Upside Down by Lia Riley
Title: Upside Down
Author: Lia Riley
Publish Date: August 5th 2014
Rating: FIVE GOLDEN STARS
Synopsis: Twenty-one-year-old
Natalia Stolfi is saying good-bye to the past-and turning her life
upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months,
she'll act like a carefree exchange student, not a girl sinking under
the weight of painful memories. Everything is going according to plan
until she meets a brooding surfer with hypnotic green eyes and the
troubling ability to see straight through her act.
Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.
Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.
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Review:
*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review*
I went into this book ready for some fluffy times. I left this book broken. The kind of broken that somehow stays intact with a million cracks, but if a butterfly were to land on me I'd break and there'd be no way to put me back together. This book was that powerful.
Now don't get me wrong. Upside Down doesn't just have pain, there are literally LOL moments that I lived for, but within those moment there's deep emotion that surrounds them. Neither of these characters are perfect, they're imperfectly perfect and they don't understand that; well they do but to a certain extent. But then again, no one ever understands that they are imperfect and that that's all they need to be in this world. It's hard to get that through our head and just because Bran and Talia are characters in a book, it doesn't mean they're invincible to this concept.
Now Bran. Know that when I first heard about Upside Down, I thought it'd be only a one sided story, and it was for the most part. However, there are these little jewels in this book where we step inside Bran's thoughts, and boy is it a trip. Because here's the thing, Bran is romantic, like SWOON romantic. But a fudging DUDE. And when we get in his head, it's all dudeness, If that makes any sense. It's real (or so it seems from my standing point). He seems like he's written like a dude by a dude instead of being written as some fake cheesy romance guy to make the readers swoon. It's real... He's real. There is some swooning action but don't be prepared only for that, Bran has his own problems too.
Talia. My love for Talia is this big *opens arms out wide.* Her paranoia reminded me do much of my grandmother I was laughing hysterically, and I just LOVED her (her being Talia, of course). And her witty thoughts are freaking treasures. I felt for Talia so much. With the writing, I was transported from my mind to Talia's and her environment. I felt every emotion coursing though her and it was pretty, and pretty ugly. Now this is solely her story. We are dominated by her thoughts and her feelings, but unlike other books, we get a glimpse of what the male counterpart is thinking, note that I said glimpse. And that is what I absolutely love about this book. This is Talia's story, but we get both sides without getting a play by play of both sides.
The imagery in this book is amazing, as well as the writing. It grips you. Pretty much with every situation that went on you're given this analogy that is so perfect you don't know how Lia thought of it. The writing. Oh god, the writing. I don't know how but Lia transported me to Australia. And it's was the most frustrating fun I had. I can't wait to go back. This is how an NA should be written; it was a life journey for the characters, as well as for the readers. And I have no doubt the next books will be just as amazing.
Waiting (im)patiently for the other two books
-Vangie
1 John 4:18
1 John 4:18
P.S. I got really excited about this book and I had to post it as soon as I wrote the review. But this is not it. I am doing a collaboration with one of my best friends on twitter who has an awesome blog (Maf from Maf's Crazy Book Life) with this book. Hopefully it'll go up this week on either my blog or hers. So stay tuned!
