Book Review: Always You by Missy Johnson

Sometimes your opinion of a book is not completely determined by the writing of the book itself. It’s also determined by your interactions associated with the book. The author, Missy Johnson, was extremely kind and courteous when I asked her to review a copy. Even if Always You hadn’t been a great book, I would’ve given it a nicer review anyways. Luckily, Always You was a great book!

Always You is the story of Wrenn and Dalton. Dalton is a twenty-three year old teacher who was offered a job at Tennerson Girls Academy. Wrenn is the niece of the headmistress of said academy. And so begins an explosive (figuratively of course) relationship. AKA the “I’m not legal but who cares” type of relationship.

Judge a book by its cover. Judge a book by the names of its characters. In either case, Always You passes the test. Wrenn and Dalton? Completely unique and mesmerizing names. I truly like how Missy chose interesting names and not everyday names like “John” or “Mia.” As for the cover, it’s professional and eye-catching.

Now moving onto the actual review, Always You is quite unique, whether it follows the typical chick-lit plot or not. At first glance, Always You seems to be like any other chick-lit. Girl meets boy, girl gets boy. However, in Always You, girl gets boy is not the end of the story. There are a few other complications (can’t say what). Additionally, the ending isn’t the perfect “now everything is a paradise” type of ending. It’s open-ended with a positive feel. Does that make sense?

I was  little annoyed by Wrenn’s life story. Although she did have a tough life, it seemed like a lot of it was to get the reader’s sympathy. In other words, Wrenn’s story seemed just a bit too coincidental. Not only did her parents die, but her aunt just happened to be the head of an all girls boarding school. Oh, and get this, Dalton just happened to teach there! This complaint isn’t finding a fault with the plot so much as the coincidences in the book.

Let’s talk about cheese now. On a cheesiness rating, this story would probably clock at a 6. While it does reek, the cheese is still tolerable. At times, I was cheesed out. However, the cheese isn’t so bad that you have to stop reading. Just skip the section if it’s really that bad, and all will be well.

My thoughts? Always You is definitely worth reading. I hope you give Wrenn and Dalton a chance. Missy Johnson is definitely an up and coming author. Don’t be surprised if she’s on the New York Times bestseller list one day!

Rating: 7 out of 10

Published: December 17, 2013

Source: ARC provided by the author

Genre: Romance, YA