Double Clutch by Liz Reinhardt

About the book

Double Clutch is the first book in the Brenna Blixen series by Liz Reinhardt. It was originally published in paperback on 29^th September 2011 but has been repackaged by Corgi for release on 6^th June. The book is 304 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-book for review.

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads.com)

Who to choose . . .?

Thrust back into school life after a year in Denmark, Brenna Blixen is soon making new friends and catching the eye of two boys with bad reputations. There’s the dark and mysterious Saxon, and the gorgeous and sexy Jake.

They’re both totally hot and totally into Brenna.

But Saxon and Jake have unresolved history and Brenna’s caught in the middle.

It’s time to make some tough choices, fast.

What I thought

I’m always on the lookout for new authors who write contemporary young adult/ new adult books so when I saw this one up on Net Galley I thought I would give it a go.

Brenna Blixen has just moved home after living in Denmark for a year with her mother and stepdad. She was home schooled there and going to a real high school is a pretty big deal. However, Brenna isn’t doing high school like everyone else. She’s spending half of the day there and the other half of the day at a Tech school to study graphic design. On her first day at each school, Brenna meets Saxon and Jake, two guys who instantly catch her attention.

What I liked about Brenna was that she was very strong and determined. After deciding that it was Jake she wanted, Brenna wasn’t afraid to voice her opinions and thoughts to Saxon and she wouldn’t take any crap from him either. Brenna was also very sweet at times, extremely clever and a bit sassy too. However, there were times that Brenna really bugged me. The dialogue in Double Clutch is somewhat unrealistic at times and this is where I got annoyed. Brenna would be having a conversation with someone then say something that didn’t sound like her at all or something that just sounded beyond cheesy and silly.

Double Clutch has the same conversational problems with the male characters too but Jake more so than Saxon. Both of the boys are super hot and both have something really addictive about them so I could see why Brenna was torn to begin with. Jake has that bad boy, mysterious past thing going on while Saxon is so upfront about what he wants and will most definitely go for getting that. While Jake has this big mysterious past, which is explained too early in the book for my liking, he talks and acts like the nicest guy there ever was. Maybe a bit too nice. His conversations with Brenna were annoying beyond belief because he was just so sappy. Don’t get me wrong, I like a nice guy character but this was a bit sickening at times.

The plot was pretty good though for the most part. Brenna is trying to figure out who she really is when it comes to being at school again in America and I liked this aspect of the book. It was good to see her reconnect with one old friend at least and for her to begin sorting her own life out. Reinhardt gives us the chance to really get to know all three main characters which means that you are able to make a better decision about whether you like them or not. However, far too much emphasis is put on the relationship aspect of this book and I feel as though Brenna could have been so much more had she not relied on Jake so much. This is a book with a love triangle but I feel as though Reinhardt tries to do something a little different with it while being a bit clichéd at the same time.

Overall, Double Clutch is an ok read but there were quite a few things which annoyed me throughout. I am interested to see what happens next though with the story coming to quite an exciting end.