Double Clutch by Liz Reinhardt

MY RATING: 3/5

BLURB: 

What happens when you fall for the perfect guy . . . twice . . . in one day? 

Brenna Blixen spent her freshman year homeschooling in Denmark; now that she's back in the States, she's determined to make her sophomore year unforgettable. And by unforgettable, she imagined awesome classes, fun friendships, and maybe a little romance. 

What she got was a whole lot of romance, and all at once. 

The same day that dark, brooding Saxon Maclean charmed her with his killer good looks and whip-smart wit, Jake Kelly stole her breath away with his heart-wrenching smile and intelligent, thoughtful focus. 

But Saxon is a proud player who makes it clear that he doesn't know why he can't get Brenna off of his mind and out of his system, and Jake's sweet humble attitude hides a secret past life that might be darker and more complex than Brenna is willing to deal with. 

Complicating the matter is the fact that Saxon and Jake were once best friends and are now arch-enemies . . . and the more Brenna finds out about their connection to each other, the more intrigued and worried she becomes. 

Between keeping the peace with her lovingly over-protective parents, designing t-shirts for her high school's rising punk band, keeping up her grades in classes slip between academic and technical high school, and running the track like a maniac, Brenna has enough to worry about without juggling two guys who make her heart thud and drive her crazy all at once. 

She has to make a choice, but how is she supposed to do that when giving her heart to one of them might mean breaking the others? 

REVIEW: 

Whoa. That was a long blurb :/ Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. I devoured two thirds of it in one night when I should have been studying and finished it the next day. I know a lot of people are really against them, but I really enjoy love triangles if they are done well. I mean I know that everyone says that they are repetitive because it’s all the same, but I whole heartedly agree with what Cassandra Clare (Author of The Mortal Instruments series) said on the topic of the love triangle in her series The Infernal Devices:

“Every plot under the sun (female lead falls for male lead, female lead falls for male lead’s best friend, female lead falls for own best friend after realizing suddenly she has loved him these many years, female lead falls for archenemy of male lead, female lead falls for dude who turns out to be gay) had been done a thousand times. It is the manner in which it is done that makes it interesting.”

Double Clutch is a story about a girl named Brenna who has just come back from being home schooled in Denmark. On her first day back Brenna meets two guys who instantly spark her interest. Saxon Maclean, who is hot, and a real arse-hole but in an oddly attractive way (to me at least). Then there's Jake Kelly, who is just about the complete opposite of Saxon, shy and humble, but also haunted by a secret from his past. 

I think one of the things that I enjoyed most about this book was the characters. It was the characters that kept tempting me to abandon my studying and read another chapter. They were also very realistic and relatable. I love Brenna. She is strong and smart and not afraid to bite back, I like that in a girl. She knows what she wants and she tries her best to get it. Sometimes it seems like a lot of female protagonists in books are all very fragile and weak and rely on their male interests more than what I like to read about. 

When I started the book I liked Saxon right away. But, I also really liked Jake by the end of the book, at first I thought he would be the perfect guy of the story, and too perfect people always bug me, it's the flaws that make people beautiful and interesting. But Jake was definitely an interesting character. He isn't that well off in life, he lives in a shabby house, and has just enough to scrape by. It's a little heart breaking, and makes you love him more and want him to get the girl in the end because he deserves it. Saxon takes joy in angering Brenna and refuses to face up to what he really feels for her. I liked that Jake had a sad back story, it was cute to me, and it gave him more character. But I think I am definitely more for Saxon getting the girl. 

This book just sucked me in. The relationships are realistic, Brenna doesn’t all of a sudden get distracted from her grades and other important things just because she has a boyfriend. There is some sexual content so I would not recommend to younger readers (maybe about 15 or 16+). I really want to get my hands on Junk Miles the second book in this series. I definitely enjoyed this book and would like to thank Missy at Missy Reads and Reviews and Liz for the opportunity to read this book and be a part of this blog tour :)

Jammie the Book Nerd

xxoo

p.s. For the tour details and all of the other stops on the blog tour visit Missy's blog tour post.