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Aqueela, a dreamer and comedian at heart, has just one joyous vision - to transform lives through the mere power of friendship, friendships so solid that they last a lifetime.

However, Jay, pessimistic by nature, is convinced that friends are overrated, and that Aqueela is nothing short of a whackjob with an idealistic perspective on the world. It would seem that he wants nothing to do with her.

Nonetheless, blood isn't always thicker than water. Friends can become your family. And so as one after the other begin to share in Aqueela's vision, Jay has no choice but to bend his own views in order to see the world through her eyes.

Join Aqueela, and said family, on many adventures that are bound to leave you laughing, gasping for breath, as they discover the true meaning of friendship together in one single pause on life.

809 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2018

110 people are currently reading
1,181 people want to read

About the author

CJustMe

3books40followers
Pen name of C.J. Adler

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
Profile Image for Nisha.
4 reviews44 followers
August 26, 2018
Pause is absolutely positively the BEST book I have ever read. It made smile and laugh so hard till I had tears in my eyes. It made me fall in love with the characters and it honestly feels like I've been with them on a personal level. This book is simply incredible.
Profile Image for Alicia.
41 reviews
March 15, 2016
This was a god damn long ass book!
The author could of made it half half wow.
I loved it from the beginning though. It's just one of those books you pick up and think Yep I'm going to enjoy this one.
Aqueela what a name.. But it's perfect for her character. She is crazy, immature and reckless. Though she is very brave, caring and spontaneous. At times I couldn't stand how immature she'd be, but that's just how she is. Even though horrible things were happening in her life she still have the strength to carry on.
Jay on the other hand... He was just so hot and cold and it took him forever to finally kiss her! I felt a lot of this book could be edited and get rid of unnecessary chunks!
I loved the ending mostly, when it recaptures their whole lives with the truth. I'm still upset she left but I agree in her own way she had to, find her dad and figure out who she is. I don't get why masons with her? Support maybe... What a dick! He got bashed and everything and still tortured the girl and then it's like bye bell I want to be with Aqueela now. No bud no.

I really liked Grey, I want a sequel of him and Nancy :)
Oh and with the grandparents.. There wasn't even a big discussion on how she got abused and they were all too willing to let her live with Jay.

But anyway this book really opened up my eyes. Even though it went for forever I still want to read the sequels.

Definitely recommend
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for madi.
74 reviews4 followers
September 12, 2018
HELLO I HAVE A LOT TO SAY

I’ve loved this book and the author on Wattpad for so, so long. Possibly more than two years now. I had reread the book on Wattpad several times and it quickly became one of those books I knew I could always go to for a smile. It basically held my hand throughout 5th & 6th grade. When I heard it was going to be published, I was ecstatic. I sat there with the little timer that was set up and was even late for school because I knew I needed it as soon as it came out.

Although, now that I’ve finished the official and published verison, it hurts me so much to say that I was disappointed in it.

This book follows an eccentric young girl named Aqueela Lawson who’s going through highschool one step at a time. With her, every moment matters and she’s never afraid to show it. One day, as she walks out of a ice cream shop, she blindly spills all of it on a stranger. This stranger happens to be Jay Taylor, who (based on gossip and rumours) is a temperamental jerk who stays on the sidelines 24/7. After an immediate outburst at the ice cream shop, Aqueela’s suddenly stuck with Jay’s now ruined jacket and heavy need of wanting to learn more about the infamous Jay Taylor.

You’re probably like okay well of course you were disappointed that sounds like the cheesiest thing in the world. And you freakin know what? It is! But on Wattpad, the jokes and the banter and the characters stole my little 10 year old heart and didn’t let go. I fell in love with Jay and Aqueela and all of their crazy friends as if they were my own.

But, as people always do, I grew older. I found myself questioning the plot, the maturity of our MC and the dialogue before I started to realize how inconsistent everything was. So, like I said before, I was so excited for this book to be published so I could see this brand new and edited version of this book I held so closely to my heart.

