Love me, crazy by Laura Burton is a love story to die for. A thriller about a young woman, Audrey, a teaching assistant at a religious school for girls when she meets Tom, a reverend who always says the perfect thing. Then she meets the handsome Jack and suddenly she is a hopeless romantic spoilt for choice. We follow her life through the twists and turns as she tries to find the one. Will love be the death of her?
Audrey's character is well-developed and we get to see why she is so intent on finding 'the one' and why she is so trusting in Tom in the beginning. I also thoroughly enjoyed how realistic she was in her doubts and self motivations and I could truly believe that this was a real character who was going through something like this.
The ending was such a good twist and I honestly didn't expect Toms fate which is probably what I enjoyed most about this book because I can usually see an ending a mile off.
It felt very fast paced for such a complex story and in some parts it felt rushed and unrealistic where the whole relationships felt like they were moving too fast for Tom and Jack alike. I can see now that she did this to show how things escalated quickly and how her problems appeared about of nowhere but for her and Jacks relationship it didn't feel real.
I didn't necessarily see the need for the prologue and epilogue and thought that the story could have been just as well-rounded without them, I can understand why they were used to show how things were further into the future but I didn't believe that they added much to the central narrative and made it confusing in the beginning because I started off having no idea what was going on.
I was made to mistrust almost every single characters motivations for doing anything throughout the story which made it difficult to root for Audrey with either men. For example when Jack is driving the car too fast for no reason it made me question his intentions which I can understand was done to add tension to the story but I think it made me a little too tense to enjoy it as much as I could have.
The story was engaging and I found myself wanting to know what happened and waiting to see how it all ended up for her which, in a book like this, is the ideal and I'm sure was Laura's intention.
This is obviously something that happened in real life and very much a genuine problem for some people. I think that it was done with grace and didn't over exaggerate to the point where I felt it was being disrespectful, it firmly stayed within the realm of possibility.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic of Jack's family and thought that it was more than realistic, I can see myself acting the same way with my siblings. They added a lighthearted element to a dramatic and tense story and I was thankful for the minor distraction.
Overall I thought that it was a good narrative which did its job of being intense and in parts scary and made me think more about how this happens in life. I recommend that you give this book and Laura Burton a try if you haven't already her writing style is to die for.