge. I was very surprised to find out what this thing that Wesley did to Quinn was. And I think my surprise came from the fact that I found it very hard to believe that little Wesley somehow caused this situation. But the more and more I read, the more we find out about the situation and the details of how it happened, and the more I thought Wesley was probably not at fault for this thing. It was just ridiculous and Quinn was being awful to him!

Granted, the thing that happened to her was awful, but I just wasn’t on board with blaming my sweet Wesley for the whole thing. She was so harsh to him—she immediately wanted to try and get him fired! It was a bit much. Right from the start, I just kept telling myself how all these things she was doing to him he totally did not deserve. He was the sweetest thing ever to her, and she was starting to fall for him but she refused to let herself feel those things and open her eyes to what really happened way back when. It was frustrating!

Oh and then she uses this poor guy who is crushing on her to try and forget about the way Wesley is starting to make her feel. She was the actual fucking worst for doing this! She even admits it herself, but does she put a stop to it? No. Ugh!


But having said all this, I actually didn’t hate the book. It was very cute and funny and I absolutely adored Wesley! I wasn’t expecting to dislike the main character as much as I did though. She was very unfair with Wesley and I don’t know if we were supposed to sympathize with her and her situation? I mean, I did sometimes, but mostly I just disliked her and how she mistreated my poor Wesley who was nothing but a sweetheart with her. It was a case of miscommunication and I can’t say I'm a huge fan of the trope. Would I read something else by this author? Yeah, I’d give it a shot! In fact, I’m really looking forward to reading When Life Gives You Demons by this same author!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)