BOOK REVIEW: Love is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Name: Love is the Drug
Author: Alaya Dawn Johnson
Number of Pages: 352
Publisher: Levine Books
Expected Publish Date: September 30th, 2014
Source: I was given a copy of this book for an honest reviews. NetGalley/Publisher (ARC)
Rate: 3.5/5

From the author of THE SUMMER PRINCE, a novel that's John Grisham's THE PELICAN BRIEF meets Michael Crichton's THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN set at an elite Washington D.C. prep school.

Emily Bird was raised not to ask questions. She has perfect hair, the perfect boyfriend, and a perfect Ivy-League future. But a chance meeting with Roosevelt David, a homeland security agent, at a party for Washington DC's elite leads to Bird waking up in a hospital, days later, with no memory of the end of the night.

Meanwhile, the world has fallen apart: A deadly flu virus is sweeping the nation, forcing quarantines, curfews, even martial law. And Roosevelt is certain that Bird knows something. Something about the virus--something about her parents' top secret scientific work--something she shouldn't know.

The only one Bird can trust is Coffee, a quiet, outsider genius who deals drugs to their classmates and is a firm believer in conspiracy theories. And he believes in Bird. But as Bird and Coffee dig deeper into what really happened that night, Bird finds that she might know more than she remembers. And what she knows could unleash the biggest government scandal in US history.
[Summary taken from GoodReads]


 There is a lesson to be learned with Love is the Drug, I fought my way through the beginning. I am not sure if I was lost, or if my brain did not function the right way. It took me quite a while to get through the very first chapter. I loved the concept, it was well thought out. I loved the idea of Pandemic virus that spread across the world and the problems that arises in the country. Everything else in the book, though, I did not enjoy.

I was completely confused. It was not until three-fourths of the way through that I actually caught on to what I was reading. I understood a few concepts of the book, but for some I was completely thrown off. The writing was done well, but I felt like parts were mixed up. There was a point where the setting goes from one place and does a complete 180. That was quite frustrating.

One of the only things that I loved was the romance and the characters. Bird is not a rule breaker but she is not a goodie two shoes either. She is the perfect girlfriend, the perfect daughter, and the too much perfect best friend. Which the author actually took into account, with the different names that she gave her. Coffee was amazing, he was not perfect and that is why I like him. A majority of the characters were realistic, not all of though. Coffee has always taken care of Bird even when she did not deserve it. He is the perfect best friend and even could be a perfect boyfriend....

The romance was a little different. Most books start off as an instant romance or an instant attraction. Yet Bird and Coffee have been friends for years, even though no one really likes their relationship. I was rooting for them through the whole book, maybe it is just because I hated Birds poor excuse of a boyfriend...Peter. Can you feel the glares I am giving Peter, he is a douche. 

Love is the Drug was very confusing. It has more than one concept that started to jumble together that made a mess. The beginning did a great job at depicting the pandemic but then it changed and focused on: Bird's memory problems, the strange romance, and why Roosevelt is always in Bird's face. There are times where it was easy to read and other times I wish I was already done. The ending was pretty good, but it did not answer any of my questions.

Read On!

xx Kat xx