Such a Rush
by Jennifer Echols
Published by MTV Books
Publication Date July 10, 2012
Pages 320
Source: Southern Book Bloggers ARC tours
A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers.
High school senior Leah Jones loves nothing more than flying. While she’s in the air, it’s easy to forget life with her absentee mother at the low-rent end of a South Carolina beach town. When her flight instructor, Mr. Hall, hires her to fly for his banner advertising business, she sees it as her ticket out of the trailer park. And when he dies suddenly, she’s afraid her flying career is gone forever.
But Mr. Hall’s teenage sons, golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson, are determined to keep the banner planes flying. Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business — until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers — and the consequences could be deadly. (from Goodreads)
My Thoughts
It
took me quite a while to get into this story and it almost became a did
not finish. How is this even possible? At the 100 page mark, I set the
book down. Something about the story seemed a bit disconnected. There
was a lot of descriptive information but not enough action or dialogue
to keep me interested. BUT how is this even possible?!?! I love
Jennifer’s books - her characters and plots always keep me reading
furiously until the last page but it just wasn’t happening this time and
couldn’t understand why.
I think that it may have been because, in much of the beginning of the book, there was so much focus on Leah’s impoverished home life. While they may be accurate, a lot of the descriptions used for the trailer park seemed cliche, and they were so repetitive that it was off-putting. Leah’s situation was dire, her mother was selfish and neglectful. I didn’t need to be convinced. I got it. (Maybe this hit a little too close to home for me).
Then there was a turn around, I’m not sure the exact moment but it felt like a Jennifer Echols story that I’ve come to know and love. I could have been when there were more interactions with the characters. The story wasn’t so much about Leah’s thoughts and every day routines.
Leah was a character that I respected, rooted for, and cheered on. She knew that she had to make her own way. She decided the life that she wanted for herself - anything completely different from her mother and did what she could without cheapening herself to make it happen. She was strong and willful. But there were times when I was furious with her decisions - I just wanted to yell, “Leah, I know that you are so much smarter than this!” (thinking that Mark had any good intentions toward her at all).
What I did love about Such a Rush is that it was more than story about romance (which was hot and I appreciated, thank you very much), but it was about ambition and determination and family. These kids flying airplanes were pretty kickass. It was exciting to read and to think about doing such a daring job at a young age when most teenagers would work in restaurants or malls.
Not that it needed to redeem itself at the end, but it was a book that upon finishing, I wanted to open up and experience again. I even considered rereading it before posting this review to see how my thoughts changed because I hate that my initial reaction was that I may not even finish this book. While this isn’t my favorite Echols book (that would be Endless Summer), it is definitely a book I would recommend (and plan to convince my book club to read). This is a book I want to talk about some more.
I think that it may have been because, in much of the beginning of the book, there was so much focus on Leah’s impoverished home life. While they may be accurate, a lot of the descriptions used for the trailer park seemed cliche, and they were so repetitive that it was off-putting. Leah’s situation was dire, her mother was selfish and neglectful. I didn’t need to be convinced. I got it. (Maybe this hit a little too close to home for me).
Then there was a turn around, I’m not sure the exact moment but it felt like a Jennifer Echols story that I’ve come to know and love. I could have been when there were more interactions with the characters. The story wasn’t so much about Leah’s thoughts and every day routines.
Leah was a character that I respected, rooted for, and cheered on. She knew that she had to make her own way. She decided the life that she wanted for herself - anything completely different from her mother and did what she could without cheapening herself to make it happen. She was strong and willful. But there were times when I was furious with her decisions - I just wanted to yell, “Leah, I know that you are so much smarter than this!” (thinking that Mark had any good intentions toward her at all).
What I did love about Such a Rush is that it was more than story about romance (which was hot and I appreciated, thank you very much), but it was about ambition and determination and family. These kids flying airplanes were pretty kickass. It was exciting to read and to think about doing such a daring job at a young age when most teenagers would work in restaurants or malls.
Not that it needed to redeem itself at the end, but it was a book that upon finishing, I wanted to open up and experience again. I even considered rereading it before posting this review to see how my thoughts changed because I hate that my initial reaction was that I may not even finish this book. While this isn’t my favorite Echols book (that would be Endless Summer), it is definitely a book I would recommend (and plan to convince my book club to read). This is a book I want to talk about some more.
Disclaimer: I received the book for review as part of the Southern Book Bloggers ARC
Tours. Thoughts and opinions are my own and I was not compensated in
any way for providing a review.
I loved the descriptions of Leah's life at the beginning because I felt it gave me a sense of who she was and where she came from. I'm glad you ended up liking it!
ReplyDeleteKate @ Ex Libris
Too many details can really bog down a story. Unfortunately for this one I've been hearing mixed feelings, so I'm going to hold off on reading it.
ReplyDeleteYours is the first review I've read, besides my own, that didn't totally rave about every aspect of this book. This one just didn't do it for me. I couldn't emotionally connect, and skimmed parts of the middle. Loved the flying aspect, though. I'm willing to try another Echols, so Endless Summer should probably be the one?
ReplyDeleteI loved all the descriptions in this book, but at times it did seem like a bit too much. I'm glad you enjoyed this book!
ReplyDeleteDiscussing this book with you helped me clarify how I felt about the book when I wrote my own review. It was still hard to put in words what I felt, but others have said it much better than I did. At the end of the day, I totally loved this novel. It rocked and though I was confused at times, it's still one I think about. When I read a book a day and I'm still thinking about one I read weeks ago, it's a good book for me.
ReplyDeleteGreat review and yeah, thanks for the hotness factor!
Heather
I have definitely been curious about Such a Rush,but for some reason it is not calling to me yet. I will keep thinking about it, who knows, I just may feel a need to rush out and get it ;)
ReplyDelete