Review: Unlovable by Sherry Gammon

This book is part of my 2013 TBR Pile Challenge.

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Unlovable
Sherry Gammon
Series: Port Fare #1
Publication date: January 19th 2011 by Wordpainting Unlimited Inc.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Goodreads - Amazon

Port Fare, New York, has fallen into the clutches of true evil. The Dreser brothers have arrived with a scheme to increase drug sales in the area by whatever means possible. Seth Prescott is part of MET (Mobile Enforcement Teams) a branch of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). He's been assigned to work undercover at Port Fare High, and things aren't going very well, until senior Maggie Brown enters the equation. He's harbored a secret crush on her from day one, and now that she is in the center of the case, he's trying to stay clear and objective while walking the line between business and unrequited love.

Maggie is truly the poster child for Heroin Chic, complete with jutting bones and dark-ringed eyes, but is she an addict, or is there another reason for her appearance? She struggles with her feelings for Seth, fearing he is just another person who will eventually let her down, as everyone in her life has done thus far.

Maggie has spent her life caring for her alcoholic mother. A task that has left her heavily burdened and alone. Before long, her mother's health takes a turn for the worst, sending Maggie's life into a tale-spin.

While Seth works relentlessly to inject fear into the dealers and flush them out into the open, Maggie fights to stay alive as the hunt turns deadly.

Seth and Maggie's romantic journey is one of humor, heartbreak, and self-discovery.

I've been meaning to read this for forever, and the opportunity presented itself when I signed up for the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge. What caught my attention when I first saw this book was the premise of an undercover agent falling in love with a high school girl, mostly because I just love all the heartbreak that situations like this bring.

Seth goes undercover as a high school student to try and bring down a ring of heroine drug dealers who started targeting and sealing drugs to teenagers. And Maggie is the poster child for heroin chick: too skinny, hair falling flat and dead from her head, sunk eyes with dark circles under it, and always wearing baggy and long-sleeved sweatshirts.

As they grow closer and the investigation progresses, Maggie's name comes up as one of the people who could be the FBI's missing link to catch the drug dealers. Seth is assigned to keep close watch and "become her friend", but his feelings for her and the certainty he has that she's not guilty soon get in the way, and what is an already complicated situation ends up becoming even messier. Especially considering the secrets both of them are keeping from each other.

The events are told in various POVs, so we get everyone's side of the story, and I think that's one of the reasons why I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. As nice as it was to read about different perspectives from different characters, some of the dialogue just seemed a little bit off to me.

Maggie and Seth's relationship was also a bit hard to relate to, considering how they go from Seth flirting and Maggie shutting him down to both of them being desperately in love with each other.

Overall it was an interesting book, enough to make me want to read the sequel, but there was nothing there that really caught my attention.