Book Review: Bad Influence by Stephanie London

A story of second chances, Bad Influence follows Annie and Joseph, childhood sweethearts who became star-crossed lovers because of their over-confidence in their love. They believe that nothing can separate them, but the moment they were faced with a decision that could make or break them, they took the coward’s way out.

SPOILER ALERT

Bad Influence (Bad Bachelors Book 3)

There will be spoilers after this paragraph. – I always try to write a spoiler free review but this time I will have to break my own rule. Proceed at your own risk.

First, I would like to say that “Bad Influence” is not a bad story. It is actually good. But, for the life of me, all I feel for the heroine Annie is contempt. Her character just never grew on me. I felt that she was spoiled brat and she did not respect Joseph.

I feel the same way about Annie’s family. They are supposed to be the salt of the earth. Again, all I see is that they are self-centered, and they could not do wrong. They punished Joseph for his mistakes, but never called Annie on hers.

This is a rich boy meets poor girl and they fell in love. Annie’s mother used to clean the Preston’s house. Annie and Joseph met when they were children. The friendship turned into romantic love.

Everything was going well. Joseph got a job in Singapore and the couple was in the middle of packing for their move overseas when Annie’s mother Connie was diagnosed with breast cancer. Connie wanted Annie to stay. And Annie, as a good daughter said she would. And she should.

Problem was, Annie had informed everyone she was staying without telling Joseph. In fact, everyone knew she was staying except Joseph. That was very wrong of Annie and very disrespectful to the man she professed that she loved.

With this big planned move ongoing, Annie should have discussed with Joseph the situation with her mother. This is what couples do. But Annie, in her arrogance, believing that Joseph cannot understand familial love because of his family just bypassed Joseph in the decision-making.

For me, that is the crux of the matter. When you love someone enough that marriage is in the future, he or she should be number one in your list. It does not mean that you will abandon your family in time of their need. It just means that whatever decision you make, the two of you should make it together.

That said, since this happened in Chapter 1, I just did not like Annie. And I did not like her friends and family either. All of them made Joseph a bad guy. They did not even take into consideration that Joseph gave Annie his Manhattan apartment where they live together. And it was not a cheap apartment either. It has a doorman and has elevators. For New York City real state, that apartment starts at $750K to over a $1 million. Nobody, including Annie recognized Joseph’s generosity.

Another thing, Annie chose her website/app over her friend!!! And Annie is supposed to be a loving person, raised by a loving family. But, she chose her app over her friend as a matter of principle. Really?

Annie’s friend did not break the law, nor her boyfriend. The man in question just happened to be given a bad rap. But, Annie with her holier than thou attitude just did not care enough for her friend. So, their friendship was broken.

Yes, in the end Annie missed her friend and made up for it. But, if Annie is a friend in real life, I will forgive her, but I will never forget what she did. She abandoned her friend in her time of need.

I can go on and on about the heroine. Still, taking a cue from Jessica Rabbit who said, “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way,” I will have to say that “Annie is not bad, she is just written that way.”

But, her character took away from the story. So instead of giving it 5 stars, I’m giving the “Bad Influence” 4 stars. The author Stefanie London did a credible job. I just wished that she made Annie a little more likeable.

“Bad Influence” is Rated T for Teens due to sexual content.

[Image credits: Manhattan Bridge Photo by Luca Bravo; Man working on laptop Photo by Bruce Mars; Girl working on computer Photo by Andrew Neel; All on Unsplash.]