Finished by Anne Holster - Book Tour - Review - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

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.

While down at the shore, Jess and Finn find themselves thrown together time and time again, eventually forging an unlikely friendship. By the time Finn realizes he’s fallen for her, Jess is with someone else. Will Finn be able to convince Jess that he is the one for her, or will his bad boy reputation haunt him forever?

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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:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R10ECSK0YSWM5A

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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:

https://www.facebook.com/Anne-Holster-885353721587102

Amazon Author Page:

https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Holster/e/B00VL32ZG2

Email:

anneholster.author@yahoo.com

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13762475.Anne_Holster

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30236007-finished

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AMAZON BUY LINK:

http://amzn.to/2fVEj0k

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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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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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.