Friday, September 28, 2012

Review: Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Release Date: April 11, 2012
Publisher: Self-Published 
Pages: 389
Genre: YA Romance
Source: Amazon Kindle
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Haunt Author: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance. 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. To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer. Flat-Out Love comes complete with emails, Facebook status updates, and instant messages.

I had a bit of an indie author and romance mood recently. I had heard amazing things about this one and I did enjoy it but it was weird. Different from what I was expecting. Based on the title I was expecting a really romance heavy book but it focused more on the family Julie stays with. Julie is moving away to college and the apartment she rented fell through. With no where to go she moves in with her mom's old college friend, husband, son, and daughter. The family has some issues and I could guess what it was almost right off the bat. But the family is in major denial so much so that I started doubting my prediction.

The youngest daughter, Celeste, is in middle school yet she will not go anywhere unless she has Flat Finn, a cardboard cut out of her older brother. Julie was incredibly understanding of this extremely strange behavior. She takes care of Flat Finn and Celeste and takes them shopping. Julie deals with this quirky family way better than I would have. She is determined to help Celeste fit in and stop carrying around Flat Finn. She even comes up with a plan to make Flat Finn more portable so Celeste can put him in her purse.

Matt is such a sweet, wonderful, smart, nerdy, great love interest. But Julie continues to want to chat on facebook with his brother Finn! I was so frustrated by this! Matty is right there yet she continues to want to talk to someone she has never met. Julie and Matt slowly build into great friends. They have geeky arguments mostly revolving around Matt's geeky t-shirts. I especially enjoyed their argument about font nerds and the acceptable fonts and what fonts are considered uncool. lol Julie wants Matt to get out more but since Finn moved away Matt has been taking care of Celeste. Their parent's are at work a lot and their dad is always away on business.

So the romance is a bit confusing and hard to explain without spoilers. For a huge part of the book I worried that Julie and Matt would remain friends but I slowly saw small signs of it developing further. Towards the end Julie becomes confused. She thinks she is in love with Finn but has never met him. Then she has Matt who has been such a great friend to her. It really isn't a love triangle though but I can't say more. All the lies this family has been telling her to hide their dysfunction was a bit much. I have to say I would have found it extremely hard to forgive that even though I could understand what a difficult thing they were going through.

Although the story pushed the limits of dysfunction and weird, I really enjoyed it. I was very happy with the ending and the way everything worked out. I loved all the little facebook statuses and instant messages included. I wanted a bit more romance earlier in the story but then again I loved that Julie and Matt were such good friends first. I love the good guys so I immediately loved Matt. I don't see enough of his type in the romances that I read. Looking for a quirky and nerdy romance then this is definitely it.    deception.


“Lift up your shirt.”
“Look, I appreciate an aggressive woman, but this is really getting weird.”
Julie grabbed his sweatshirt by the waist cuff and lifted it up with one hand, as she pulled down his T-shirt with the other. Matt put his hands over hers, lightly protesting, but she refused to let go. “Aha!” She squinted at his shirt. “OK, I don’t even know what this is, but it’s definitely geeky."

"If you can't stop thinking about someone's update, that's called "status cling."

"It was always you. I thought it was someone else, but it was you. You were the person that I felt."

Rating: 4/5

27 comments:

  1. You've made me very curious about the romance hehe. I hadn't heard of this one before but it sounds right up my alley. I love weird and dysfunctional! What does that say about me? Who knows >.< Great review! And I love your new blog design it's awesome!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes the romance was strange. It is easy to guess once you start reading but from the description I was turned off by it. I don't like love triangles at all. I love weird too! This was definitely dysfunctional. Thanks! I love my new vamp girl too!

      Delete
  2. Ohh, Flat-Out Love is one of my favorites! Like you, I just love Matt so much, and little Celeste also holds a piece of my heart. I know what you mean about it being hard to review without spoilers, though, but I think you did a fabulous job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. aww yes I love Matty! He was so sweet and adorable. Celeste annoyed me at first but I did grow to love her. Yes it was hard to review. I really really wanted to spoil it! LOL Only because I want people to know it is love triangle free cause I know that is what turned me off reading it for a long time.