Then to my dismay, a lot of the chapters stayed the same. A lot of the weird and immature scenes were kept. And you know what? Some of my favorite scenes got freaking edited out.

I just... it pains me so much to admit that I was not happy with this book.

The og version lacked a lot of plot. Most of the chapters didn’t help move the storyline at all and were mostly full of humor. (Which, then again, my 10 yr old self appreciated) Also, Aqueela, is basically a 2 yr old in a 18 yr old’s body. Throughout the book, she stomps her foot when she doesn’t get her way and throws mini tantrums. She spends Jay’s hard-earned money without him even knowing while she doesn’t even have a job herself. Aqueela is portrayed as this crazy and lovable girl who can also possibly “murder� you if you piss her off. Truth is, she doesn’t come off as intimidating at all, other than the face she packs a mean punch.

None of the things I just listed were fixed or edited in a way that made it slightly tolerable. I even found some minor grammar mistakes? This isn’t something I get pissed over but it doesn’t bring a smile to my face when I see them. I keep saying this but I was just so excited to see this book turn into a well-paced humor book that balances heavy topics like abuse well while also having an intriguing romance. Instead, we got plot-lacking book with a undeveloped romance. (IT HURT ME SO MUCH TO SAY THOSE LAST TWO WORDS WOW IM NEVER GOING TO LET THIS BOOK NO MATTER HOW BAD IT IS.)

I don’t want to completely crap all over this book so, there were a couple parts that still had my laughing or grinning my ass off. It doesn’t matter if the jokes aren’t even that good, they still made me smile. I’m not afraid to say that no matter how disappointed I was in this book, I will still be going back to it to read my favorite chapters and scenes because these characters have me wrapped around their little fingers.

Even though I wasn’t a fan of this, I can tell you it gets so much better in the second book. And uh, that book still doesn’t have much of a plot BUT out main character matures drastically and Jay turns into the sweetest man in the whole entire universe like ohmygosh i’m in love with him thank u and good night.

so, despite how much i didn’t really like this book, i’m still probably to be going back to it to read my favorite parts with jay & aqueela. this book was such a huge part of my life in terms of getting me through some tough stuff. i’m not going to let it go just yet
Profile Image for ‎م.
51 reviews
August 5, 2022
i’m not even kidding when i say that this book LITERALLY changed my ENTIRE perspective on life. to say that i enjoyed this book would be an understatement - i laughed, i cried and i felt so utterly complete throughout each chapter, the whole experience was unreal. it made me truly realise that i’ve never felt THIS happy whilst reading a book before??? this book was crazy, it was wild, it was the whole lot of things it possibly could’ve been wrapped into a bundle of pages and every second of it had me either clutching my heart or weeping every single tear out of my goddamn body.

the whole pessimist x optimist trope? immaculate. the found family trope? served on a silver platter. honestly, this book is better than any self-help book out there (and this isn’t even a self-help book) i started reading this book on wattpad a couple years ago (around 2018-2019 time) when i would stay up on school nights trying to get another chapter in, it was then when i found out about the last 10 chapters being taken down because ‘his bubblegum klutz� was now becoming a published book. i was over the moon because i’d do ANYTHING to have a physical copy of jayeela’s story in my hands, so of course i ended up caving in and buying myself a copy (…told my mum i was spending £20 on a textbook because it was one of the books i had to study and annotate for english class, news flash: it wasn’t, but she doesn’t have to know that�)

some people may dislike aqueela’s character, not because of her spontaneous and immature personality, but because she can push everyone a little to the edge whether they like it or not, her decisions are often done without much thought and that’s where jay comes in with his contrasting personality. they really level each other out and it shows evidently as the book progresses. aqueela has shown me how to not ever judge anyone by their first impressions, to understand one before you assume. jay comes off as a cold, unbothered individual but as aqueela unwinds him throughout the pages - you start to see his layers and the origins of why he is the way he is, she really makes you realise that upon meeting someone, you should consider their past and see them the way they are because of the way they were moulded from their past experiences. aqueela teaches you to not to ever limit yourself, to never believe in the term ‘impossible�. in short - i love aqueela and i truly aspire to live my life as cool and as awesome as her (i’d like to say i’m as outgoing as she is, i practically look up to her the way susie - i mean lucy - does, if it wasnt obvious enough)

