Book Review: Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols + Giveaway

Title: Such a Rush

Author: Jennifer Echols

Genre: Contemporary YA

Publisher: MTV Books

Release date: July 10, 2012

Source: Copy received from the author

Summary: 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.

GUYS. JENNIFER ECHOLS WROTE ANOTHER BOOK. !!!!! I CAN’T EVEN DEAL, OR TURN OFF MY CAPSLOCK.

Ahem.

I’m going to try, though. Because Jennifer Echols‘ new book, SUCH A RUSH, is super–probably my favorite book of hers after GOING TOO FAR, which will always get bonus points for being the first book of hers I read–and deserves both CAPSLOCK FANGIRLING and normal-toned praise. It’s legit, and is a perfect example of why Jennifer Echols rocks my socks, and why her contemporaries will ALWAYS be must-reads for me.

SUCH A RUSH is the story of Leah, a young girl who lives with her basically deadbeat mom, moving from one trailer park to another. A side effect of living in a trailer is their proximity to airports, and a side effect of Leah living next to an airport is that she spends her formative teenage years with a need for speed, guys. She gets a job at the airfield behind her trailer, where the owner just so happens to have two delish sons right around her age. When the owner dies shortly after his oldest son, his remaining two boys–who, like Leah, have grown up learning how to fly airplanes–take over the business. This includes Leah. Drama, sexytimes, and other kinds of crazy, emotional shenanigans ensue.

Friends, I don’t know what’s in Jennifer Echols‘ Wheaties, but her stories are SO EFFING GOOD. I’ve liked some of her books better than others, but SUCH A RUSH is definitely one of my favorites. I loved the flying aspect of it. It’s something completely different from the settings I’m used to reading in books, and–MIRACLE!–Jennifer Echols managed to steer clear of all those cliched metaphors for flying and being free and all that. At least explicitly. You could feel that those things were true for Leah, but it was great to not have it set out in a cheesy way.

Speaking of Leah, I liked her lots. Jennifer Echols‘ female characters all tend to have the same qualities, for the most part–tough, smart, strong, determined, a little brassy, and exposed in some way to the less appealing, less privileged aspects of life. They’re certainly not naive or inexperienced. Leah is all of these things, and even though she fits the mold of female characters in Jennifer’s books, it doesn’t make her any less likable, or SUCH A RUSH any less enjoyable.

But let’s get down to business here. Jennifer Echols writes some of the best relationships, and some of the best sexytimes, and SUCH A RUSH is no exception. Grayson is one of those broody, arrogant, smoldery types who feels things deeply but doesn’t like to show it. He reminded me a little bit of Tim Riggins that way, and guys? Any time I can say that someone reminded me of Tim Riggins is like instant ovary-plosion. Grayson is a hottie, and while there is some tension between him and Leah at first–and it is a little cray, to be honest–that only makes the sexytimes between them hotter.

Guys, I seriously loved SUCH A RUSH. I loved the characters, I loved the setting (hey, beach town!), I loved the airplanes, I loved the relationship, and I loved the issues (death, a little guilt, a little overprotectiveness). And BECAUSE I loved it so much, I WANT YOU GUYS TO READ IT TOO!!

I have one finished copy of Jennifer Echols’ SUCH A RUSH to give away to one lucky visitor. All you need to do is follow a few super simple rules, and this super awesome book can be yours!

Win a finished copy of SUCH A RUSH by JENNIFER ECHOLS!

• Be at least 13 years old.
• Live in the US or Canada–sorry rest of the world! 🙁
• Respond to my, “HEY! You won Such a Rush! Do a happy dance!” email within 48 hours or someone else will be happy dancing instead.

The giveaway closes at 11:59 PM on WEDNESDAY, JULY 25!! Winner will be selected at random and emailed.