Reviewed by Cocktails and Books on
Blaire loses her mother after a long battle with cancer and reaches out to the only family she has left...the father than abandoned her and her mother five years earlier. But what Blaire finds when she arrives at the address her father gave her was a raging party and a step-brother who was way too rude to her for words. With no place else to go, Blaire finds herself immersed in the world of her step-brother, Rush Finley and his group of entitled friends. But for a girl from small town Alabama, the secrets, lies and whiplash emotions may be too much for her to take.
As I read this, my heart went out to Blaire, over and over. From the abandonment from her father (again) to Rush's flip-flopping attitude towards her to the animosity she dealt with from the wealthy set in the Florida beach town she'd moved to. It's a lot for a nineteen year old girl to take, on top of dealing with her mother's recent death. But Blaire does have this inner strength to her that managed to help her keep her head high when she other tried to beat her down. I applauded her and her ability to stick up for herself. But my heart also broke for her when she faced the ultimate betrayal.
Rush was a mixed bag. When we first met him, he was a complete ass. But as the story moves along you can see a break in his a-hole exterior to the type of man he'd be if the crap from his family didn't taint his views and actions. By the end of the story, I wasn't sure who I felt worse for...Blaire or Rush, because in the end Rush had finally given himself to one person and had that all pulled out from under him because of his family. Sure he played a part in what happened, but I still felt bad for him because he was just a kid doing what he thought was right despite his mother's twisted idea of relationships/family.
I CANNOT wait for the next book in this series to come out in March. There is definitely some unfinished business between Blaire and Rush, I just hope family dynamics don't ruin things for them.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 4 January, 2013: Finished reading
- 4 January, 2013: Reviewed