Hello
lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Anne Holster and her new book,
“Finished”! For other stops on her
Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above.
Be sure to
make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $20 Amazon or Barnes &
Noble Gift Card. Also, come back daily
to interact with Anne and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for
stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in
this exciting giveaway!
Finished
by Anne Holster
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GENRE: New Adult Contemporary Romance
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BLURB:
It
began with a drunken kiss, a furtive but passionate grope atop a pile of
discarded winter coats. Downstairs, the party raged on, but all Jess hears is
the pounding of her heart as Finn Evans – the guy she had fantasized about for
God-knows-how long – ran his hands along her body. It isn’t until Finn staggers
from the dark room that Jess realizes she has not only lost her virginity, but
her underwear as well. Things only get worse when she sees Finn again and
realizes he doesn’t even know it was her in the bedroom that night! She heads
to the Jersey Shore with her best friend, hoping a summer of fun will heal her
broken heart.
Finn
awakes with a colossal hangover and a pair of girl’s underwear jammed in his
pocket. It’s not the first time he’s had sex at a party, but it is the first
time he doesn’t know the girl’s identity. Thinking he’ll never see her again he
heads to the Jersey Shore for a summer of sun, sand and sex.
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EXCERPT ONE:
Someone
suggested we take our little party up to the beach, so we grabbed a few
blankets from the bedrooms and the rest of the beer from the fridge. Things started looking up the minute we got
settled on the sand. There was something about being on the beach at night that
I loved. The eerie darkness, the feeling of the cool sand on my bare feet, and
the way the ocean breeze tussled my hair – it was the best.
I
was just lounging back on my elbows, nursing my beer as I talked to Jill and
Nick when I noticed that Finn was sitting at the other end of my blanket. The
last time I’d seen him he was talking and laughing with Pete and Tommy, but he
stayed behind when they headed off to troll the boardwalk.
“This is the life, ain’t it?” he said, with an
adorable crooked smile I could make out even in the darkness. He held up his
bottle of beer. “I got a drink in my
hand, I got my toes in the sand. Jeez, now all I need is a beautiful girl on my
arm.” Laughing, he brought his hand to his forehead like a salute and turned
his head back and forth as if looking for something. “Nope, don’t see any
here.”
Before
I had time to be offended by the comment, he pounced on me. “Oh, well…I guess Jess’ll have to do.” He lay
there laughing, but I didn’t find it funny at all. Even then, with his familiar
weight on top of me, I realized that nothing would ever happen between me and
Finn again. Somehow, in the blink of an
eye, I had crossed over into the friend zone.
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REVIEW:
This
book is an interesting take on a modern, summer romance filled with drama and
some unsettling poor judgements. This
book starts off with the two main characters, Jess and Finn hooking up at a
party. Jess has had a huge crush on Finn
and is thrilled that he is finally paying her attention. However, Finn is beyond drunk and later doesn’t
remember who he slept with or even really the details of that night. When Jess realizes that Finn doesn’t remember
being with her, she is crushed. So her
best friend, Jill convinces her that a fun summer at the Jersey Shore will help
her get over Finn. However, Finn is also
renting a house on the Jersey Shore. Jess and Finn are continuously thrown
together in some awkward and intense scenes that makes for an amusing summer on
the beach.
This
book overall was interesting and had some fun and hilarious scenes. I liked this book for the most part as it was
quite entertaining. However, I found the
characters to be unrelatable and beyond juvenile – not agewise – in terms of
their maturity level. There were a few
surprises, but sadly I felt that this book rested on many cliché scenes.
The
pace of the book was mostly steady, but did have some slow passages. The way this book was written skips over
days, weeks even – instead of most books that account for each day, sometimes
even each hour of that day. It wasn’t necessarily
confusing, just odd being like a Monday and then all of a sudden it’s the
weekend. I want to know what happened on
those missing days.
I
wasn’t truly a fan of the characters. I
found Jess to be sweet, but very naïve, simple, and unaware. I found Finn to be rude, immature, and
basically a jerk. He is a total player
and completely girl crazy – hooking up with girls that he can’t even remember
their names.
I
know in today’s culture something like losing your virginity at a party to a
guy who is drunk may not be so out of the norm.
However, I just felt like this was so trashy and disconcerting. I like books with strong, positive characters
that you can relate to or look up to and Jess was not that. I personally wouldn’t have acted like that
and I’d hope my friends would have more self-worth and respect for
themselves. Now, now, I’m not a prude
and I think it’s important to have fun, live your life, make mistakes and learn
from them. It just seemed unclassy and
Finn doesn’t even remember it was her he had sex with! How far from special and for your first
time?!
Yes,
we were all teenagers at one point. I
remember going to parties and being around sex, drugs, alcohol, etc., and
although I was raised somewhat strict, I knew right from wrong and how
important it was to make the right decisions.
As I said, I think it’s important for new adults to make their own
mistakes and grow from them. This book
definitely highlights that, but doesn’t really focus on the consequences or go
into too much detail about the lessons from those mistakes.
There
is a lot of miscommunication between the characters and that is very realistic
especially around the YA/NA crowd. I
think Finn did work hard to redeem himself in the end and he does get a point
for that.
All
in all, I did find this book entertaining – more like an episode of Jersey
Shore or Jerry Springer lol. Filled with
lots of laughs, gasps, and shock; however, hard to sometimes look away. I would recommend this book to someone
interested in a book filled with drama and questionable young adult
decisions. However, I would not
recommend to a teenager as it isn’t something I would support them
reading. It was fun and
entertaining. I don’t regret reading it,
but it won’t be something I would re-read.
**Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest
review.**
Did you find this
review helpful?
If so, please, please,
please mark it as helpful on Amazon here:
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AUTHOR BIO:
Anne
Holster resides in Northern New Jersey with her husband and two children. When
she’s not writing she enjoys spending time with her family, playing tennis and
reading angsty romance novels. She is currently working on her third novel.
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CONNECT WITH ANNE:
Facebook:
Amazon
Author Page:
Email:
anneholster.author@yahoo.com
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads
Book Page:
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AMAZON BUY LINK:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Anne Holster will be
awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter
during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and
Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not
Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are
solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeletecongrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Lisa!
DeleteThank you for hosting my tour and for taking the time to read and review 'Finished.'
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed following the tour and learning about Finished! Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your review, I'm looking forward to checking this one out myself :)
ReplyDelete