Publishing Date: July 10th, 2012
Page Count: 325
Source: Borrowed from local library
Format: Hardcover
Description from Goodreads.com:
A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers.
When I was fourteen, I made a decision. If I was doomed to live in a trailer park next to an airport, I could complain about the smell of the jet fuel like my mom, I could drink myself to death over the noise like everybody else, or I could learn to fly.
Heaven Beach, South Carolina, is anything but, if you live at the low-rent end of town. All her life, Leah Jones has been the grown-up in her family, while her mother moves from boyfriend to boyfriend, letting any available money slip out of her hands. At school, they may diss Leah as trash, but she’s the one who negotiates with the landlord when the rent’s not paid. At fourteen, she’s the one who gets a job at the nearby airstrip.
But there’s one way Leah can escape reality. Saving every penny she can, she begs quiet Mr. Hall, who runs an aerial banner-advertising business at the airstrip and also offers flight lessons, to take her up just once. Leaving the trailer park far beneath her and swooping out over the sea is a rush greater than anything she’s ever experienced, and when Mr. Hall offers to give her cut-rate flight lessons, she feels ready to touch the sky.
By the time she’s a high school senior, Leah has become a good enough pilot that Mr. Hall offers her a job flying a banner plane. It seems like a dream come true . . . but turns out to be just as fleeting as any dream. Mr. Hall dies suddenly, leaving everything he owned in the hands of his teenage sons: golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson. And they’re 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.
Review:
Such a Rush was my first ever Jennifer Echols book. I have heard about her books for sometime now, but I just never picked one up for some reason. Well, I am so happy that I finally did and I cannot wait to read more by her. I am sure that I will end up reading all of her books. I think the thing that really has me attracted to her novels is that they all sound different. I know you are probably thinking, "DUH!" But, really when you think about contemporary romance novels they all basically have the same outline. The main character is a female, she has something rough going on in her life, she does something new to try and make herself feel happy again, and ends up meeting the love of her life. But, Jennifer's other books don't seem to all fit the same outline as the others, so that is why I am super DUPER excited to read the rest. Now, moving on to talking about this book specifically.
In the beginning I was not sure that I was going to like the main character, Leah. I just didn't like the fact that she let her "slut status" control her life. She never tried to right her image, or tell people they were wrong. She just let them think what they want about her. Some people would say that is brave, but when you constantly have girls talking crap about you and boys constantly harassing you, enough is enough. I just think I wasn't used to this type of lead character. Usually the main character is unpopular, but she is more invisible than in the spotlight. Leah was definitely in the spotlight. Alas, I did end up loving her character. I think it was really because Jennifer wrote Leah in a way where she was always telling the reader her true feelings. It showed a different side to her and made her likable.
Another character I wasn't too keen on was Leah's best friend. I just didn't understand how these two VASTLY different people could become best friends. I get that it was basically a fluke, but it still baffles me that they weren't at each others throats constantly.
The character who I always loved was Grayson. He is seriously the best kind of bad boy, and that's because I am used to bad boy characters where everyone thinks he is bad, but his kind, grown-up side gets brought out by the good girl. Grayson turned into that guy before Leah could even interfere. I think that's what I really liked about him, because he still showed up his old bad boy ways sometimes, but he was mostly trying to prove himself as a new man. It was very endearing.
The ending I thought was fantastic! It was extremely cute and it wrapped up the story very nicely. I liked that it didn't leave question for it to become a series. Sometimes you just need a standalone to read instead of racking up another series to stay on top of.
Overall:
Very cute story! I thought it was a very unique story as the main character, the best friend, and the bad boy were not your typical characters. They weren't the types that I am used to and it made it that more interesting. I loved that the ending really wrapped things up and didn't drop hints for a series to be made. Sometimes you just need a great stand alone, and this is it!
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 5/5
**The books cover, description, and info was all found on Goodreads. A link back has been provided. All other work and ideas are of my own creation. This book was borrowed from my local library.**
