Worth the Wait - A Review

About the book
Published - February 4, 2014 Hope Springs Books
Series - Waltham Academy Book 1
Author - Laura Jackson
Format - paper, 220 pages
Buy from Amazon


Ellie Lansing is excited to start her senior year. She's a cheerleader, dating a wonderful guy, looking forward to the mission trip, and has a supportive family. Yes everything in life is going perfect. Perfect that is until she discovers her long-time boyfriend has cheated on her. Perfect that is until her mother's diagnosed with breast cancer. All of a sudden her perfect life has crumbled around her. Ellie struggles to pick up the pieces while trying to figure out exactly who she is in the midst of it all. Will she find herself or will she be lost adrift of all that is happening in her life?

This is Laura Jackson's debut novel. I was thrilled when the publisher contacted me to review this book. Like any other debut, I try to read it without overly high expectations because I never really know what I will get. Will I get a story that grabs me and causes me to react to the characters? Or will I get a story that feels like I'm be tortured to read? It does seem to me, lately, that the last several debuts I've read have fallen into the second category. I'm very pleased to say that Worth the Wait fell into the first category.

While I was reading it, I did find that Ellie was too perfect. Even when her life was completely turned upside down, she still seemed too perfect. That said, I loved watching Ellie grow and realize just exactly who she was and who God wanted her to be. I thought that Dylan was a first class jerk and that Ellie deserved better than him. I kept rooting for Ellie's best friend's twin brother, Josh, to be the guy that Ellie would finally notice.

I found that the author perfectly described life in a private Christian high school. I could "hear" in my mind as I read the cattiness of several of the characters, the gossip that ran rampant, and the wanting to fit in and be popular. Truly it wasn't much different than a public school. But where the biggest difference was, was in the way the characters reacted to situations. There was one party where one of the girls starts to feel really guilty about how she had been treating the main character and sends a rescue text or phone call to Josh. And while I can see several people being disappointed in how this book ends, I was really fine with it. Mainly because I felt that Ellie needed to figure out who she is.

Overall, I really loved this book. It's been a while since I've read  a truly young adult book, and I found this one to be delightful.  I will definitely keep an eye out for others by this author.

I received a pdf copy of the book from the publisher to review as well as to help promote the author's book. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Recommended to fans of Robin Jones Gunn's Christy Miller, Sierra Jensen, and Katie Weldon series, Meg Cabot's books, young adults, Jenny B Jones, Krista McGee

Rating - 5 stars - I loved it!

Note - Stop back by beginning on Wednesday February 5 for an interview with Laura Jackson and a chance to win her book.