What Were You Expecting?

Abby herself was just a placeholder. We learn little about her, nor do we feel a solid connection to her. She was a "bad girl" who wanted to clean up her image and turn her life around. Yet she didn't exhibit any "good girl" behavior, with the exception of wearing cardigans. She partied hard, flirted shamelessly with Travis, wore short skirts, etc, etc. We were told she was a good girl, but her behavior didn't match what we were told. She really blew hot and cold with Travis. One minute she loves him, the next she wants nothing to do with him. She kisses him and rubs on him, but swears she isn't attracted to him. Taking into account her age, I can dismiss some of this behavior. But if I factor in her past and how she had to "grow up" before her time because of her father, not to mention the fact that she's trying to turn her life around, I just end up disgusted with her. That Travis is a violent sort of guy is something I could have overlooked as well. I'm not saying it's a good quality, but I've seen many young, hot-headed high school boys who think throwing a punch is the answer to everything. It didn't work because it's also coupled with an extremely possessive and jealous nature, which pushes him past "hot-head" territory and into the "creepy I-want-to-control-you" camp. We supposed to excuse his behavior because he grew up rough with 4 brothers and no mother. I don't think that works, however, because his violent, possessive, jealous behavior doesn't inspires sympathy. Even if I felt a twinge of sympathy for a young boy who lost his mother and whose father lost himself in a bottle, it was quickly squashed under the weight of his asinine behavior. This reads more like a YA novel set in high school than a New Adult novel set in college. I think cafeteria scenes are what pushed it over the edge for me. It read more like high school lunch hour than anything else.