This Review was originally posted at Dollycas’s Thoughts on August 9, 2011
My Choice For Best Contemporary Fiction 2011!
 |
| Cover Art
by Robin Hyzy |
This book is available now in both Kindle and Paperback Formats
ISBN-10: 1461085977
ISBN-13: 978-1461085973
This book has been on my radar for quite awhile and since I haven’t yet given in to an e-reader I had to wait patiently for a paperback copy. Well that arrived late last week and I spent Sunday curled up with Flat-Out Love.
I can’t write a better synopsis than the one from the back of the book so I am cheating by copying it. I am afraid I would insert a spoiler and let’s face it the author’s humor even resonates in this little blurb.
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.
I flat out loved Flat Out Love.
This story is so well written it pulled me right into it. I started thinking about it being one of my daughters going off to school and how they would react if their housing fell through and they were hundreds of miles away. I felt an immediate personal attachment to Julie. Thankfully she was a very mature college freshman because she was dropped into a very extraordinary situation.
This is a true contemporary romance complete with the snippets of social media, a good bit of humor and mystery too. I have to say I ran the whole gambit of emotions while reading this wonderful story. The characters are eccentric, off beat and you may even use the word peculiar, but they are written so true that you can’t help to fall for each and every one. You will also be surprised, shocked, mad, sad, heartbroken, happy and joyful all in the span of less than 400 pages. You will be laughing out loud one minute and ready to reach into the pages and slap a character the next. Plus the love story is amazing.
This book hit me in a whole different way that any book I have read in a long time. Yes, I loved it as I have others, but this book was FUN!!! It was like a day out with a good friend, a day you didn’t want to end. I found it to be inspiring. I immediately handed it to my 20 year old daughter and said “you have to read this!”
There are very few books that I would call awesome, this is an AWESOME book. This book has earned a place on my keeper shelf because I know I am going to want to take this journey again and again. Five stars does not cover it, this book is off the charts.
Have your ordered your copy yet? I am telling you this is a must read, A MUST READ!!! Then please come back and share your thoughts with me. I want to talk to everyone I know about this book!!!
Jessica Park you have hit this one out of the park!!!!!!! I can’t wait to read whatever you are working on next!!!!
 |
| Your Escape With A Good Book Travel Agent |
Disclosure of Material Connection: This book is from my private collection I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
To find out more about this fabulous author be sure to check out her web pages: