Undecided by Julianna Keyes

Title: Undecided

Author: Julianna Keyes

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: April 4, 2016

Source: ARC from Author

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Nora Kincaid has one goal for her second year of college: be invisible. Last year’s all-party-no-study strategy resulted in three failed classes and two criminal charges, and if she messes up again she’ll lose her scholarship. But there’s one problem with her plan for invisibility, and his name is Crosbie Lucas: infamous party king, general hellraiser…and her new roommate’s best friend. 

Crosbie’s reckless reputation and well-known sexcapades aren’t part of Nora’s studious new strategy, but as she’s quickly learning, her new plan is also really boring. When Crosbie’s unexpected gestures of friendship pull her head out of her books long enough to see past his cocky veneer, she’s surprises to find a flawed and funny guy beneath it all. The muscles don’t hurt, either.

But as Nora starts to fall for Crosbie, the weight of one of last year’s bad decisions grows even heavier. Because three failing grades and two misdemeanors are nothing compared to the one big secret she’s hiding…

I’ve been on a roll lately with reading awesome NA romances that have been flying a little under the radar. I’ve read so many good ones lately and I seriously hope this trend keeps up. The latest in my series of NA wins? Julianna Keyes’s Undecided.

After almost failing out and getting arrested in her first year of college, Nora Kincaid has a plan to get back on track. This year will be different: no partying, no skipping classes, and her free time is being spent studying in the library. And that plan would be great if only she wasn’t now living with Kellan McVey, campus track star and notorious party boy. Because where there’s Kellan, there’s also his best friend, Crosbie Lucas. And the last thing Nora should be doing is spending time with someone like Crosbie Lucas. But Crosbie isn’t who Nora thought he was. And the more she gets to know, the more she’s surprised by who Crosbie really is. But falling for Crosbie isn’t part of the plan. Especially after what happened at that one party the year before. Nora can’t help the feelings that are developing, but if what happened at that part comes out, the rest of her past mistakes are going to seem minor in comparison. 

It’s kind of weird. I hadn’t really heard anything about Julianna Keyes’s Undecided and didn’t really know about it but then all of a sudden it was popping up everywhere (and by everywhere, I mean the various social media platforms I manage to spend hours on each day). And when I found out more about it, I just knew it was going to be my kind of book. It also didn’t hurt that everyone kept saying fantastic things about it. So of course I decided to read it. And all those glowing reviews? They weren’t lying. I got totally sucked into Undecided. I don’t know exactly how to explain it. There wasn’t one specific things about the story that drew me in, or one specific moment that hooked me. I was just into whatever Julianna Keyes was doing with Undecided right from the beginning. Everything about the story came together in just the right way to make me love this book, plain and simple. But the biggest selling point (because I’m still me, after all) was the romance. The romance between Nora and Crosbie exactly what I needed and I loved every page of it. 

If Nora and I were to meet in real life, I think we would be good friends. I just felt like I really clicked with her when I started reading Undecided. With some books, it can take me a while to click with a narrator (if I even click with them at all). But not with Nora. I just love her right from the start. I understood her, the way she felt like she could either be crazy party Nora or boring and studious Nora, as opposed to something in the middle. I understood her complicated feelings about a certain hookup even when she was still confused about them. But Nora wasn’t the only person I loved in this story. Do I really need to say that I loved Crosbie? I feel like that should be a given. Crosbie wasn’t who I thought he was going to be. I loved the different layers to his personality, how to teh world he seemed like the super confident and cocky guy, but when you got to know him, you realized that’s not who he was at all. My only wish is that I could have gotten to see some parts of the story from his perspective because I just wanted to know everything there was to know about him. I also loved the friendship that  developed between Nora and Kellan. And I loved Kellan himself. I loved how shameless Kellan was because at the end of the day, he meant well. And I hope I get to read his story someday.

Julianna Keyes’s Undecided was the best kind of surprise. It was the perfect story with just the right amount of heart, romance, and humour. I loved every page of it and look forward to any new new adult novels from this author.