Book Review: The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry

The Summer I Found You
Author: Jolene Perry
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: March 1st 2014
Review Source: Albert Whitman Teen | NetGalley

All they have in common is that they're less than perfect. And all they're looking for is the perfect distraction.

Kate's dream boyfriend has just broken up with her and she's still reeling from her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Aidan planned on being a lifer in the army and went to Afghanistan straight out of high school. Now he's a disabled young veteran struggling to embrace his new life. When Kate and Aidan find each other neither one wants to get attached. But could they be right for each other after all?

I am not exactly sure how I feel toward this book. I liked it but didn’t. I know I liked the characters and their situations. I like how their relationship was built. But I think my issue was the back and forth between alternatives. Sometime I think this is necessary but sometimes it isn’t…

Kate's life isn't easy. Not only does she need to deal with high school drama and strict parents, but she also struggles in keeping her health in place. Recently heart-broken, Kate is in search for a distraction. And then she meets Aidan/Aiden, her best friend’s cousin.

Aidan/Aiden, story switches to one name to the other, is a very unique young man. Not only does he suffer from PSTD but he is one arm short. His family tends to avoid talking about this and ignore bringing anything that will make him uncomfortable. This frustrates him and he, as well, is in search for a distraction.

What I love about Kate, is the fact that she isn't afraid to ask Aidan/Aiden about his feelings. Aidan/Aiden is the perfect distraction for her. After being dump by her boyfriend, he is always there for her when she needs him. Yet, she is keeping a secret from him. I found this very childish of her, but then again, I don't blame her. She only wants to feel normal. But how long can Kate and Aidan/Aiden keep each other distracted from real life? From the truth?

Overall, The Summer I Found You is an okay story. I liked how the main characters learn from each other. In the search of a distraction, Kate and Aidan/Aiden find true love. Although, this is not a summer read, as this book doesn't take place in summer, The Summer I Found You was very realistic and well paced.

Cover Reveal: Out of Play by Jolene Perry & Nyrae Dawn

Today we are taking part in the cover reveal for Jolene Perry & Nyrae Dawn's new book called Out of Play. 

Expected Publication: August 6th 2013

Summary: Rock star drummer Bishop Riley doesn't have a problem. Celebrities—especially ones suffering from anxiety—deserve to party, right? Wrong. After taking a few too many pills, Bishop wakes up in the hospital facing an intervention. If he wants to stay in the band, he’ll have to detox while under house arrest in Seldon, Alaska.

Hockey player Penny Jones can't imagine a life outside of Seldon. Though she has tons of scholarship offers, the last thing she wants is to leave. Who'll take care of her absent-minded gramps? Not her mother, who can’t even be bothered with the new tenants next door.

Penny’s too hung up on another guy to deal with Bishop’s crappy attitude, and Bishop’s too busy
sneaking pills to care. Until he starts hanging out with Gramps. If Bishop wants a chance with the fiery girl next door, he’ll have to admit he has a problem and kick it. Too bad addiction is hard to kick…and Bishop’s about to run out of time.

Purchase via: BN.com • Amazon

Book Review: Falling by Jolene Perry + Giveaway

Falling
Author: Jolene Perry
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Released: October 24th 2012
Review Source: Author
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) Dana is definitely not the kind of girl to be living in the dump of a wilderness lodge she finds herself waitressing in. But when Craig, the sexy cop who’s handling the murder case where she’s a witness, suggests it—it seems like a good idea. Now she’s got no BMW, no shopping and an assortment of hairy Alaskan men who definitely belong in a run-down old lodge. Her exciting visits from Craig are getting less exciting, and the lodge owner, Jason, is quickly moving from grouchy and judgmental, to funny, smart and unexpectedly complex.

Jason knows exactly the type of girl Dana is—beautiful, spoiled, and high maintenance. She’s everything that hurt him in the past, and why he now lives as far away from city life as he can manage. If he wasn’t so hard-up for help, he would have never said yes to his friend, Craig. Despite his reservations, Dana becomes the perfect antidote to everything in his life—both his disaster of a divorce and precocious little sister who shows up on his doorstep. Jason realizes he’s falling for Dana too late to stop it, or even slow it down.

As the trial approaches, Dana knows it’s time to move on with her life—but is her life back in the city she left or with a guy she never meant to fall for?

I have never read a book by Jolene Perry and I loved this book by her. It was a really great book from the beginning to the end. It never dragged and each page it just kept on getting better and better. I loved the characters in the book especially Dana and Jason. Have you ever met a handsome gorgeous guy and kept telling yourself that you will never fall in love with them because you can't. Well guess what that's what happens to the characters in the story.

