Young Love Murder (Young Assassins) by April Brookshire

Young Love Murder (Young Assassins) by April Brookshire.


Information.
Pages: 500.
Published: August 24th 2011/CreateSpace.
This isn’t a love story, it’s a love adventure. First love’s a killer, but so is seventeen-year-old Annabelle Blanc. She was raised to be an assassin and taught to never fall in love. She’s at the top of her game until she meets Gabriel Sanchez. Totally devoted to her profession, she’s never been naive. Except for when it comes to love. Wealthy, spoiled and self-indulgent, Gabriel Sanchez doesn’t think past his next conquest. Until he sets his sights on Annabelle. Expecting the mysterious Anna to be like every other girl, Gabriel finds himself drawn into a world of deception and murder. As two worlds collide, will Annabelle and Gabriel be able to overcome betrayal, revenge and heartbreak to find love? - Goodreads.

Review.

Annabelle is no normal teenager, she's an assassin. She is in her own right, the anti-heroine. I love anti-heroine. The fact she is a bad-ass killing machine is super cool. However, she chooses to only take out the worst of the  worst in the Criminal world which gives the book a layer or morality. It makes one think about the ethics of murder and if someone deserves to die for their misdeeds.

When I started Young Love Murder, I was pretty into it, it seemed like my kinda book which kick-ass lead with a kick-ass (literally) job, a witty brother and good looking male lead. What's not to like? Well, a hasty love plot that takes over the book is what's not to like.

The target: Xavier Sanchez. The mission: Use Xavier Sanchez son, Gabriel, or nephew, Max, as a way to infiltrate Xavier's home and life. Take out target. 

The outcome of this mission: Love. Irritating, sickly sweet love between Gabriel and Annabelle.

Throughout the course of the book, which is set over the course of a few years, fighting, angry sex and some fighting become a large part of Gabriel's and Annabelle's relationship. Since the book is spanned over a few years, you would expect some good character development, right? Wrong. Gabriel's personality turns from cool ladies man to overly obsessed stalker. I just wanted Gabriel to go away. Calling someone who says you have broken up still your girlfriend is just plain weird and deserves a restraining order, not a second chance, like he asks for. Overall, the characters do not develop. They go no where in terms of evolving which is disappointing in a five hundred page book.

Throughout the book how Brookshire writes, changes with twists and turns in the book and it just lacked fluidity and good structure. The writing in Brookshire's debut novel left a lot to be desired. Although, I will give it to Brookshire, she does have some funny lines throughout. 

The majority of the reviews for Young Love Murder hold ratings between four and five and for the first few chapters of the books, it is worth a four star rating. The general plot was so promising, it could have been amazing but for me, it just fell. Young Love Murder is being so well received, I feel like I must have been reading a different book to everyone else, but to each their own, I suppose. 

Rating: 2/5.