Just Finished Reading ... Such a Rush

Such a Rush
by Jennifer Echols

To be published by MTV Books

on July 10, 2012

Source: ARC from my collection

My summary: Leah has lived in trailer parks near airports all her life, and has always dreamed of flying. So she forges her mom's signature and convinces Mr. Hall, the head of a airplane banner advertising business, to give her discounted flying lessons. He becomes a father figure to her, until he dies and his two twin sons, golden boy Alec and brooding Grayson, take over. Grayson blackmails Leah to work for him and to date Alec. Leah's not sure what Grayson is up to, but she needs to log more hours of flying time in order to fulfill her dream of becoming a pilot, so she reluctantly agrees. She thinks Alec is a nice guy, but the electric charge of being near Grayson is undeniable. Like flying, being with Grayson is such a rush.

My take: I'm not so crazy about flying. I'm a little claustrophobic and not so fond of heights. But I was SO crazy about Such a Rush. Books are sort of like trips. Sometimes you get dragged along and they turn out better than you think. Other times, you can tell where the book is headed and can't wait to get there. I fell in love with this book from the very first paragraph and my love never wavered.

Leah is a complicated character. Her best friend says she's a bitch. I'd call her more of a guys' girl. High school girls are mean, and Leah would rather just reject them before they can reject her.What makes Leah happy is flying. When she's in the air, she's in control and can see a world beyond her narrow one. I loved the way Leah was written. Every scene in the book revealed a slightly different side of her. 

I also adored the Hall family. They're all guys, and there's a bunch of good-natured rivalry between them. Mr. Hall loves his sons, but after splitting from his wife, he doesn't see them as much as he'd like. So he directs all his fatherly impulses toward Leah. 

I was worried that Such a Rush was going to have an awkward, this-just-can't-end-well brother love triangle. But that wasn't the case. I was also a little skeptical of the whole blackmail storyline. Then, way into the book, when Leah finds out what Grayson is really up to, it hit me like an emotional punch in the stomach.

Like planes, books have a lot of moving parts. It's not easy to make everything just right so that they soar. I felt that everything in Such a Rush worked seamlessly: the characters, the conflict, the themes, the setting. If you love contemporaries, you MUST read this book. I think it's Jennifer Echols' very best yet!

I loved this book so much that I'm going to keep my ARC and save a finished copy with one of you. Enter here. Open internationally. I will draw the winner on Sunday, July 15 when I return from vacation and mail the book the next day.

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