Double Review: Push Girl by Chelsie Hill, Jessica Love + When You Are Mine (The Bennetts #1) by Kennedy Ryan

I wanted to apologize for the lack of updates lately. I have had some health issues, and slowly recovering from a bad flu. In the next few days expect an influx of reviews.

Push Girl by Chelsie Hill, Jessica Love

Published June 3rd 2014 by St. Martin's Griffin

(first published March 11th 2014)

Hardcover, 240 pages

Series: Stand-Alone

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Source:  I got a copy of this book from the publisher  in exchange of an honest review.
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads

An inspiring, real, and fresh young adult novel about how life can change in an instant by Chelsie Hill, one of the stars Sundance Channel's unscripted series Push Girls, based on her own life

Kara is a high school junior who's loving life. She's popular, has a great group of friends and an amazing boyfriend, and she's a shoe-in for homecoming queen. Even though her parents can't stop fighting and her ex-boyfriend can't seem to leave her alone, Kara won't let anything get in the way of her perfect year. It's Friday night, and Kara arrives at a party, upset after hearing her parents having another one of their awful fights, and sees another girl with her hands all over her boyfriend. Furious, Kara leaves to take a drive, and, as she's crossing an intersection, a car comes out of nowhere and slams into the driver's side of Kara's car.

When Kara wakes up, she has no memory of the night before. Where is she? Why are her parents crying? And, most importantly -- why can't she feel her legs? As Kara is forced to adjust to her new life, where her friends aren't who they seemed to be and her once-adoring boyfriend is mysteriously absent, she starts to realize that what matters in life isn't what happens to you -- it's the choices you make and the people you love.

Co-written by "Push Girls" star Chelsie Hill, whose real life closely mirrors Kara's experience, this novel will open the eyes of readers everywhere who have never met someone who lives with paralysis.

Wow I don't even know where to start with this book.

Kara is a high school junior. She is popular, belongs to a 'great' group of friends, and is also nominated to become the homecoming queen. Besides having a hectic home life, with her parents constant fighting - Kara does have one big love in her life that keeps her happy. Kara is a dancer. Dancing is practically her life, so when one tragic night a drunk driver hit her car and she comes out paralyzed - it feels like her entire world if about to fall apart.

I found this book kind of empowering, and a story that I felt had to be shared. Kara wakes up in the hospital after the accident only to learn that she can no longer feel her legs. Dancing, as much as she loved it, is no longer something she is capable off. The life she once knew kind of started to slip from under her fingers and in that moment, Kara slowly learns not only who her true friends are but also how to deal with her life after a life changing injury.

A really heart warming, touching story, that had me rooting for Kara along the way. I can't stand here and imagine how she must have truly felt, because I can't. But I think I can imagine. Watching Kara as she struggled at the beginning with getting use to her wheel chair, to the reactions some people had towards her. To the way her so called 'boyfriend' treated her. Seriously... That was the most disgusting part of the book. I won't go into spoilers, but I found him the worse kind of human being that I have read about in a while. Not only for not getting in touch with her after the accident, but he didn't even have the decency to check on her or call her?

I did love how Kara's old friends stepped into play and took control of everything and made her life feel normal. Amanda and Jack were amazing and the way they treated Kara was absolutely inspirational. They took her in, despite Kara closing herself away from them and pushing them out of her 'new' circle of 'friends' and didn't even bat and eyeball. They made her feel as normal as possible while helping her move on, and the love was just there.

A really tender and beautiful story. When I saw that it was inspired by an Original Series, I have to admit.. I went looking for it on TV :) wonderful show.

When You Are Mine (The Bennetts #1) by Kennedy Ryan

Published June 17th 2014 by Forever Yours

(first published June 3rd 2014)

Paperback, 320 pages

Series: The Bennetts

Genre:  Adult Contemporary Romance

Heat Rating: Kissing to Steamy-ish

Source:  I got a copy of this book from the publisher  in exchange of an honest review.
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads

Forever is a heartbeat away . . .

Kerris Moreton knows how to make things work. Bounced from foster home to foster home as a kid, she adapted; when opportunity arose, she thrived. Now, about to open her own business and accept a marriage proposal, Kerris is ready to build the life she's always wanted. The only thing missing? A passionate connection with her would-be fiancé, Cam. Kerris wants to believe that sparks are overrated-until Walsh Bennett lights her up like the Fourth of July.

. . . but what about love?

As one of the East Coast's most eligible bachelors, Walsh enjoys financial independence, fulfilling work with his family's nonprofit, and plenty of female attention. But lately he's been distracted by the one woman he can't have. Lovely to look at and even sweeter to know, Kerris is the soul mate Walsh never thought he would find. The problem is, his best friend found her first . . .

Another review I wasn't sure how to start. This book kind of took me by surprise. When I first saw it, I was really unsure of reading it, especially since it sounded like it was about cheating. Glad I gave this one a chance because Kennedy Ryan really took a touchy subject and made it so much more.

What I liked...

• The characters. I loved how dynamic and really all of them felt. Kerris was this shy girl who had a hard life growing up a foster kid bouncing from home to home. She finally see's her life fall together when she starts opening her own business and is planning on getting married. Walsh has a lot on his plate as well, most people see him one way, but in reality Walsh is a really nice guy. He also tries really hard not only to make his mother happy, but also his father. Both of his parents are divorced. Cam is a black sheep. He was kind of 'adopted' into the family and had a really rough life growing up. It made him kind of rough around the edges as well, but all he wants is to belong and have a family..
• Emotions. Emotions run wild in this book and there is even a little bit of emotional black mail. I hated how Cam used the wrong kind of opportunity to trick Kerris into marrying him. I hated that Kerris couldn't get her facts straight and just straight up ask Walsh about things she had been confused about - especially since she had shared so much personal stuff with him to begin with. And Cam, I found myself feeling sorry for him at the beginning until I saw his true colors and kind of questioned how could someone so sweet as Kerris marry someone with so much darkness in him. There was guilt, there was love, and so much more in the middle tied into a perfect package.
• Story line. I couldn't put this book down. I thought this would be one for my DNF pile. Boy was I wrong. Once I started this, I needed to finish this. I wanted to know what was going to happen and how the hell was all of this going to get sorted. The ending was a bit different and paved an interesting road for book 2.

What I wasn't so sure about...

• Cam.... Yeah I couldn't understand what Kerris saw in him. Okay a little I guess. But he was so possessive and what he did to Kerris when he found out that she kissed Walsh... Kissed, not even slept with, was kind of downright disturbing and made me really hate his character. It was humiliating and borderline rapey? 
• The entire situation. Yeah Ryan did an amazing job telling the storyline but I felt like the characters probably could have communicated better and straightened everything out earlier. Seriously... Kerris wasn't sure about Walsh and the eaky super model, so she felt they belong together because everyone else told her so. So instead of talking to Walsh, she jumps to conclusions and marries Cam because she doesn't believe she can be with someone like Walsh. But she tells Walsh all her personal secrets, stuff she doesn't tell anyone else, but can't ask him about one dumb bimbo?