From the New York Times bestselling author of Jake Undone, comes a full-length standalone companion novel and sequel.A different side to the story: Jake’s side.“We’re getting a new roommate,” they said.I thought nothing of it…until she walked in the door. Her hand trembled in mine as she looked at me with fearful eyes. My entire world spun on its axis.Nina…It was a mismatch made in heaven: … axis.
Nina…
It was a mismatch made in heaven: innocent girl from the boonies moves in with tattooed, pierced, badboy engineer.
I came up with a bet, a plan to tutor her in math and coach her through her phobias. What I wasn’t betting on was becoming addicted to her.
But I was living a double life on weekends, and once she found out about it, she’d be gone.
I had to protect myself and that meant one thing: I couldn’t fall in love.
In Jake Understood, pivotal scenes from Jake Undone are retold from Jake’s point of view combined with ALL-NEW material from both the past and present time where Jake Undone left off. It can stand alone but if both books are read, should follow Jake Undone.
Contains graphic sexual content and harsh language. It is only appropriate for adult readers age 18+.
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I loved seeing Jake’s POV and getting extra scenes/events not shared in Jake Undone. I love this authors writing and her characters are always fantastic. Jake dedication to Ivy and the love he has for his family is truly heartwarming.
* A review copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review *
AMAZEBALLS!!!!! That is really all I can say about this book.
Penelope Ward has done it again….She has made me fall in love with Jake and Nina all over again. Penelope has been and will always be one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE authors. She is a drop everything and read whatever she writes author for me. In my mind she can do NO wrong!!!
Jake Understood was just amazing!!! I had been anticipating this book from the time Penelope announced she was releasing it. And I am happy to say that this book didn’t disappoint. I don’t think I can accurately sum up what and how I am feeling after reading this book. As always the writing was phenomenal. Penelope has an amazing gift in being able to make you feel what her characters are feeling. She will make you laugh, cry, yell and blush. I have to be honest I read this book so slowly because I wanted to cherish it, because this is the last of Jake we will get. It was quite bittersweet for me, since Jake is right up there on my Book Boyfriend List with Travis Maddox and Christian Grey.
Jake Understood is the follow up novel to Jake Undone (one of my all time favorite reads) but it can be read as a standalone. I wouldn’t recommend that…I truly believe that Jake Undone should be read first so that you can get Nina’s perspective on Jake and their story together. Jake Understood is primarily told from Jake’s POV, but we do get some of Nina’s POV also. Now don’t fret….this is not just a retelling of Jake Undone. This book actually takes place 9 years after the end of Jake Undone. The way Penelope told this story was outstanding!!! She switches between the past and present. The past chapters are all about how Jake was feeling during the time when him and Nina met and got together. The present chapters are all about what was going on in their lives currently. This truly is a continuation of Jake and Nina’s story and I loved that we got to see them 9 years later. But what I LOVED the most was being inside Jake’s head during the time from Jake Undone. He was such a tortured soul. My heart broke for him on many occasions.
What I thought was great was that Penelope didn’t overload this book with too much material from Jake Undone, she truly just took the most important scenes from that book and put them into this book, but also gave us a look into some scenes we weren’t privy to in the first book (like scenes with Ivy). She wrote this book like Jake was telling a story. (Which was great because he was actually telling his story to Skylar and Mitch. )
That was another great aspect to this book….she really helped wrap up Skylar and Mitch and Cedric and Allison’s stories. I was so happy that all those characters were in this book as well and that we got to know what they have been up to over the last 9 years.
This book was truly the best conclusion for all of their love stories. It felt like they all came full circle once I was finished with the book.
This book has to be one of the best books for me in 2015 and Jake Undone and Jake Understood are two of my all time favorite books and ones I will continue to read again in the future. This duet of books are definitely MUST READ books!!!! You won’t be sorry for picking them up.
I loved this book. It was my first Penelope Ward book and it’s stoyry was hauntingly beaautiful. I loved Jake and really admired his loyalist. He’s still my favorite bookbiyfriend.
Must read following Jake Undone
I am one of those people that has to know every little bit after a story ends. This answers your questions of what the check Jake was thinking in Undone and how life went from there.
Ok, if you’ve read Gemini, you know Jake, Alison’s brother.
If you’ve read Jake Undone, you’ve gotten to know Jake through mainly Nina’s perspective.
If you’ve read My Skylar, you’ve seen Jake with others.
Now meet Jake.
Jake’s just getting back from a visit to Ivy’s – while trying to surprise Nina with a party on Saturday, he changed up his routine to see Ivy on Friday. Enter ridiculous New England weather, and Jake gets stuck overnight. Coming home the next morning, Nina leaves, telling him she needs to sort some things out. We all know what happened last time she sorted things out.
Forgetting to start contacting people, Skylar and Mitch show up. Jake explains what happened and Skylar asks for him to explain his and Nina’s history to Mitch. So starts the story of Jake Green.
When I first heard about this, I was a little nervous. I absolutely love Penelope’s writing, and I knew I loved Jake, but how often have we read the story “from his POV”? This story is not like that at all.
Slight breaks from then to now, seeing how Jake felt about a lot of things going on with Nina from their first meeting, to facing her fears, to her finding out about Ivy and further. This story not only tells you what Jake was going through when he met Nina, but where his head was at before he met her, and where he, and they, are now.
Wonderfully written and beautiful, I cannot say enough good things about this story. If you think you’ve met Jake, you don’t know anything yet. Grab Jake Understood today!
Sit back, hug your kindle and prepare to sink deeper into Jake and his POV, which you cannot help but love. To me it was like a long epilogue (with flashbacks) and I am a big sucker for an epilogue. I love them and think every book should have one. I also enjoyed getting to “check in” with Cedric, Allison and the rest of the gang.
Hearing his take on some of the scenes from Jake Undone was a fabulous. Seeing it from a different light and hearing his sidebar comments was fabulous and it is always fun to see what makes a bad boy tick. Jake is genuine, loyal, and witty yet sensitive and complex all wrapped up in a gorgeous tattooed body…and please don’t leave out the lip ring. His charisma is simply off the charts!
Digging into the understanding of why Jake keep his secret (and it was a doozy) became more clear as we got to hear his side of why he kept it for so long as well as see into just how this secret molded his past and will always have a hold on him. Who knew that years later this secret would still haunt him and threaten to destroy his future?
“Some things might be worth getting burned for.”
These words resonate throughout the book. Sometimes you are drawn to the fire and need to get burned before you realize you cannot have the pleasure without living through the pain first.
I also LOVE the bats, learning what he wanted to write versus what he actually wrote, was romantic and so damn cute.
What I almost wrote:
I love you Jake Green
What I wished I could have written:
I love you to the moon Jake Green
What I never could have written:
I fucking love you Jake Green
What I actually wrote:
I am bat shit crazy for you Jake Green…and now I am going to go celebrate with a banana.