Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick

Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick
Series: N/A
Source: Traded for
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: August 3, 2010

When Holly loses her virginity to Paul, a guy she barely knows, she assumes their encounter is a one-night stand. After all, Paul is too popular to even be speaking to Holly…and he happens to have a long-term girlfriend, Saskia. But ever since Holly’s mom died six months ago, Holly has been numb to the world, and she’s getting desperate to feel something, anything—so when Paul keeps pursuing her, Holly relents. Paul’s kisses are a welcome diversion…and it’s nice to feel like the kind of girl that a guy like Paul would choose. But things aren’t so simple with Saskia around. Paul’s real girlfriend is willowy and perfect… and nothing like Holly. To make matters worse, she and Holly are becoming friends. Suddenly the consequences of Holly’s choices are all too real, and Holly stands to lose more than she ever realized she had.

To be honest, I thought that I would like Nothing Like You a lot more than I actually did. It was a sad, sad disappointment. For one, I was kind of expecting some kind of forbidden romance, which did not happen. Not that it's a bad thing, because, well, (cover your ears) Paul is a douche.

He totally is. He's manipulative and controlling and a liar, demanding and pretentious...he's everything that a good boy shouldn't be. He's a total jerk! He forces his way into Holly's life and ruins it for her. It may take two to tango, but sugar, she sure didn't ask for you. She tells him to go away and leave her alone, so he basically stalks her and then blackmails her. I want to beat this boy to death, and I'm generally not a violent person.

But I don't feel like Paul was the only culprit. Like I said, it takes two to tango, and Holly did her own fair share of screwing up. Mostly by choosing Paul to bide her time with. I feel like this book is actually really sad. She makes such bad decisions, and she doesn't seem to have enough backbone to get rid of the douche, so I'm fairly sure that I'm not a big fan of her as a character. Which sucks, because I really wanted to like this! She just let him step all over her, though...I can't take that. She also kind of wonders if cancer is contagious...sigh. But not only did she screw up with Paul, she screwed up with Nils and with Saskia, both of whom I liked.

They were both completely broken by some of the decisions that she made, and I just couldn't help but feel absolutely terrible for them. Saskia was just so sweet, and well, Nils was adorable. Holly, Nils and Saskia all had such fun times together, but....it got ruined so bad.

Basically, I just wish that Holly knew that she was better than all of this crap. She doesn't have to let Paul drag her around like a caveman, and she never should have done it. I'm not real sure how it started, but I know that it sure didn't end well.

All in all, I wish that I could have liked this book more, but it was bogged down by some flat characters and a story that I just couldn't get. I liked bits of it enough for it to receive two stars.

You think he's yours, but he's not, I thought. You think he's yours, but he's really mine. ~Pg. 59