Book Review: Calling California by J.P. Grider

Calling California cover

Calling California (Hunter Hill University #1)
by J.P. Grider

Genre: Romance
Age category: New Adult
Release Date: May, 2014

BlurbCali Parker is poor. She has a lot on her plate – her father is dying, she’s working to help pay the rent, and she’s two-years behind in college.

Griffin Brooks is rich. He has not a care in the world – he’s acing his engineering courses, his hobby is restoring his fifty-thousand dollar classic car, and he has a different girl on his arm every week.

When Cali sees Griffin on her first day of class, she’s immediately smitten and thinks she’s found the perfect guy. When Griffin sees Cali at the bank, he immediately forgets the blonde he was with that morning. Then they meet, and their worlds collide.

Cali doesn’t belong in Griffin’s world, and he doesn’t understand hers. But just when Griffin convinces Cali that their two different worlds can blend, a secret is revealed that tears them apart.

Is their love strong enough to bring them back together, or will their worlds drift further apart?

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Review

**I received an e-book ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review**

This is a story that, in essence, shows the gap between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, those of us who come from a trust fund and those of us who don’t. Calista (aka Cali to most and California to Griffin) comes from a hard-working family, with two parents who have always worked themselves to death but have very little to show for it. Cali herself has been working since she was young as well, providing support to the family and helping make ends meet. She’s a bit jaded about money, to say the least, and doesn’t think very highly of those who have it. She’s just starting her first year of college and is trying to navigate it when she meets Griffin, an insanely good looking and wealthy boy from the other side of the tracks. Sparks fly, and before long these two are embarking along the road to what could become a fun and passionate coupling. But … Cali just can’t seem to let go of the differences between the two of them. No matter how hard Griffin tries to prove himself to her, Cali is always suspicious of him and his motives. As the book goes on we get a few bits and pieces of information about Cali and Griffin’s pasts, and eventually find out that their first day in class together wasn’t their first time meeting.

 The book has a good mixture of romance and angst, intertwined with some of the real-life struggles people in disadvantaged positions face day in and day out. I won’t give away the ending or provide any major spoilers, but there comes a point where Griffin must prove to Cali that he has her best intentions at heart, and Cali must learn to forgive and forget. These characters do take a journey throughout the book, and that was enjoyable to read about.

 Overall, I have mixed feelings about this read. I liked the story for the most part, the author did a good job of writing in a way that was easy to read and got me hooked into the plot, but … the female lead really ruined a big part of the story for me. All Cali did was whine and complain about what a crappy hand she’d been dealt in life. Everything always boiled down to money, and if someone had money, they were a terrible person, and if they didn’t, her circumstances were still worse than anyone else’s and nobody could possibly understand just how horrible and tragic her life was. It was like page after page after page of one big, huge pity party. I almost stopped reading a few times simply because of this.

I struggled with Griffin’s character as well. He was much more likeable than Cali, because despite his financial status, he’s a very humble, down-to-earth guy, and he treats everyone with respect. He’s sweet and romantic, but as much as he differed from the stereotypical norm for the class of individuals he comes from … he’s incredibly weak when it comes to Cali. There were many occasions where he should have stood up for himself and told her to knock off her ridiculousness, but he didn’t. Instead, he kinda just laid down and let her run all over him. There’s a difference between being patient with someone and letting someone railroad through the relationship, and unfortunately Griffin kinda let Cali turn their coupling into “The Cali Show.” There came a point in time where I thought he should have stopped apologizing and told Cali she needed to be realistic about their situation, but once again, he never did this. Instead, he sits around and beats himself up and apologizes continuously for things that he didn’t need to apologize for in the first place.

I was really looking forward to this read, and I really wanted to like it a lot. It could easily have been a 4 or 5 star read for me, but unfortunately the characters made it a 3.5 star one. I would definitely read other stories from this author, because as I mentioned before, her storytelling is good and I like her writing style. This particular book just wasn’t the one for me.

 

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AbouttheAuthor
J.P. Grider is a Young Adult and New Adult author. She is the author of six novels. Her young adult series The Honor Trilogy consists of A Touch of Honor, A Man of Honor, and A Heart of Honor, while her first two novels – Unplugged (A Portrait of a Rock Star) and Maybe This Life – are standalone adult contemporary novels. Her most recent release is the new adult romance Calling California, which is the first in her Hunter Hill University series. The next book in the series – Mending Mick – will be released in October, 2014. All the books in the Hunter Hill University series will be standalone books and can be read in any order.

AuthorLinks  Website
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Nikki

I'm a midwest girl in my early 30s with a love of costume jewelry, lattes, and farmers markets. The written word is it for me. I love to craft my own stories, as well as devour those that others have written. Outside of writing and reading, I love film, music, baseball, trying new restaurants, traveling, craft beer, and spending time with my friends and family.