REVIEW: Undeclared by Jen Frederick

Undeclared by Jen Frederick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book Description: 

 For four years, Grace Sullivan wrote to a Marine she never met, and fell in love. But when his deployment ended, so did the letters. Ever since that day, Grace has been coasting, academically and emotionally. The one thing she’s decided? No way is Noah Jackson — or any man — ever going to break her heart again.

Noah has always known exactly what he wants out of life. Success. Stability. Control. That’s why he joined the Marines and that’s why he’s fighting his way — literally — through college. Now that he’s got the rest of his life on track, he has one last conquest: Grace Sullivan. But since he was the one who stopped writing, he knows that winning her back will be his biggest battle yet.

This is a mature New Adult book. I see that it is classified as YA - not sure how to change that - but I wanted to be clear that it has explicit love scenes in the story.

This book was recommended to me by a friend who said I would love it. And I should have listened to her and read it sooner. I knew going into this that Noah was former military (Marine) but I had no idea going in that he was also a UFC fighter. And I’m not complaining because I love books about fighters. The ironic thing is, just prior to starting this, I was talking to a friend about the books we were interested in reading, and she said “I need a fighter book!”. Little did I know, I would get what she wanted. I just don’t think she mean the sentiment for me.

I’m definitely riding a high of good books after 3 books that were just…boring. This book kept me hooked. I didn’t want to put it down when I went to bed last night, but after smacking myself in the head with my kindle multiple times, I feared for my health. So, I took the hint from Ares (my kindle) and put it away for the night. Then I woke up many times in the night because I wanted to go back to it. So, after a fitful sleep, I woke up early and proceeded to read Undeclared to completion (much to my dog’s dismay). I swear, if she could have reached the doorknob to the front door, she would have runaway just for excitement.

I loved Noah and Grace. Grace actually reminded me of me. I felt like I had no path in college just like her. While I liked her, there were times that her decisions or reactions annoyed me. Noah, he knew exactly what he wanted. And he wanted Grace.

I loved the letters between Noah and Grace. They added a nice history between the couple, a nice connection. And they gave a good visual of Noah’s life as a Marine (not soldier…because soldiers are Army ;) )

I think what I found most interesting is the premise. Noah and Grace spent four years writing back and forth. They were book completely into the other but Noah knew he had issues when he came home from the military. And unlike other books, he got his head together before going after Grace. And that was an interesting approach. That’s not to say it was smooth sailing (because it wasn’t) but it was nice to not have constant angst and drama for a change while both characters worked through a lot of stuff. Noah was still getting his life together but he had his head (mostly) together.

I definitely think this is a must read for anyone that loves NA books. I can’t wait to see more from this series.


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