Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: MTV Books

Pages: 336pgs

The Story

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 the job at the nearby airstrip.

But there's one way Leah can escape the 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 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.

The Review

I was laughing out loud, crying over sad but bittersweet moments, frowning my brow constantly, cursing at frustrating boys and girls, and holding onto my dear life as I experienced the insides and outsides of planes . . . well okay, maybe it wasn't 'holding onto my dear life' but rather on the edge of my own seat as I read about people flying planes. Yup, that's Jennifer Echols for you! SUCH A RUSH is yet another fabulous contemporary book written by one of my favourite contemporary authors of today and I have to say this title right here would have to be my absolute favourite book coming from Jennifer Echols's by far! It was sheer brilliance and I enjoyed so, so much!

As you always get from a Jennifer Echols book, everything from every character to every emotion to every scene - it all just felt so real to me. Now it isn't very often where you come across characters and the plot that they're centered around in to be so honest with one another and be combined together so brilliantly, and I guess that's why I love and appreciate Echols's writing because she knows what to do with her characters and how to remain honest and true with each and every one them as well, and she keeps them exactly like that til the very end of the book. On the bonus side of things, Echols's characters each have their own personal stories to tell - revealing all sorts of strengths and weaknesses about them - and with so little time in a book, I find Echols deals with everything so perfectly. Yes, I'm totally gushing here!

For our main leading girl, Leah Jones, she is far from being perfect. In fact, she's not exactly your typical teenage girl either. Moving around constantly and now living in a trailer park near the airport with her no-good mother - a parent who is barely present in her own daughter's life, it's no wonder why Leah is so alone, cynical, aloof, cold and tough on the inside and out. After all, no one really cares about her. While some readers may find it hard to relate to Leah on a personal level, at least in the beginning, but once you get to know her and of her current situation you will soon begin to feel for this girl which I totally did. Leah, out of all the contemporary YA books I've read so far, would have to be one of my top 5 contemporary main characters. Her voice was just so raw, tense and unique, and if it weren't for the physical book in my hands right now . . . I would've thought Leah was a real person and a true friend to me, so it was a real pleasure to read about her life and the journey she takes.

The same love and high praise goes straight out towards the two leading male 'love interest' brothers, Grayson and Alec. Now I wouldn't go and say both of these twin brothers - yes I repeat TWIN BROTHERS - were necessarily love interests for our Leah since one was a more prominent and significant love interest than the other (it was kind of obvious who Leah loved more) but who cares . . . I loved them both dearly! I won't get into anymore detail about this particular title since I don't want to ruin the book for you, but whether you call it cliche or not, both of these boys are swoon-worthy for many different reasons, mostly because they are polar opposites to one another: Grayson, the bad boy brother, and Alec, the total sweetheart brother. Yeah you get the idea. For me personally, Grayson was the clear winner. Not because I have a soft heart for bad boys (okay sometimes I do), but because he had so much more character development than his brother, Alec, ever did and as much as I wanted to hit him for treating Leah badly at times and assuming some terrible things about her without some clear evidence to back his statements up, but I still adored him and I also cheered for when Leah called him out on those bad things he says . . . which he didn't like at all and it was just hilarious. But if and when you read this book, you will know what I mean when I say Leah and Grayson are so great . . . I mean they were so perfect together and shared this undeniable chemistry so it's no wonder why I loved this book so, so much! Those two did all the loving for me!

Overall, this book was awesome! Awesome, awesome, awesome. Containing both deep characters, intense storylines and a reflective prose made to be loved by all, SUCH A RUSH must be read by everyone, even if you're not the usual contemporary book fan or even if you haven't read a Jennifer Echols book yet. Trust me, this book will take you for quite a ride indeed!

The Rating

4 1/2 / 5 stars