one of the funniest things about this book is the AMOUNT of side characters there is - like FOR REAL. (i think someone said there’s like 60 characters or something??? LMAOOO) but the fact that even though these side characters aren’t shown in depth yet, they all play a certain amount of significance to aqueela and you will remember them all and their traits as if they were your own friends and thats what i truly love about this book - the way that aqueela’s journey, scoring friends along the way, felt as if i was befriending/getting to know the characters myself as if they were real people etc (kinda sappy, but thats how attached i am to all of them) but out of all the endless amount of characters that were introduced, i have to say that GREY is my BABY. i love him to death and i am patiently waiting (more like hoping for the inevitable) for a novella based on his story and his experiences - i love his character so SO much. to me he is sort of like what jay would’ve been if he never even knew aqueela. jay’s character grows by the end of the book because of aqueela’s impact/influence and seeing grey just reminds me of what jay could’ve been had he not of met aqueela - seeing as grey refuses to see aqueela’s vision. i would also like to put out there that i love grey and aqueela’s grumpy x sunshine dynamic so DAMN much, their banter makes me kick my feet in the air and even GIGGLE its crazy.

to sum up - aqueela dragging random strangers into her schemes just to get them to see her vision on life has ended up dragging me into that vision too, and i’m so glad this silly little ink-on-paper of a woman managed to transform myself into the person i am today :�) ANYWAY i can’t wait to join aqueela & jay again in the second book - this book hits TOO CLOSE to home now, i treasure their story with my entire being - perhaps because i read it during a time where i needed the laugh and comfort to which they supplied a hundred times over. i’m hoping the second book can provide that too, and i have no doubt that they won’t. <3

will always and forever be my favourite book. ^__^
Profile Image for Lexy.
1,093 reviews31 followers
Read
April 12, 2021
I don't think that this book is for me
Profile Image for Nida Kazi.
537 reviews32 followers
September 13, 2017
The most hilarious book is getting published. I cannot be more happy 😊 #JAQUEELA
Profile Image for Emma Miles.
62 reviews
February 20, 2025
God what a fucking throw back. One of my favourite Wattpad classics and it has had me laughing out loud. Love all of them but fuck me Jay is a major red flag reading this as an adult.
2 reviews
December 22, 2017
Where do I start? Woo! I'm in for a rant!
This book is something else.
It isn't confined by clichés or restricted by traditions, its one of a kind.
The writing style it's self is so professional, I always comeback to this book. I recommend it to everyone any chance I get. It's quite literally life changing. Its opened my eyes to the possibility of creating and its inspired me to write my own pieces!
The characters, each and everyone, are so unique and enthralling, I couldn't love them enough!
The plot is mesmerizing and I adore it!
It's surpassed all my expectations, even lifted a few, these are by far my favourite comedy series.
It has a dose of everything making it a effective balance. It's one of those where everybody has to read it and this conflicted world would be so much better. Its made me happier, honestly.
I love it soo much! 5 stars obviously!
Profile Image for Kim Bustamante.
5 reviews
May 12, 2017
Loved the book! One of the funniest ones I have read. I am such a lighthearted person that I find small things funny and jovial. I laughed hard reading this book, enjoyed all the "crazy" moments, heck, even the sappy ones. Read this if you want a humorous read to fill the prescription when you are having an unpleasant day.
Profile Image for Tanayah.
5 reviews1 follower
August 30, 2018
Love this book more than ANYTHING

