Publishing Date: November 14th, 2013
Page Count: 230
Source: I.O. Book Tours
Format: E-Book
Book Blurb:
COMMUNITY SERVICE is a 2014 RONÉ AWARDS Nominee (New Adult Category).
As Maggie Mitchell enters her final semester of college, the last thing she wants is a guy in her life, let alone two of them.
Her new lab partner, Sawyer Reed, is still the overconfident and sexy jock that made fun of her in high school. The only thing that has changed is that he now uses a wheelchair, the result of a skiing accident.
Jude Marino is a hot actor who all the girls want and would do anything to get. He works at a local theater where Maggie has been assigned to complete community services hours after rear-ending a police car.
Both Sawyer and Jude want Maggie but only one of them will be able to capture her heart.
Buy It: Amazon
Review:
I absolutely loved Community Service. Before I started reading it I didn't know if I was going to love it or not. It sounded like the typical good guy/bad guy love triangle, but once I actually started reading it I couldn't put it down. I read the whole thing in one sitting and was so happy with the ending. It was such a good read and I'm glad I decided to start it when I had ample time to finish it in the same sitting.
I loved that Sawyer was in a wheelchair, because it really brought on a whole plot and storyline of its own. Maggie has to figure out if a disability is a deal breaker or not and she has to figure out how his disability will affect the rest of her life. I thought it was so interesting to learn about the discrimination and rudeness that people in wheelchairs face and I loved learning how Sawyer handled it all.
There was a lot of tension throughout the story and I loved that, because it made the whole book very complex and relatable. Life doesn't have just one factor making things harder, its a compilation of things that go wrong in life and I liked that this story embodied that. The characters all felt like real people to me, too. I felt like I knew these people or I could come across them, because they weren't fake or flat characters. For example I loved how douchey Jude turns out to be and how Maggie handles him on their first date.
There was only one thing I would have changed about this story and that was the pacing. Overall, the pacing was great, but Sawyer admits something to Maggie about him not wanting to date her. I thought it was a little quick for him to do that. They just reconnected and have only been friends for about a week before he explains something to her and I just felt like it was a little too quick. I think the rest of the story makes up for it, though, because I quickly got over that small flaw in a matter of pages.
Overall:
I absolutely loved this book! Once I started it I could not put it down and had to read it in one sitting. I loved the different characters that are introduced and I loved all the complexity and tension that is weaved through the story. It was so awesome to read about a love interest with a disability, because it really is a complex issue that brings up a lot of questions. The ending was perfect and I am so happy that I got to read this book. I am definitely buying and reading more of Dakota's books.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 5/5
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Excerpt:
As I entered the lab, I was immediately
struck by the state-of-the-art technology. I knew Dr. Weaver was the recipient
of a number of very large grants but this lab was beyond anything I could have
imagined. I could feel my body start to shake with nervous anticipation.“Looking for a lab partner?” I heard a voice say from behind. The voice sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place it.
It completely floored me.
Except when we were on the school bus. Every day when he passed by me on his way to the back of the bus, he'd call me Freaky Four Eyes. Not that I didn't deserve the moniker. For some reason, when I was a teenager, I thought it was a good idea to wear Marilyn Monroe Cat Eye glasses. Not that I looked anything like Marilyn Monroe. In high school, I had frizzy brown hair and the body of a 12-year-old boy. I could have been called the antithesis of Marilyn Monroe, if there was such a thing. But I sure loved those glasses.
And why would he remember some younger girl he teased on the bus anyway?
I wasn't sure if I should put out a hand for him to shake. When I looked down at his hands, I noticed he was wearing half gloves with the open fingers. I assumed it was because he used a manual wheelchair and did a lot of pushing every day. I guessed it got hard on the hands after a while.
I nodded. I took Anatomy and Physiology my sophomore year. I didn't know a lot about spinal cord injuries but I had learned a few things about spinal cord function. I knew enough to know that level of injury impacted the lower half of the body, paraplegia, and an incomplete injury meant the spinal cord was not completely damaged and there may still be some functioning.
“How long ago was the accident?” My voice sounded so tentative. I didn't mean for it to be. I guess I wasn't sure what was appropriate to ask a person in a wheelchair. I had never actually spoken to anyone in a wheelchair before. That really made me think. Was it because I didn't have an opportunity to meet anyone in a wheelchair or had I purposefully not made the effort? I had to admit, his wheelchair made me a little uncomfortable. I wasn't sure if it was because of the wheelchair or because the Sawyer I'd known before was able bodied.
Sawyers upper body looked as good as he did in high school, muscular and toned. I assumed he still worked out although I wasn't sure exactly how someone in a wheelchair worked out. I guess I never thought about the mechanics of it. A flood of questions filled my mind. I wondered if he drove a car and how he got dressed and made his bed. Then I wondered why I was so curious. I never wondered how anyone else went about their daily functions. It was pretty obvious he had things under control because he looked great, in his nicely fitting white polo shirt and black jeans. I even got the slightest hint of a delicious smelling aftershave.
“Maggie,” Sawyer said and I was brought back to the present moment. “Got a lot on your mind?” He gave me that sexy little grin of his and it took my breath away for a moment.
Was it that obvious that I was freaked out? I felt like a real jerk. But I didn't want to lie to the guy either. That was no way to start a relationship.
I looked at my watch. Dr. Weaver said she'd meet us at noon and it was just a few minutes before twelve.
“Is everything okay?” Sawyer asked. When I looked at him, I could see a level of compassion in his eyes that I had never seen before. “You seem a little nervous.”
What was there not to be nervous about? I was starting the most sought after internship in the university with a super-hot guy from high school who was now in a wheelchair.
That made me smile. He had a way of making me smile that no one else had. There was something about his energy and the way he made me feel in his presence that was just so comforting. “Thanks. I'm sure you'll kick the internships butt, too.”
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About the Author:
Dakota Madison has been writing since she learned to read and fell in love with books. When she's not at her computer creating spicy new romances, Dakota is traveling to exotic locales or spending time with her husband and their bloodhounds.
**The books cover, description, and info was all provided by Vickie Dold at Innovative Online Book Tours. A link to her website has been provided. All other work and ideas are of my own creation. This book was sent to me by Vickie in exchange for an honest review and to help promote it on the book's blog tour.**
