Series Review: Contours of the Heart by Tammara Webber

Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:

Easy by Tammara Webber | Contours of the Heart Series

Other books in the series:

SERIESous’ Top Book Series: Favourite New Adult Read 2014 (Easy)
Series: Contours of the Heart
Author: Tammara Webber
# of Books: 4 (Easy, Breakable, Sweet, Brave)
Book Order: Overlapping + Connected

(Breakable is a prequel to Easy but is also an alternative POV of Easy); Sweet & Brave is Connected

Complete?: No, Brave, will be published in the near future
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Mature Subject Matter
Heat Rating: very warm
Point of View: First Person, Single

Thoughts:

**This post was originally posted as a Fresh Friday review of the first book of the series. It has now been updated to include the newest publications in the series.**

Easy is one of these New Adult reads that seems to be everywhere. I see it all the time I log into Kobo and all of my friends on Goodreads have read it and rated it very high so my curiosity was peaked. I wasn’t a fan of the vague synopsis but when my library got a digital copy of it, I grabbed it right away.

I’m glad I did–this book was great! It was a good blend of romance and cuteness but it also had some very intense moments that I thought were handled extremely well when compared to other reads of the genre.

I feel like I should mention that one of the main topics in this book is sexual assault and in particular, rape. I know that this makes a lot of people uncomfortable but it is a fact of everyday life that this occurs throughout the world. The opening chapter of the book describes Jackie’s assault and it was very hard to read and get past. So be prepared that this may strike a cord with you. Nothing is graphically described but you can easily get a clear picture of what is happening to her.

I know it will also probably upset some people regarding how Jackie handles the situation but I also found it to be realistic. There are some facts at the end of the book that capture the realism surrounding this topic. So while I personally don’t support her way of dealing with the problem, I could understand why someone would choose to follow that course of action and I tried to not let that dampen my respect or like for her.

Reading this book reminded me a lot of Veronica Mars’ third season–just without the funny wit and mystery solving. But both the book and the 3rd season deal with rapes and the Greek university system so I was used to this subject matter in these settings.

There is one part of this book that is very predictable–like I called it within reading the single sentence but I enjoyed watching everything unfolded despite that. I really felt the connection between the two of them and thought they were a good match for each other so I am happy on the romance front.

Breakable is described as a prequel and alternative retelling of Easy. DON’T read the synopsis unless you have read the book because it will be a spoiler. I’m really excited to read it because I feel like it will add another dimension to the story told in Easy.

UPDATED (Oct 5/14): I just finished Breakable and I have to say it was fantastic! It was everything I thought it would be. I was great getting the other side to this story and learning about this particular character’s past. Although it was pretty long (it’s 50 pages longer than Easy but it is longer than the average New Adult read) I never felt bored or dragged on. The flipping back and forth from the past to the current really drew me in, despite the fact that I already knew what was happening in the current since I read Easy. Just very well done and fans of Easy will love this hands down!

Although nothing appears to be planned for other books in this series, on Tammara’s website she has stated that Breakable is last we will see of Jacqueline’s story. However, she might write about other characters in the series. I personally hope that this will be the case because I really want to read about a particular childhood friend of the hero’s sometime in the future 😉 And it looks like I got my wish with the announcement of Sweet, set to be released April 2015!

Conclusion:

For people who don’t enjoy reading about more mature subject matter like sexual assault, you probably won’t enjoy parts of this book. But those who like realistic New Adult reads will like Easy so I highly recommend it.

Rating: 5/5

Similar Reads: Wait for You… by J. Lynn (Wait for You… #1) and Someone to Love by Addison Moore (Someone to Love #1)

Synopsis for Easy (from Goodreads):
Rescued by a stranger.
Haunted by a secret
Sometimes, love isn’t easy…

He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…

The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he’d worked so hard to overcome, and the future she’d put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.

Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth—and find the unexpected power of love.

A groundbreaking novel in the New Adult genre, Easy faces one girl’s struggle to regain the trust she’s lost, find the inner strength to fight back against an attacker, and accept the peace she finds in the arms of a secretive boy.