Review: Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols

Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols

Release Date: July 10, 2012
Publisher: MTV Books
Pages: 320
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Source: ARC
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Haunt Author: Website | Facebook | Twitter

A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers. 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.   ADD TO GOODREADS

Leah has lived in trailer parks by the airport all her life. While her mother hates the sound of them, she decides to embrace them. She gets a job at the small local airport and saves for flying lessons. Hall Aviation is one of the businesses located at the airport and after Mr. Hall gives Leah her first lesson she is hooked. Mr. Hall becomes like a father to Leah and she continues lessons and watches his three sons from afar, sort of wishing she could be a part of their family. She watches and slowly falls for Grayson, one of the younger twins. Mr. Hall's son's always ignored her and she even walked in on them discussing whether or not she was sleeping with their father. That broke her heart and made her distance herself further from them.

Three years later Mr. Hall's oldest son dies and he soon follows. Leah is worried her flying career is over. Mr. Hall had offered her a summer job flying advertisement banners on the beach. Then Grayson shows up and tells her he plans to keep the business open and will run it with his twin brother Alec. Grayson is rude and insults Leah so she refuses but Grayson is very persistent. He shows up at her trailer blackmailing her into both working for him and dating his brother. Leah is tired of being seen as a whore but doesn't want to risk losing her chances of one day becoming an airline pilot. She has worked extremely hard to have a way out of the trailer park and into something better. This beginning part of the story was really sad. I felt horrible that Leah lost Mr. Hall. He was such an important person that believed in her. Leah thinks of him often throughout the book. I also hated the way everyone thought of and treated Leah. They all just assumed the worst of her because of her background.

Grayson angered me at first with his lies and blackmail. As I got to know him I realized that although he handled things badly, it was his desperate way to try to save Alec and the small family he has left. Grayson and Alec are very broken. Although twins, they were never close. Their oldest brother Jake usually held the family together. They really needed some open communication and honesty but instead they both deceive each other. Grayson slowly grows closer to Leah. They have a lot in common but Grayson is really standoffish. Alec was sweet. I liked his character but he also was kind of a jerk the way he handled some things. I was really worried about a love triangle, as they are the plague of my book life, but trust me when I say there isn't one. It may really really seem like it for awhile, but all will explain itself as you read. I promise! There is so much going on with the twins but they are not quite as naive as they think each other are.

Leah has had such a hard life. Her story made me appreciate my car, my mom, and even my washer machine. She has been on her own all her life, her mom is off with boyfriends and never home, so when Grayson, Alec, and her rich friend Molly don't understand why she can't drive or swim, I felt really bad for her. Molly was a weird friend. I can't say I liked her. I still don't understand why she hid some things and lied. Also Leah and Molly had one of the strangest friendships. I felt like Leah excused Molly's actions and wasn't honest with her because Leah felt like the charity case friend. Not a good way to strengthen and build a friendship. Leah definitely doesn't want pity. She never asks Molly for help. She worked really hard to try to learn to fly and to work her way into a new life. I loved the descriptions of her flying and how she felt. I've always wanted take flying lessons. There were so many twists to the story but I was paying close attention and saw the little clues. It was a highly addicting read cause I was dying for everything to come out to see if I was right about the clues.        

"Are you coming on to me?" I asked sternly.
He lowered his shades on his nose and looked over them at me, his big gray eyes serious. "Considering your reaction, I guess not."

"It was the first time in my life I felt like I was in control."
"I could see," I said. "For the first time, I could see what most people never saw. I could see the whole town, and how I fit into it, and how far I would have to go to get out of it. I got such a rush, seeing that. And until that plane ride, I hadn't realized how low I'd felt for years, because I didn't have a high to compare it with."

Rating: 5/5