Review: "The List" by Kate L. Mary (College of Charleston #1)
Note: This ARC was provided by Kensington Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
For the first time in her life, Annie Roth is enjoying freedom--freedom from her overly protective father and her equally protective but more understanding brothers. She wants to soak in life on her own as a freshman in college, making sure that the college she's enrolled at far enough from her family that they don't go checking on her every waking hour (though the texts and calls can only be avoided to a degree). Her new roommate Cami Summers, makes it her mission to help Annie burst out of her shell and the first guy she meets, Chris Presley, is nice and good looking. However, it's Cami's cousin, Ryan Cole, who she has an undeniable connection with, and they hit it off really well, but Chris makes it rather obvious that he likes Annie and Ryan, who just happens to be Chris's best friend, decides to keep some distance from her.
Then Annie and Cami come up with a bucket list of sorts that Annie wants to accomplish before she turns twenty, giving her a little over a year to do so. While a lot of the stuff is fun and exciting, some leave her wondering who she exactly wants to share the moments with--Chris, the guy who she's dating, or Ryan, the guy she can't stop thinking about. She's also trying to keep her father and brothers at bay, not wanting the insanity of her home life to invade what she's created for herself at school. However, Annie begins to learn that too much freedom has its own set of consequences and that she needs to take responsibility. While some girls may dream of having two guys falling for her, Annie soon realizes that she may end up checking two items off her list whether she wants to or not: breaking someone's heart and getting her heart broken.
The List is the first book in the new adult (NA) College of Charleston series by author Kate L. Mary and is about an eighteen-year-old college freshman named Annie Roth who relishes the freedom of being in South Carolina, a state she fell in love with as a child, and on the opposite coast as her overbearing father. Annie becomes best friends with her dorm roommate, Cami Summers, and attracts the attention of several guys on and off campus, but the two most notable are best friends Ryan Cole and Chris Presley. Chris met Annie first and his obvious interest in her has Ryan abiding what may be part of some sort of "bro code"--if your best friend has dibs on a girl, you need to back off. Ryan simply isn't willing to lose Chris's friendship, a possibility should the truth about the mutual attraction between Ryan and Annie ever come to light, especially after having experienced loss in his life before. It needs to be noted, however, that Annie does feel a certain degree of affection and attraction to Chris, just not as much as she does for Ryan.
I understand Ryan's decision to not pursue his own feelings for Annie out of respect for Chris, though, if I'm being honest here, Annie and Chris were not in a relationship nor were they dating when Ryan and Annie felt that connection between each other. They're both sweet guys, but if I had to choose, I'd go with Ryan. Chris was coming off as overly clingy and possessive, an absolute no-no, especially if the relationship is as casual as what Annie wanted. I will say that Annie may have had stronger feelings for Ryan but would make do with Chris because she wasn't getting what she wanted from Ryan, making me feel as if she was using the poor guy and ended up giving him mixed signals. She also seemed to easily come on to any guy who suited her purposes, quite a surprise coming from a girl who was living such a cloistered life in California...but then again, it could be that she was making up for all that lost time. Plus, Cami wasn't really too good of an influence most of the time, pushing Annie into questionable situations.
What I liked about this book was that the characters weren't shining examples of perfection. They made mistakes but that's part and parcel of becoming an adult and they were obviously still feeling their way out in the world they were now inhabiting. The idea of an eighteen-year-old coming up with a list was creative, and because I'm a lover of lists (The Book of Lists series was one of my favorites growing up), I immediately warmed up to the idea of this sheltered girl wanting to experience a lot of what she had missed out on in her teen years. There was a fair amount of angst-driven drama mixed in with the love triangle angle, but there was also a bit of humor, often coming from Cami and Ryan's roommate and friend Liam, whose last name escapes me at the moment (though I don't think it was ever mentioned in the book in the first place). The List highlights the importance of freedom but that it does come with a large amount of responsibility and maturity. I look forward to reading the second book. This gets 4.5 stars. ♥
Release Date: 26 May 2015
Date Read: 23 May 2015
Learn more about Kate L. Mary here.
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