This book has gotten me through some hard times and made me laugh and cry when I least expected it. This is my 12th time reading it and seeing it go from Wattpad to here really makes me happy. Im not sure what will happen in the future for me, but I know for a fact that I will never stop loving and reading this book.
1 review
September 4, 2018
I loooovvve this book! I laughed every single second. There is not a dull moment. I HIGHLY recommend this book.
1 review
September 16, 2018
This is really good book. My friend introduced me to it. At first I was skeptical about reading it but then as I continued it turned out super great!! I'm so thankful to have come across this wonderful book. I have read a lot of books in various other genre but this is one of the best. I just love the amazing concept of friends being your family and how everyone is welcome here. This is a must read book for everyone. It's not only about Jay and Aqueela but its about everyone together. Whichever character joins he stays. I love this thing about the book. I love it so very much!! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much Cj Adler for writing this series. Love ya!!
Profile Image for Chloe Ray.
11 reviews
August 31, 2018
Fantastic Read

I absolutely LOVE this book. It was one of the first books I really fell in love with on wattpad and I’m so proud of the author for making it this far. Congrats to the author on your fantastic characters and stories.
Profile Image for Harshi Chandel.
1 review
August 18, 2018
Everything aside; first of all; I hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighly ×१००००० recommend to Whoever reading this ; please go and click on the Awesome Lawson 😅 book. You won't ever regret it; I promise. Mark my words if you wanna.

Okay; so I don't even think that whatever I'm gonna write next can even describe as to how much this book is close to my heart and as to how much affect It had on my personality and mind, on me; altogether. Not gonna lie, at all, but only because of Aqueela, I've got so much positivity and happiness within me that even it leaves me awestruck many a times.😍😍😍

Today, I don't mind what others say or think about me cause that's exactly what Aqueela Lawson had taught me. Her state of mind, the out-of-this-world humor and never ending positivity and everything else about her makes her the most beautiful, both inside and out, female character I've ever known.

And it's not like from this entire book, she's the only one whom I like-no; love. Nope. Nada. The entire Lawson's Sqaud is special. Maybe A little weird- Okay, okay! Definitely A loooot weird. Probably the weirdest looney tunes but special none the less.

Needless to say, This book gives friendship and love a whole new definition.

To be honest; I'm only living to see the very day when I'll get to meet an Aqueela in real life.
Profile Image for Almeyda.
119 reviews35 followers
January 23, 2018
I read the other version actually, and when I reread this no much change
1 review
August 20, 2018
This is my favorite book out of all the many that I have read. Meeting Aqueela Lawson was one of the best experience of my life. The adventure that I went through while I was reading, its like I was watching from a background veiw as the characters interact with each other. The author is very talent too, how she handles all her characters together witout making her story crowded baffles me. Every one is mentioned and has their own different personality. I have fallen so in love with this book that it had ruined some other books for me in the best way possible. I recommend this book to any and everyone I meet and I will continue to do so until it is one of the most popular books ever written.
Profile Image for Jess.
79 reviews21 followers
February 5, 2016
Love love love this book! So funny yet serious at the same time. You'd think you would get lost with how many characters there are but you don't because they are all so unique. This is an fantastic book!
Profile Image for Kadi.
152 reviews18 followers
April 7, 2016
Not my cup of tea. Started off as a fantastic book, but then it got worse and more worse. I didn't finish it, I read 22 paragraphs.

