Sinder 1: Experimentation (Volume 1)
by Jane Devreaux
Sometimes a new author awakens parts of your imagination by sweeping the cobwebs of complacency away.
I loved the writing style of this book and found that I almost immediately cared about the characters, or at least one of them more than the other.
The books was Sandre and Josh’s story and although it had a fundamental setting that was fairly ordinary (High School) I have to say that the characters were far from being run of the mill.
Sandre is on the periphery of everything but that is through choice, she likes being the outsider.
Josh on the other hand is the centre of everyone’s world – he is the superhero on the football team and has the picture perfect life – or does he.
One assignment together and the wheels of recognition start to turn. Josh begins to see that Sandre is not as she portrays herself and when he sees the girl underneath the veneer he can’t help but like what he sees.
Sandre may be young but she is not stupid, the likes of Josh is out of her league – or so she thinks.
His perfect life may not be so perfect after all or is that what he wants her to believe because in some respects I got the feeling that he wanted to have his cake and eat it!
He had it all but still wanted more- it was a shame in some respects that his more was Sandre and when they embark on their “friends with benefits” arrangement it is with what they believe to be the best of intensions, what they hadn’t anticipated and taken into account was that physical attraction is one thing but the two of them were emotionally attached and that was never going to just lay down and go away.
Their story was emotional but not without moments that will leave you slack jawed – I was staggered at times by the turn of events that the author unleashed. There are certain issues that are difficult to reconcile – I have difficult with characters that cheat and lie and with Josh he seemed to play with those traits and every other feeling that he could – I am not admonishing Sandre of guilt – she knew he had a girlfriend but I got the feeling that Josh was a master at manipulation – Sandre I think was just willing to enjoy the ride so to speak.
The book was accomplished, sensual and left me with a desire to put my pigeon French to good use in order to devour the next book in the series.
Please have book two translated into English soon, it would be a shame for others to miss out