Helpful Score: 1
From the cover, I thought the book would be a young-adult type story. I'm 49, and yet I could relate to the characters. The story line was well developed.
After an epic fail trying to read Always Will and being completely turned off to this author's style I cannot believe I actually read The List. I had it on my to read before I started Always Will and my sister had finished this one so I tried it with a lot of caution. It was much more bearable than Always Will but the characters are hard to get behind.
I really don't like Ashley, she is determined to the point of being fixated and living her life based on 25 things she thought mattered at the age of 18, no exceptions. She seems very self focused and manipulative of Matt, yet he still falls for her. They are also both exceptionally attractive of course and Matt doesn't have flaws--he is the perfect catch if only Ashley can come around to realize that.
Some things that bothered me were no end story for Celia and why Megan who is such an obstacle/irritation for so much of the book conveniently disappears from the latter part of it. Ashley didn't have enough vulnerability conveyed for me to root for her. She judges her sisters and mom for marrying young but never actually asks them, or pays attention enough to see, if they are truly unhappy or if her assumptions are correct. Yet she lives her life as though they are. I'm a fan of Matt, Derek, Celia, Dave, Laurel, the sub characters but not enough to read the genre this author seems to write.
I really don't like Ashley, she is determined to the point of being fixated and living her life based on 25 things she thought mattered at the age of 18, no exceptions. She seems very self focused and manipulative of Matt, yet he still falls for her. They are also both exceptionally attractive of course and Matt doesn't have flaws--he is the perfect catch if only Ashley can come around to realize that.
Some things that bothered me were no end story for Celia and why Megan who is such an obstacle/irritation for so much of the book conveniently disappears from the latter part of it. Ashley didn't have enough vulnerability conveyed for me to root for her. She judges her sisters and mom for marrying young but never actually asks them, or pays attention enough to see, if they are truly unhappy or if her assumptions are correct. Yet she lives her life as though they are. I'm a fan of Matt, Derek, Celia, Dave, Laurel, the sub characters but not enough to read the genre this author seems to write.
