Jennifer Echols Week: Such a Rush Review

In honor of the July 16th release of Jennifer Echols's Dirty Little Secret, Katelyn of Kate's Tales of Books and Bands wanted to share her love for all of her books and declared this week Jennifer Echols Week. Katelyn then asked other bloggers to join in to share the love and I immediately had to sign up. I think Jennifer Echols is an entertaining author with her mix of romantic comedies, romantic dramas, and now her adult contemporaries. 

While I am a fan of Jennifer's books, Such a Rush is the only book that I have reviewed on my blog. When I started reading Such a Rush, I just wasn't feeling it. I didn't want to admit it because I'd loved all of her other books. I continued with the story because . . . well just because. I'm extremely happy that I did or I would have missed out. I'm sharing my original review again and would love to read you thoughts on Such a Rush. Please leave a comment below.

Such a Rush

by Jennifer Echols

Published by MTV Books

Publication Date July 10, 2012

Pages 320

Review originally posted July 20, 2012

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.

What do you think of Such a Rush? Did anyone have the same initial impression that I did? Please leave a comment below.