First, I've not read 44chapters. I can't handle the premise, so I skipped it. I thought this might be better for me (the series). Now I've endured/survived/binged the series, I've got thoughts.

One of the things that I found that I liked and that engaged me was how BB was an all-in person, vulnerable heart on her sleeve, but kind of a mother to her friends. I found parts of her partial-memoir (this 4 book series) eerily relatable, from the moment she nearly gets attacked by another girl in Knight (the words! They were almost the same), to having an angry and intense first love that ends up foundationally toxic and yet the tendency and difficulty to separate yourself from it painfully frustrating, real, and persistent. (Skin)

I will say that I think showcasing that relationship certainly served its propose and sets up character, motivations and trajectory. But the second (SPEED) and third (STAR) book didn't stand out as anything that needed a full length in a very real sense, and really could have combined much of this into one full length novel. But, hey, if you are here for the sex-drugs-risky teen behavior, step to right up. If you are looking for a heroine to heal herself, skip this. Easton's seemingly never alone and does things despite her relationships but I get the real sense her purpose IS the relationships. What I'm saying is over a 6 year period, BB is a highly functioning but very reckless teen with an eating disorder, who parties a lot, falls in love a lot, has a whiff of manic pixie dream girl for she's simply never rejected and consistently adored, and by the final installment still continues to see the objects of her love as people she needs to help and fix. By the time the series concludes, there's a passing sentence in her determination regarding her ED, and that's it.

Look, I'm sure in real life it's more complicated than this. my reason for liking this best of all is rather than being boring as shit, Ken makes the most interesting romance hero (and only, unsurprisingly) of the lot and may have been more successful just centered around him and that relationship.

I think Easton can write, but after I got over the trauma and the wtf-ery I wasnt left with a whole lot in the series. After a sufficiently complicated presentation in Knight, and SPEED only really having a few touchstone moments, and STAR only serving to remind BB what love was to finding a repressed, emotionally distant husband who comes off as a mystery more than a bore I can tell you...

Skip the series, read suit if you like. I don't think the pay off feels worth it probably because I don't love "fixers" and I don't love a lack of development for a main character over a 4 book series. 2.5. if it had just been this one, it could've been a bit better. ( )