Review: Shattered Ties by K.A. Robinson

Shattered Ties (Ties, #1) by K.A. Robinson


Book Description:

With a former supermodel mother and a rock-and-roll legend father, Emma Preston has the best of everything. Nothing is as perfect as it seems though. After her parents divorce, she’s forced to live with her mother in a private Santa Monica community. Ignoring their parental roles, her mother becomes more focused on climbing the social ladder while her father is off on tour.

Growing up in a trailer park with his mother, Jesse is used to people looking down on him. When his mother begs him to submit an application for a scholarship to one of Santa Monica’s top private schools, he never expects to actually get it. When he does, he is forced to attend school with a bunch of rich kids. He ignores their stares as they judge him for having tattoos and a less than impressive car. As long as he has his surfboard and the guys at the tattoo shop, he knows he can make it through.

When Jesse shows up on the first day of school, Emma can’t help but be intrigued. Her mother would never approve of Emma talking to someone so poor, but she doesn’t care because something about Jesse draws her to him.

Jesse tries to hate Emma, but he discovers that he can’t resist her. Forced to hide their relationship from Emma’s mother and everyone else around them, things start to fall apart. When Jesse’s friend, Ally, decides to interfere, things go from bad to worse.

Can they survive their first love? Or will they be left with nothing more than shattered ties?

Book 1 of a 2 book series.

**18+ for sexual situations, cursing, and adult content.***

★★★ 3.5 Stars! ★★★

This book's going to be a hard one to review, only because while I liked the story as a whole, it just fell a little flat for me. The plot and where it was going definitely had potential... Unfortunately though, it was just missing many different elements that could have made this book one hell of a read.

For starters, it was a little too young for my taste. I guess I should have really researched through more reviews first, before giving into all the impressive ratings and diving straight into the book- Had I done that, I probably wouldn't have been as disappointed nor would I have wasted my time. I knew I was craving a NA romance, but this story reminds me why I draw the line at teenage romance; Immaturity just isn't something I have the patience for.

So, this is your typical "popular rich girl falling in love with the poor bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks" theme- Predictability doesn't tend to bother me much, but juvenile adolescence does and this story and the characters involved had it in spades. For example: The hero Jesse. Instead of your usual drool-worthy alpha, you get a very insecure and whiny boy. I felt for his character... Truly I did. It can't be easy to constantly be reminded of how little you have by the people who seem to have it all. Yet instead of embracing the fact that life isn't always fair and making the best out of the shit sandwich life handed him, he instead consistently whined about it.  




...It was a complete turn off- Pity isn't typically a trait I'd consider a turn-on, and Jesse definitely played the pity party card more times than I could stomach.

The heroine Emma on the other hand was the complete opposite from Jesse. She was confident in who she was and extremely accepting of the fact that she was falling for someone who didn't have all the luxuries she was used to. For her, it didn't matter that he was poor- All that mattered was who he was on the inside. She had been around her mother enough to know that that's not the type of person she wanted to become and she refused to be controlled by the hold her mother had on her; Or at least she tried not to be. That's not to say that Emma always made the best decisions, but she was the only character who seemed to know what she wanted and went after it without complaint.

Over-all, I'd say this is a story of two broken souls who have been damaged by the stereotypes they've been living. It was an enjoyable story nonetheless, but I think my biggest problem with this novel was the fact that I just had a hard time separating myself from focusing on how very high-schoolish the character’s and climaxes were- I had to constantly keep reminding myself that the characters were still teenagers. Be warned: This book ends on a big cliff-hanger. ...And while I am curious to see what takes place between these characters in the second book, I can't promise that I'll continue on with the series. I can only hope that if I do, the next story and the characters involved will be much more grown up.