      Delete
  3. Flat Finn. Wow I don't know if I could be so understanding of that one. This sounds really good, I love stories with dysfunctional families. Great review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julie takes Flat Finn into the grocery store and coffee shop. Yup don't think I could be quite that understanding. Although I don't embarrass too easily so maybe I'd just do it for fun! LOL It was interesting at times.

      Delete
  4. It's hard to get a feel for the book from that book description. It's kind of too much. I also thought it was going to be a romance heavy book. But I have heard really great things about this one too so I will have to check it out. Glad you liked it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah the Amazon description I think is better. That is the goodreads description and it is really long! Tons of talk about this one! I usually end up reading all the popular indie books because I just got to know what all the fuss is. I was surprised by the weirdness in this one but I did like the romance.

      Delete
  5. This is a book that I've had on my Kindke for awhile now, but just haven't read. You know what? I think it may be my next "me" book. I cabt wait to compare thoughts, Jennifer. Thanks for a great, spoiler-free review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had it sitting on my kindle for awhile as well. Got to it during an indie read a thon. It was a quick read for me. Enjoyed the romance and had to make sure my prediction was right. I almost started tweeting to confirm it because I was so nervous I might be wrong and I hate love triangles.

      Delete
  6. I read this last year and really enjoyed it, .granted, I guessed the big secret way ahead if time as well. It is just a great little indie read. Glad you enjoyed this. I loved geeky Matt as well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As soon as I saw Flat Finn I knew! Although the way everything was carried on so elaborately I started to doubt myself and then I started to get really upset. If Julie blew off Matt I was going to be really angry!!! Matt was so cute!

      Delete
  7. This book sounds really good!! I actually have not heard of it before now. You have caught my interest now!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was recommended this one a lot actually but the love triangle put me off so I was happy it turned out not to be one. It was unique!

      Delete
  8. Flat Finn! That's funny. I had a big cardboard cutout of George Strait in high school that I kept in my truck sometimes. lol.

    This book has me very curious, though. Hmmm.. just tell me the secret ;P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used to laugh when I saw those Edward Cullen cut outs at stores! HAHA I'll put the secret in a spoiler quote on my goodreads review so you are free to check. I don't think it really ruins the story. It just lets you know that there will not be a love triangle.

      Delete
  9. I'm so thrilled you enjoyed this because I loved this story!! So quirky and at times heartbreaking. I loved the romance too. Good job on not spoiling the story. Great review. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was super quirky but yes very heartbreaking! Towards the end I was tearing up for Matt. I was happy the way it worked out. Very sweet.

      Delete
  10. This is new to me..and I have to say I am very curious about this one. It sounds very fun and cute. I really enjoy reading books like Flat Out Love, so I'll definitely be checking it out! And I WANT TO KNOW WHO SHE PICKS!!! GAHHH...this is going to be eating me up..LOL ;p Definitely looking forward to the romance! I'm glad you enjoyed this! Lovely Review, Jennifer! :D

    ~ Maida @ Literary Love Affair

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is not as torturous as it seems, I promise. I was very happy with the way it ends!

      Delete
  11. I loved this book! Glad you enjoyed it too. ;) It is quirky.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Aw, I want to read this now :-) The Facebook statuses and instant messages sound cute, and I love geeky humour!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lots of geeky humor! The font argument was something else :-D And the facebook status updates were really interesting. Things I wouldn't think to put as my status lol

      Delete
  13. the cover is ADORABLE, and im so glad you enjoyed this! i love books with humor! and loving the new design!!
    - Farah @ MajiBookshelf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love humor! Especially when it isn't your average humor lol Thanks! I'm loving the new header. Always wanted a vamp girl up there!

      Delete
  14. I want to read this book so bad! Matt and Julie sound like exactly the type of romance I love! Nice review!
    -Jayne

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for visiting and commenting! I read and love every single comment!