Review: Save Me by Jenny Elliott

Title: Save Me
Author: Jenny Elliott
Source/Format: Won, Paperback ARC
More Details: Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal
Publisher/Publication Date: Swoon Reads, January 6, 2015

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Something strange is going on in the tiny coastal town of Liberty, Oregon. Cara has never seen a whale swim close enough for her to touch it—let alone knock her into the freezing water. Fortunately, cute newcomer David is there to save her, and the rescue leads to a bond deeper than Cara ever imagined. But then she learns something about David that changes everything, and Cara is devastated. She turns to her best friend for support, but Rachel has changed. She’s suddenly into witchcraft, and is becoming dangerously obsessed with her new boyfriend. Cara has lost her best friend, discovered that her soul mate is off limits, and has attracted the attention of a stalker. But she’s not completely alone. Her mysterious, gorgeous new friend Garren is there to support her. But is Garren possibly too perfect?

Save Me by Jenny Elliott is one of Swoon Reads books, and so I picked it up solely with the intention of giving it a try. And I’m sad to say that not only was I disappointed but I also DNFed this book.

There were a number of reasons why I didn’t enjoy this book. First, I usually enjoy reading from third person POV. However, sometimes the sentences were a little choppy, and it lacked description. Some things were described while others were not, and I never really fully grasped the setting. Save Me just seemed like a book with too many ideas that seemed to overcrowd the plot.

Cara started out seeming like an ok character in the first few pages, but then David appeared and everything just seemed to unravel. Then there was Garren, who was a character I considered to be just shy of being a Deus ex Machina. Almost every time he appeared he seemed to have all of the answers—I almost started calling him the Dude With Too Many Clues. And at several times I felt like Cara never had to discover anything for herself, instead she was conveniently handed the answers for the sake of keeping the plot moving.

And the romance? Nope. The relationship dynamics in Save Me were an aspect of the novel that I found odd—and the details were just things I didn’t agree with.

Ultimately all of the details I didn’t like, when combined together just threw me off and wrecked my enjoyment of Save Me. I skimmed and scanned over the last pages and still, it wouldn’t have changed my opinion. If this book seems like something you would enjoy, then I encourage you to check out other reviews for it. But for me, this one is a DNF.