Summary: Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it.
When Julie’s off-campus housing falls through, her mother’s old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side … and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.
And there’s that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That’s because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie’s suddenly lonesome soul.
My Thoughts: Wow. I read this all in one day – roughly 12 hours (with a few hours off to do things like care for the kids). And I didn’t mind doing it. It’s a fast read, and an amazing story. Loved it! I really liked it from the very beginning, and was hooked pretty close to right away. By the end, though – from the surprising twist to the way things are wrapped up – I loved it. Absolutely flat-out loved the book! (OK, I know that’s cheesy, but I couldn’t resist! LOL)
Julie was a very interesting character, as was Matt, Celeste – all of the prominent players are interesting and well-developed. I loved Celeste, despite finding reading her speech was a bit odd at first – but that perfectly illustrates part of her quirkiness.
I’m trying hard to avoid spoiling Flat-Out Love for anyone, and am reluctant to say too much more. There was very little I found to complain about, and the story itself was so good that I can just ignore those minor issues. I fell in love with the characters, the story, and couldn’t put it down. I definitely see myself reading this again sometime.
Source: Received through Crazy Book Tours for review.
Read It: Get your own copy HERE.
About the Author: Jessica Park is the author of FLAT-OUT LOVE, the young adult novel RELATIVELY FAMOUS, five Gourmet Girl mysteries (written as Jessica Conant-Park) and the e-shorts FACEBOOKING RICK SPRINGFIELD and WHAT THE KID SAYS (Parts 1 & 2). She grew up in the Boston area and then went to Macalester College in frigid St. Paul, Minnesota. During her freshman year, there was a blizzard on Halloween, and she decided that she was not cut out for such torture. So she moved back to the east coast where, she’d forgotten, it still snows. Oops. She now lives in New Hampshire with her husband, son, bananas dog named Fritzy, and two selfish cats. When not writing, she is probably on Facebook, pining over 80s rock stars, or engaging in “Glee” activities. Or some combination of the three. Probably with a coffee in hand.
Jessica loves to hear from readers and does her best to get back to everyone who writes her! You can e-mail her HERE. Tell her about your ex-boyfriend who was a font nerd. Or send pictures of awesome Flat People on adventures. (You get bonus points for this. Possibly some sort of award, too.) Stories of online romance. Apartment rental disasters. Skydiving experiences… Whatever you want.
And like any normal person, she has an online addiction, so you can find her on FACEBOOK, GOODREADS, TWITTER, and blogging at What the Kid Says about her kooky conversations with her son. Her young adult book, RELATIVELY FAMOUS, has its own website (greedy book!), so stop by for more info.
Tour Info: For the main page for this blog tour, including more reviews of this book on other blogs, visit the tour post HERE.
Challenges: Counts for 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011.
FTC Disclosure: All items reviewed were either obtained by me for my own enjoyment or sent (from the author, publisher, publicist, via tour sites, etc.) in exchange for an honest review. I receive no monetary compensation for my posts. All opinions expressed are my own.
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Namine (169)
Freda (69)
Marce (49)
PK Reeves (43)
Krystal Larson (37)
Alexis @ Reflecti... (30)
Joy @ Edgy Inspir... (23)
Kah Woei (23)
Denise Z (22)
[...] Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park ~ 5 stars [...]