I stopped liking this book when they tied Aqueela up at her friend's place. And I hated the part where Aqueela just let Jay drive even when he had been drinking.
Profile Image for ѱڲ✨.
391 reviews38 followers
November 22, 2020
Never read a book like this! It has everything that I will ever want in a book�
Profile Image for Danie Winchester.
43 reviews16 followers
September 12, 2020
I won't lie I freaking loved that book which in a way pains me to admit because I'm a classic literature lover... The characters are just all so greatly written that I didn't dislike any of them. The plot is a bit messy and over the place and the situations utterly unrealistic but who gives a shit... I enjoyed reading it several times go the point where I still remember the passages that had me laugh to the point of tearing up! But what I love the most about this book is the way female characters are written, especially considering the literary genre which is mainly oriented towards pre-teens and teenagers. If my nieces were to be inspired by fictional characters Aquila and Bells are exactly the kind of protagonists I'd want them to read about. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is that the author rewrote the original version which was perfect... The character of Troy, Bells' older brother, was one that I really liked and she changed his personality to make him more extra crazy to the point of being too much. Before the modifications the level of hilarious insanity and sense of crazy goofiness was already extremely high but perfectly balanced. I still recommend you to read it tho, because it's truly worth it if you like this genre or crazy fun characters.
1 review
August 29, 2018
Where do I start? I have never cried, laughed, cursed in a book as much as I did in this book. It's crazy how far it's have come, from just a crazy girl spilling Ice Cream on Jay's leather jacket. I am freaking in love with this book, it's characters, the plot, the craziness-all of it.

I am a huge #JAQUEELA supporter. I am also a Lawson Legend. The plots, the twists, everything about this book I am in love with. How one of the authors I look up to wrote this, I will never know, but I couldn't be happier.

I love the characters so much, I have a racoon stuffed toy, which is named after Jay. Once CJ updated one of the last chapters of Rewind-the next book- I cried into my stuffed racoon. I ranted about it to all my friends and constantly stared at my screen. This book is one of the most awesome books I've ever read, and I am extremely overjoyed that this book is being published!!

I love you, CJ and keep up the good work. I'll see you back on the orange platform. *salutes*
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jessica Long.
3 reviews2 followers
March 6, 2018
Okay, so some books I rate a 5 because I really liked them and they made me happy. But this book is one in which I felt deserved so much more. I’m am completely and utterly obsessed with these characters and just thinking about them now is literally filling my heart with so much love. To say this book is 5 stars feels wrong and like such an understatement. All I can say is that CJ’s writing has the ability to completely change my (and potentially your) life and I love that. I could write about this story forever but I just feel like I should end it here, with a start reading! Let Aqueels, Jay, Maxi, Bells, Grey, Mason, Blubber, Simo, Troy, Oog, AND THE WHOLE ASSORTMENT OF CRAZY TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE. ITS WORTH IT!!!!
1 review
August 15, 2018
This book is very very close to my heart.
The way the author has sculpted each character is simply amazing! You tend to genuinely fall in love with each one of them!
I have re-read this book like so many times and still I'm waiting for the book launch very very eagerly as if I'm going to read it for the first time..thats how good it is.
If I'm ever feeling low..reading just a chapter (mostly wouldn't stop with just one) from this book makes my day.
This book makes you laugh (a loooot) at the same time equal importance has been given to other emotions as well.
I, personally, am very happy for C.J.Adler for this success ... feels like I've achieved something great.
Thank you for giving us all such a great book..!!!!
13 reviews
January 13, 2025
To start off, I’d like to say I never read the book on Whattpad, only the physical book.

Issues:
1. The book is basically unedited, there are so many mistakes on every page, it takes me out from the actual storyline each time I spotted something wrong with the grammar and punctuation.
2. The main character is sooo childish, I feel like I’m reading a story about a toddler surrounded by high schoolers. I feel like I’m losing braincells with every page that I read.
3. The plot was good in the beginning and after a third of the way in, I feel like I’m reading the story of her life and I don’t know where it’s heading (not in a good way). I wish the storyline focused more on the relationship with her mother instead of the relationship with Jay.
31 reviews2 followers
May 29, 2018
I love this book and all the characters in it. They are complex characters that you wish were real. It is a great combination of humor and seriousness. It’s overall filled with wacky but hilarious plots that Aqueela leads. It’s fun and light hearted and I throughly enjoyed this book. It’s crazy how the author even created these characters like Aqueela, Max, Troy, and all the fun lovable characters in this story. Jay is such a lovable character with his cold demeanor that we learn is just a wall he uses to protect himself. In reality, we see how awesome he is, he deserves the world and I’mhappy that includes Aqueela.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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