Paper Thin - Jennifer Snyder

I have 24 books published in 2015 that I wanted to read last year, it's now February of 2016 and I have added more books to that pile from January! Yikes! I decided to challenge myself to read one older book after each new book I read, hopefully that helps me out. It's not that the books don't look amazing, I just have a huge pile, over 70 that I would list as "priority reads." Take Paper Thin for example, I have been dying to read this book since I got my hands on it...in October of last year. A lot of things just kept coming up, so I finally decided this weekend was my chance and I wasn't let down. I cried a lot, but I'm certainly glad I read it and pushed some other books to the side. I'm really excited about this new goal of mine, so here's to finding some great 2015 books that I should never have left behind!

Rating: 3 Stars
Published: September 2015
Many thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Amazon Goodreads

Charlotte can't catch a break, after seeing her big crush with another woman and finding out her sister is engaged, she doesn't know what else to expect, she just knows that fate never sends good her way. Finally ready to welcome a man into her life, her plans are shattered when she receives a devastating phone call. Returning to Parish Cove wasn't in her plans, seeing her sister with her fiance wasn't in the plan, and everything that followed after, that was fates way of showing her to just stop making plans for good.

Charlotte is one heck of a character, not because she's a drop dead gorgeous girl, but because she's realistic and Jennifer Snyder did a great job of writing her. I have lived the moments Char lived when roommates date, drinking bad beer, and seeing your crush with another girl. Those are all such real moments in any person's life and they were written perfectly. I started this book off with so much hope, because I love a good main character. To top it off, she's dealing with the realistic situation of having an ill mother and a sister she avoids because of her fears. I liked knowing this was something she was going to have to face as a character, that's emotional growth I can get behind. Then you mix in her roommate, the two men she's crushed on since forever, and the natural chaos that comes from life and this book definitely spreads thin. There's a lot going on, some of it great, some of it not great. While somewhat predictable, I think the focus on Charlotte and how she emotionally handled everything, through introspection, venting, and learning was great.

I feel like a total jerk rating this low, because I love books that make me cry, but this one was just overwhelming. How much bad can a girl take? I get that it's the NA cliche to take a girl, a slightly messed up girl, and have her deal with a major crisis to find herself, but this was pure chaos at times. While I loved Charlotte I just couldn't read her life and sympathize with it, because it was over the top. In general, it made me cry a lot, but not the kind of tears that I enjoy recommending to people. Then you mix in the fact that she just cannot seem the get the guy, any guy, and I started to see why she needed so many vent sessions. Talk about hard luck. It was a tough book to go through, by the end I didn't feel like things had actually taken a turn for the positive, even though I do feel Charlotte had grown as a person.

In the end, this wasn't a bad book, it just didn't leave me feeling good or like I had gotten anywhere emotionally. I definitely expected something different, even as I kept reading, but it didn't all turn out as hoped. Paper Thin is emotional, it's heartbreaking, you definitely won't find love, but it is obvious that Jennifer Snyder is a great writer, especially for making you feel all that and more. I definitely want to read more from Jennifer Snyder, I just won't be wearing mascara!