Review: Random by Lark O'Neal

Life is random… 19-year-old Jess Donovan knows better than most that life is random. Her mom is dead, and she’s on her own, patching together a living as a waitress when a car crashes through the restaurant where she works. In two seconds, she loses her job, watches her best friend hauled away in an ambulance…and meets Tyler Smith, one of the hottest, most fascinating—and mysterious guys she’s ever met. Both for the good and the bad… Within days, Jess is swept up into the mesmerizing force that is Tyler. Their every touch sizzles, every kiss dissolves them both, and the sex is…fierce. But there’s more to Tyler than his hypnotic eyes. He’s adrift, too, and his body—and his soul—are covered with scars. How can she find herself with a guy who is lost himself? Until you take charge…. Jess is determined to find her way, and make a life that is better than the one she was given. But how?

This book will always stand out in my mind in comparison to other New Adult books I've read, simply because of its unpredictability.  The second sentence of the synopsis gives you an indication of just how crazy things are going to get as far as the plot goes - just read the first chapter and you'll be hooked.  Things don't really slow down at all, either.  Once that car crashes through the diner window, it's full throttle through to the end, which you also won't see coming - at least, I didn't.

The characters are great in that they aren't the quintessential good girl and bad boy that I've come to expect from the NA genre.  Jess has a lot of great qualities, but she's relatively uneducated and she's got quite the chip on her shoulder when it comes to Tyler's money and privileged upbringing.  Beautiful and wealthy Tyler, on the other hand, makes a lot of mistakes in his treatment of Jess, and it made me wonder if maybe she would be better off staying far away from him.  At first, he totally had me won over, but as the book progressed, I half changed my mind.    

There were a couple of other "random" things in this book that make it stand out, for example, Jess's mother's death, Jess's relationship with the other men in her life, and Tyler's history.  Everything's twisted and woven together in such an interesting way - I really enjoyed that aspect of this novel!  I can't wait to read the others in this series!

My rating: