Buy Links | SynopsisWhen Liv Bennett said good-bye to her sinkhole of a hometown, she planned to leave that chapter of her life behind forever. But forever turned out to only be three years. After her addict of a mother up and disappears, Liv returns to what she considers her own personal hell smack in the middle of nowhere Nevada to take care of her two younger sisters, and she promptly reinstitutes the golden rule that got her through her first nineteen years of life without getting knocked up, roughed up, or messed up: don’t date the local boys and, god forbid, don’t fall in love with one of them. It isn’t long before that golden rule is put to the test. Will Goods grew up in the next trailer over, but the wild, careless boy who used to tear up the town with his three brothers has morphed into someone else so completely, he’s almost unrecognizable. The quiet, contemplative man who works on cars every night and takes care of his mentally ill mother every day is nothing like the local boys Liv grew up avoiding. But when Liv considers suspending her golden rule just this once, she finds out something about Will that will change everything. Will Goods isn’t who he used to be—he’s not even the man Liv thinks she’s gotten to know over the summer. He’s become someone else entirely. He’s become . . . Damaged Goods. |
Review
I’m very torn on how I feel about this book. I’m not even totally sure how to write my review for it, because my opinions are so opposite and changed throughout the book. I despise writing not glowingly positive reviews, but luckily, only half of the book wasn’t a 5 star read for me. It’s no secret that I adore Nicole Williams. As in, nearly cried when I met her this summer, couldn’t stop shaking, I love every word she has ever written, etc. I love her. So it hurts to have to say this, but Damaged Goods just wasn’t ENTIRELY up my alley. I’ll tell you why.
The first half of the book seemed very slow for me. Williams does a great job of helping you understand why Liv left the life she had, how she felt about it, and the reasons why she never wanted to return. There’s no doubt as to why things are playing out currently in her life how they are. Maybe it was because Liv is definitely not portrayed as this warm and fuzzy character. She’s rough, she’s not really always looking at the silver lining of situations, or super cheerful. But that doesn’t mean she’s a bad person, because she’s so far from that. She puts everything on the back burner for her sisters, meaning not only a relationship or a job but her actual education. She takes on the motherly role and does everything she has to do to make sure her sisters are cared for. So Liv is a very caring character, but something about her just…didn’t sit right with me and I’m still not even sure what it was. I didn’t fall in love with her, even though I wanted to.
I DID love Will from the get go, but it’s not Will’s story, it’s Liv’s. You see everything through her eyes, so that electric feeling I got anytime Will was in a scene wasn’t as often as I would have liked. You venture through many different experiences with Liv and her two sisters, and you’ll feel for them. The hardships they endure, and watching them try their best to survive was heartbreaking. Even if the story was slow, there’s no lack of emotion. Williams does a great job of making sure you feel what she wanted you to feel. But overall, the first half of the book was very…I don’t want to use the word disappointing because it wasn’t, but it wasn’t quite what I hoped for.
And then you hit the second half, and things changed. Everything picked up speed. The connection between Liv and Will started to evolve much more, the relationship between Liv, Paige, and Reese started to become deeper, and it felt like things were finally feeling “right” to me. It had the romance that you look for in these novels, as well as the anxiety and that feeling of just being happy. There was some mystery added in that kept me guessing, but it felt like everything else in Liv’s life was shaping up. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first.
Holy…crap… Okay, backtrack for a second. Some books try to toss in some big shocker, and for me at least, it never works out. I’m never really shocked. Maybe the foreshadowing was much too obvious or maybe the author didn’t REALLY want you to be as shocked as it appeared, but it never really works for me with other books. OTHER books, but not this one. Geez. Damaged Goods blew my mind. There’s one massive reveal at the end that I didn’t see coming. At all. I was entirely blind to the situation, and I’m still sitting here trying to figure out how I missed it. Williams did such a fantastic job of blending everything together that I never caught on. When it’s revealed, I had one of those wide eyed, gasping, can’t breathe, tingles kind of moment. Then immediately, I started thinking “Was I seriously that oblivious or did an author FINALLY shock me?!” So after you have read Damaged Goods, shoot me a message and tell me if you agree. Was I really that clueless and everyone else saw what was going on? Or did Nicole blow your mind too? I’m betting she’s gonna blow your mind.
Overall, I enjoyed it. By the end, I would even say I loved it. I wish the first half had carried as much as the second half, but at the same time, I get it. Those books that toss you head first into a situation sometimes (most of the time) don’t work as well. You need the buildup, but it felt like the pacing on the first half was a bit off for me. Once the excitement builds and their lives start changing though, the story took off. I loved every minute of the last half, and especially the last 20% or so. Like with all Nicole Williams novels, it has the quirky writing that I can’t get enough of, the meaningful characters that you’ll find yourself in love with by the end, and the story that grips you and doesn’t let go. Unfortunately, that grip came a bit later than I expected, but it DID happen. I would definitely suggest giving Damaged Goods a try, and see what you think. I might be wrong and that’s okay, but I’d love for you to experience it yourself. I don’t regret a single moment of my time while reading Liv and Will’s story, and am still sitting here shaking my head over that shocker. Well done Nicole!
<3 Erin
The first half of the book seemed very slow for me. Williams does a great job of helping you understand why Liv left the life she had, how she felt about it, and the reasons why she never wanted to return. There’s no doubt as to why things are playing out currently in her life how they are. Maybe it was because Liv is definitely not portrayed as this warm and fuzzy character. She’s rough, she’s not really always looking at the silver lining of situations, or super cheerful. But that doesn’t mean she’s a bad person, because she’s so far from that. She puts everything on the back burner for her sisters, meaning not only a relationship or a job but her actual education. She takes on the motherly role and does everything she has to do to make sure her sisters are cared for. So Liv is a very caring character, but something about her just…didn’t sit right with me and I’m still not even sure what it was. I didn’t fall in love with her, even though I wanted to.
I DID love Will from the get go, but it’s not Will’s story, it’s Liv’s. You see everything through her eyes, so that electric feeling I got anytime Will was in a scene wasn’t as often as I would have liked. You venture through many different experiences with Liv and her two sisters, and you’ll feel for them. The hardships they endure, and watching them try their best to survive was heartbreaking. Even if the story was slow, there’s no lack of emotion. Williams does a great job of making sure you feel what she wanted you to feel. But overall, the first half of the book was very…I don’t want to use the word disappointing because it wasn’t, but it wasn’t quite what I hoped for.
And then you hit the second half, and things changed. Everything picked up speed. The connection between Liv and Will started to evolve much more, the relationship between Liv, Paige, and Reese started to become deeper, and it felt like things were finally feeling “right” to me. It had the romance that you look for in these novels, as well as the anxiety and that feeling of just being happy. There was some mystery added in that kept me guessing, but it felt like everything else in Liv’s life was shaping up. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first.
Holy…crap… Okay, backtrack for a second. Some books try to toss in some big shocker, and for me at least, it never works out. I’m never really shocked. Maybe the foreshadowing was much too obvious or maybe the author didn’t REALLY want you to be as shocked as it appeared, but it never really works for me with other books. OTHER books, but not this one. Geez. Damaged Goods blew my mind. There’s one massive reveal at the end that I didn’t see coming. At all. I was entirely blind to the situation, and I’m still sitting here trying to figure out how I missed it. Williams did such a fantastic job of blending everything together that I never caught on. When it’s revealed, I had one of those wide eyed, gasping, can’t breathe, tingles kind of moment. Then immediately, I started thinking “Was I seriously that oblivious or did an author FINALLY shock me?!” So after you have read Damaged Goods, shoot me a message and tell me if you agree. Was I really that clueless and everyone else saw what was going on? Or did Nicole blow your mind too? I’m betting she’s gonna blow your mind.
Overall, I enjoyed it. By the end, I would even say I loved it. I wish the first half had carried as much as the second half, but at the same time, I get it. Those books that toss you head first into a situation sometimes (most of the time) don’t work as well. You need the buildup, but it felt like the pacing on the first half was a bit off for me. Once the excitement builds and their lives start changing though, the story took off. I loved every minute of the last half, and especially the last 20% or so. Like with all Nicole Williams novels, it has the quirky writing that I can’t get enough of, the meaningful characters that you’ll find yourself in love with by the end, and the story that grips you and doesn’t let go. Unfortunately, that grip came a bit later than I expected, but it DID happen. I would definitely suggest giving Damaged Goods a try, and see what you think. I might be wrong and that’s okay, but I’d love for you to experience it yourself. I don’t regret a single moment of my time while reading Liv and Will’s story, and am still sitting here shaking my head over that shocker. Well done Nicole!
<3 Erin
Author Info
I’m the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the CRASH series (HarperTeen, S&S UK), LOST & FOUND series, UP IN FLAMES (S&S UK), The EDEN TRILOGY, and a handful of others. I write stories about everyday kinds of people who find themselves in extraordinary kinds of situations. I tell love stories with happy endings because I believe in making the world a better place, and that’s one tiny way I can make it so. I’m one of those people who still believe in true love and soul mates, and would rather keep my head in the clouds any day over having my feet firmly on the ground.