Dana is a twenty something girl that drives a BMW, beautiful and very high maintenance. One night she was given directions to a party from a friend. Well she ends up getting lost along the way and she can't use her GPS because there is no service. When she finally sees some vehicles she ends up witnessing a murder and runs into a bank of snow and gets stuck in there until a very sexy married cop rescues her. She ends up falling for him even though he is married. Craig the sexy cop calls his friend Jason that owns a mountain lodge to see if Dana can stay up there and go into hiding because she will be a witness in the murder case.. So Jason can't say no to Craig because Craig is married to Jason's cousin. So when Dana ends up at the Lodge its this little run down dirty lodge that she doesn't picture herself in and doesn't know what she is going to do with her time while she is up there. Jason is in his twenties and going through a divorce because she left him and didn't want to be married anymore. Jason is mad because Dana is sleeping and fooling around with Craig even though he is married. He is kinda nasty and mean to Dana and keeps to himself. Jason loves to write in his spare time and he hasn't told anyone close to him or his family that he likes to write. So Dana sees him leave to go and answer the phone and she steals his files and reads his book. After a while Dana and Jason start having fun together and he starts to have these feelings for her whenever she walks in the door or even when she brushes next to him. But he knows he shouldn't be having these feelings because he isn't even divorced yet. Even if he is divorced its to soon to fall in love. Well after everybody gets together and has some fun partying she ends up telling Jason that she has read his book and sent it to a agent to see if they like it to give him a book deal. Dana realizes when she sees Craig come up to the mountain lodge with his wife and kids that she can't see him anymore and is really sick to her stomach to fall for his crap. The only guy that comes to her rescue to make her feel better is Jason. Dana starts to have feelings for Jason and doesn't know if she should go through with it because she will be leaving right after the trial. I won't tell you the ending because you really need to read this because its an awesome book. I loved the ending and I loved the tension between the characters and how they ended up falling in love with each other. I would read another book by this author if all her characters are like Dana and Jason.

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What happens when we give books our 5 tree rating? Well we try with as many as we can to share them with our readers through a giveaway. Thanks to Jolene, she has kindly offered to giveaway a paperback copy and 2 ebook copies of Falling to 3 winners. Please read terms and conditions in the rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: Night Sky by Jolene Perry Review

Welcome to the next stop in Jolene Perry's Night Sky blog tour. The tour is hosted by Tribute Books. You can follow the full tour by clicking HERE. Today we bring you our review for Night Sky. 

Jolene Perry Links: Website / Blog / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Author Bio: Jolene grew up in Wasilla, Alaska. She graduated from Southern Utah University with a degree in political science and French, which she used to teach math to middle schoolers.

After living in Washington, Utah and Las Vegas, she now resides in Alaska with her husband, and two children. Aside from writing, Jolene sews, plays the guitar, sings when forced, and spends as much time outside as possible.

She is also the author of The Next Door Boys and the upcoming Knee Deep.

Night Sky

Author: Jolene Perry 

Reading Level: YA

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Released: March 1st 2012

Review Source: Tribute Books

Available: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / PDF
Night Sky Website

Summary: (from Tribute Books) After losing Sarah, the friend he’s loved, to some other guy, Jameson meets Sky. Her Native American roots, fluid movements, and need for brutal honesty become addictive fast. This is good. Jameson needs distraction – his dad leaves for another woman, his mom’s walking around like a zombie, and Sarah’s new boyfriend can’t keep his hands off of her.

As he spends time with Sky and learns about her village, her totems, and her friends with drums - she's way more than distraction. Jameson's falling for her fast.

But Sky’s need for honesty somehow doesn’t extend to her life story – and Jameson just may need more than his new girl to keep him distracted from the disaster of his senior year.

Before I begin this review, I want to make everyone aware of Tribute Books. They publish eBooks for independent writers, mostly YA genre. This small little company has some great books that everyone should check out, including Jolene Perry's other works such as Knee Deep. So check them out today!!!

Night Sky is one of few books I have read in the male POV. Its takes a bit of getting used to when stories our told from the guy's side. So many YA or even adult books are purely female pov's and you get used to that, so I guess it is a bit refreshing to read it from the other side. That being said though, you connect with Jameson in Night Sky. Jolene wrote him so that he was very believable and easy to follow as a character. Jolene does a great job creating Jameson and showing us in words how he transforms or matures up. Pretty much every single character in Night Sky, is well written and balanced out with one another. They read like real people who you can possibly know in real life. 

So we have Jameson, he is 18 years old and completely head over heals in love with Sarah. I think we all knew a boy or two that felt lie that for us in school. He has been for as long as he can remember. He is that guy that is soooo in love that he sort of acts like her personal puppy dog, he helps her with anything she might need or want. Their friendship is very strong but Jameson just looks on to the future and hopes any days now she will finally come around and becomes his. Ha! Not the easy folks. Sarah finds someone else and its definitely not Jameson. This crushes him so deep, his world pretty much feels like it ends. Now don't give up on poor Jameson, one day he runs into Sky. Sky intrigues him like Sarah never did. He will now face a battle of feelings between what he has always felt for Sarah and what is brewing inside now for the wild Sky. All this begins to take off during certain events in his life that he is deep in the middle off and will have to deal with as well. 

If you are in a mood to read a coming of age story about love and life, then read Night Sky. Jolene's voice in Night Sky will warm everyone's heart. Now if your looking for a super intense non-stop action read then Night Sky is not for you, but I bet if you read it you'll be surprised how much you'll like it.