Blog Tour: Knowing Jack by Rachel Curtis, Review + Giveaway!

Released On: January 17, 2014

Knowing Jack

by Rachel Curtis

3 stars

I think the reason why I cannot find it in my heart to give this a higher rating is because I had high expectations for this book. The synopsis was excellent. It really got my attention. Honestly my first thought was that this would be like Beautiful Broken Rules by Kimberly Lauren. I read so many excellent reviews about that book, and since the synopsis for Knowing Jack was kind of similar (except for the sleeping with the professor bit), I grabbed the chance to review this story.

My biggest issue is that I find the characters immature and too reckless for their own good. It has only been 3 months since her relationship with a college professor became public and said professor was fired. It's because of the latter that she became the object of hostility for the entire campus. Carter was a well-liked, handsome, young professor. He showed so much promise and it was such a pity he was fired. So naturally, it was Chloe who became the receiving end of all kinds of maliciousness. 

Aside from losing friends, being the subject of gossip and basically being bullied short of actually getting hit, Chloe also started receiving threatening text messages. Lucky for her that her family is wealthy. Her loving parents decided to hire a personal security detail to keep her safe. Her new bodyguard? Jack.

Jack spent the last seven years paying for a fatal mistake that his father had never forgiven him for. His father owns the security firm that Chloe's parents hired. Ever since that mistake seven years ago, Jack kept getting assigned to "cotton candy" cases. He regarded Chloe's case as one of them. 

The attraction between the two was almost instant, at least it was for Jack. Chloe took just a short moment to catch up to the lust-fest. This is where my interest in the story started to wane. Three months was too soon for Chloe to make a serious misstep again (let's face it, entering into a relationship with your bodyguard is inviting trouble), and for someone who's supposedly intent on getting through her senior year with her head, she doesn't seem too bothered by crossing the line with her bodyguard. I felt sorry for her plight, but because of her subsequent poor decisions my dismay grew stronger than my sympathy for her.

It's not that I am against the romance between people of different social statuses or bosses and their employees. Hello, I really enjoyed Fifty Shades and the Crossfire Series. I guess it's just because by the time they jump in bed together I still wasn't convinced by the sincerity or depth of their feelings for each other. It happened too soon for my taste. 

That's actually another thing I didn't like about Chloe: she didn't make Jack work too hard. She still comes across as impulsive and irresponsible in spite of Ms. Curtis's efforts to make her appear otherwise. Jack... he's not awful. But considering the circumstances of his big mistake seven years ago, you'd think he'd handle this situation differently. Unfortunately, he acted just as irresponsibly as Chloe. Yes, he tried to stop his attraction to Chloe, but after he crossed the line and admitted his mistake, he did it again. And again. He was supposed to be a 28-year-old adult but honestly, his actions can easily make him the jerk-off were he in a different book.

Chloe and Jack are not entirely unlikeable but neither are they the type of characters that I would gush about. It could be different for other readers, but for me, they just don't make the cut. 

So, our protagonists do the "forward-backward" dance: they make up, they begin realizing the reality of their situation, they tell each other they need to stop it, then act jealous when a third-party comes up. At the end of it all though, their desire to be together gets them through the obstacles in this book. Sadly, it's not without consequences.

Again, I applaud Rachel Curtis for that excellent synopsis. She writes really well. I'm just disappointed by how the story went. Oh, Knowing Jack has a happy-for-now ending. I'm interested to know what's going to happen in the next book, so I think I'll still read the sequel when it comes! You be the judge for this one.

Buy links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

I am not a bitch, although people like to say I am. I kept our relationship secret. I’m not responsible for telling the university administrators about it, but a lot of students still blame me for getting their favorite professor fired.

I am not a drama queen, although everyone thinks I am now. When I got a few nasty messages, I just deleted them. When I got the threat, I assumed it was someone being stupid. I still think that’s all it was. My parents worry, though, so they hired me a bodyguard. Now Jack follows me around, intimidating everyone who approaches me and looking obnoxiously hot.

This is what I am. I’m Chloe. I’m a twenty-year-old art history major. Kind of shy, although I pretend not to be. Stubborn enough to stay here for my senior year, even though everyone hates me. 

And I’m stuck with Jack.

He calls me “Princess,” but I’m not a princess either.