I'm really excited today to be a part of the promotional blog tour hosted by A Life Bound by Books for A Little Too Far, a contemporary new adult release from Lisa Desrochers. This book was the first NA book I picked up after an extended and much needed break from the genre as a whole, and it brilliantly reminded me why I was such a big fan of it before I had to take a step back for a while. You can read my full review below, and then don't forget to check out the bottom of the post for a tour wide giveaway hosted by Lisa herself!
A Little Too Far #1
Lisa Desrochers
Contemporary New Adult
336 pages
HarperCollins
Available Now
Source: e-ARC from publisher for review
THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Have you ever gone just a little too far?
Lexie Banks has.
Yep.
She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother. In her defense, she
was on the rebound, and it’s more of a
my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But
still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for the better part of
the last few years … and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s
leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome.
But even thousands
of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she
goes to confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt … and
maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional
and right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy-on-the-eyes
deacon … only eight months away from becoming a priest. Lexie and
Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing
despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn
between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she
can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.
MY THOUGHTS
A Little Too Far is a story we enter into with some trepidation, the premise causing us to wonder if this is going to be the type of new adult read that sprints up to the line separating drama from melodrama and takes a flying leap over to land with a flair on the other side, or if it's going to be the type that creates drama without the heavy dose of angst and the over the top emotional reactions. Luckily for us Lexie's journey to find love is the latter, giving us tension that causes a tightening in our chests rather than a roll of our eyes, and Ms. Desrochers does a beautiful job of writing a romance with three players that never once feels like a triangle. Instead were treated to the delightfully terrifying mess that is falling in love; all the tears and laughter, the restless nights and the comforting smiles, and the relief and pain detailed for us as they’re splashed across the page, leaving us sympathizing and aching for Lexie, Trent and Alessandro when they’re forced to ask themselves questions the answers to which scare them to their cores.
Lexie, despite a less-than impressive introduction wherein she considers caving to a cheating ex simply because he tells her the other girls didn't matter and then falls into bed quickly with her stepbrother, grows throughout the book into a young woman of strength who has a healthy dose of self-respect. She throws herself wholeheartedly into her time and studies in Rome, never once trying to drown out memories of Trent by partying or hooking up with other people, instead she finds a career path she hadn't considered before and milks everything from the experience she can. She doesn't handle every situation with Trent perfectly, a lack of communication between them the reason for the extent of their shared pain, but there's no drawn out series of misunderstandings or miscommunications to set our teeth on edge, rather there's simply the paralyzing fear that opening her mouth will irreparably damage something vital that keeps her from speaking her heart.
The situation is much the same with Alessandro, hindsight giving Lexie a clarity that has her wishing she'd dealt with certain things differently, but in the moment her reactions seem realistic and we can't help but admit our behavior would likely mirror hers were we in her shoes. The handling of both romances is expertly done, Ms. Desrochers creating such palpable pain between Lexie and Trent that it's impossible to forget him for even a moment despite the fact that Alessandro is far more present in the story, and the slow evolution of her friendship with Alessandro to something more manages–in the context of the story–to not necessarily feel like the betrayal of Trent we assume it will from the synopsis. There's no waffling on Lexie's part and no pitting the two of them against one another or forcing them to wait while she sorts herself out, there's just a fear so thick we can practically taste it and the understandable need to attempt to move past something that she thinks can never be hers.
Overall, A Little Too Far is an extremely steamy new adult read with a complex group of characters all searching for the people they both want to be and want to be with, and it's a pleasure to follow along as they stumble, fall, and then get up once again.
Rating: 4/5
Buy A Little Too Far:
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LISA DESROCHERS
Lisa Desrochers lives in central California with her husband and two very busy daughters. There is never a time that she can be found without a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.
Look for her New Adult novel, A LITTLE TOO FAR , courtesy of HarperCollins Sept 2013, and the first companion, A LITTLE TOO MUCH , in Nov 2013. Also in stores is her YA PERSONAL DEMONS trilogy (Macmillan).
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GIVEAWAY
Lisa is hosting a tour wide giveaway! Prizes include an iPod Mini, pendant, tote bags, temporary tattoos, and annotated chapters of A Little Too Far. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
