Book Review- Dedication

I just finished reading Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus.

From Goodreads:

What if your ex was famous and adored by millions? What would you do if you had one chance to make him regret his entire existence? How much would you risk?


Kate Hollis's ex-boyfriend's face plasters newsstands and TV, the Internet, and the multiplex. Jake Sharpe is one of the biggest recording stars on the planet, and every song he's famous for is about Kate. For over a decade his soundtrack has chased her -- from the gym to the supermarket, from the dentist's office to the bars. Now thirty-year-old Kate gets the call that Jake has finally landed back in their Vermont hometown for an MTV special. The moment she has been waiting for has arrived.


On the eve of their prom, Jake Sharpe vanished, resurfacing when his song "Losing" -- about his and Kate's first sexual experience -- shot to the top of the Billboard charts. And the hits kept coming, each more personal than the one before.


Now Kate gets her chance to confront Jake and reclaim her past. But after eleven years of enduring protracted and far-from-private heartbreak, everyone in Kate's life has a stake in how this plays out. Kate must risk betraying the friends Jake abandoned, the bandmates whose songs he plundered, and her own parents, who fear this will dredge up a shared past more painful than any of them want to acknowledge. But after getting the call in the dead of night and jumping on a plane, can she turn back now?


Newsweek dubbed The Nanny Diaries "a national phenomenon" and the New Republic proclaimed, "Thank God for Citizen Girl." Now McLaughlin and Kraus have written a poignant, humorous tale about modern celebrity obsession and coming of age during the divorce boom. With flawless depictions of the 1980s, a charismatic heroine, and their signature biting wit, the authors offer up another lively and hilarious tale of a smart young woman looking for satisfaction in the chaos of contemporary culture.

When I first read that Dedication was about getting revenge on an ex-boyfriend, I'll have to admit (not proudly) that this hit right at home and I wanted to read more!

Dedication started off a little slow for me.  I didn't really like Kate at first--I didn't feel any warmth from her and really didn't care about her.  But then, through flashbacks, you get to know all about her relationship with Jake.  And then I started to care.  I could really feel how much she loved this boy and how great their relationship was.  And I could feel her heartbreak when the relationship suddenly ended with absolutely no closure (known from personal experience). 

There was definitely a surprise in the plot for me--twice.  The story went a way that I didn't think it was going to (although I liked it and would have done the same if I was in Kate's shoes).  And then it through me off track again!  But I liked the ending.  It had me misty eyed and really thinking back about the story.

I gave this book a rating of 4/5.

This book fullfills items for the following challenges:
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 27
2010 Chick Lit Challenge: 2

*FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Dana at Engelman & Co for an honest review.