Blog Stop ~ ‘Choosing You’ by Allie Everhart.

Choosing You by Allie Everhart
(The Jade Series #1)
Publication date: September 23rd 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

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SYNOPSIS

When Jade is given a scholarship to an elite private college in Connecticut, she sees it as a chance to finally escape her painful past and get a fresh start. She’s determined to succeed and that means keeping her focus on school and not guys. But her plan falls apart her first day on campus when Garret, a rich prep school boy with swimmer abs and a perfect smile, offers to help her move in.

Jade tries to push him away, but she can’t deny her attraction to him and Garret won’t let her. Things quickly heat up between them, but then come to a sudden halt when reality hits and Jade realizes that a relationship with Garret may never be possible. He comes from a world of wealth where there are rules, including rules about who he can date. And not following those rules has consequences.

As the two of them try to overcome the obstacles working to keep them apart, Jade is confronted with another challenge. On her 19th birthday, she receives a letter that her now deceased mother wrote years ago. In it are revelations that explain her traumatic childhood but also make her question the past she’s been running from.

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The Jade Series is a New Adult Romance that follows the relationship of Jade and Garret in their first year of college. In Choosing You, (book 1), Jade and Garret meet on Jade’s first night at Moorhurst College and despite their strong attraction to each other, they’re not allowed to date because of the strict rules that control Garret’s life. In Knowing You, (book 2), Garret breaks the family rules and begins dating Jade. Their relationship grows deeper but issues from Jade’s past complicate matters. Loving You (book 3) shows Jade and Garret growing closer as a couple but also hints at the trouble that lies ahead in Promising You (book 4), in which a new challenge emerges for Garret that could interfere with the future he wants with Jade. Originally, book 4 was the end of the series, but fans wanted to read more about Jade and Garret, so Allie is now in the process of writing Forever You, an all-new, full-length follow-up book to The Jade Series releasing later this spring!

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Book Review ~ ‘Choosing You’ by Allie Everhart ~ 5 Stars!

Sometimes there is a book that you just connect to immediately, and not in the way you expect. It wasn’t just the characters that drew me in, but also the way that the author so brilliantly, and realistically depicted University life.

I love a good romance set at University storyline because my own University experience could better be described as the Years from Hell. So to have a character who genuinely struggles to fit in during her first few weeks at University was just so relatable to me. Because unfortunately it is not always ‘Meet room or flat mates, become the best of friends and have lots of fun’. In a lot of cases its ‘Are not accepted by flat-mates because you’d rather not party and drink, and are kept awake all night by parties in the hallways and music played at full volume at three in the morning.’

Jade was not what I expected from reading the blurb, and that made me love her even more. She was a real person who was trying to get through life to the best of her ability, not wanting any unnecessary attachments or distractions coming in the way of her goal. I admired her for her complete dedication to her school work, working tirelessly throughout high school and earning herself a scholarship, but also her desire to be at University not for the social experience (as so many students do today), but for an education that will better her chances in life. She was real, raw and had issues that made her appear blunt and rude, but was just doing so to protect her heart which had been damaged so much in the past.

Garret honestly made me giggle, but in a good way, like a ‘I have a crush on you and don’t know what to say so just giggle’ kind of thing. His tireless pursuing of Jade, even when she was really not interested, was just really sweet, yet underneath his confident facade, he hides dark secrets that he wishes he had no part of. The way that the author had Garret forced between choosing to spend more time with the first girl that he has really connected to, and feels like understands him, and the obligations he has to his family gave the story an almost Romeo + Juliet kind of feel to it, which made the suspense and mystery of the story all that more exciting.

The character and story development was paced brilliantly. I liked how the majority of this story was showing the growth of Garret and Jade’s feelings for each other. Even in the romantic moments, I really felt the strong friendship and bond that they had underneath the romance, which made me root for them even more. In particular I really hoped that Garret would be there for Jade to help her overcome her demons, as my heart ached for her when she believed that she had no chance at becoming a better person than her mother, and then when she discovers that her mother’s ill treatment of her was not as black or white as it seemed.

The tension in the mystery storyline was just amazing. I am on tenterhooks, desperate to know who it was that was trying to keep the truth from coming out and I can’t wait to read the next book.

This was a heart-warming, emotional, yet hopeful story and I can’t wait to continue the series and discover the answers that are plaguing Jade and Garret as they try to be in each others lives.

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*15$ Amazon Gift Card*

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Allie Everhart

Allie Everhart writes about dating, love, and romance. She’s also a freelance writer for magazines and websites. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, running, or binge-watching TV shows on DVD. Some of her favorites are Gilmore Girls, Mad Men, Veronica Mars, and Gossip Girl. When writing her novels, Allie likes to drink dark-roast coffee when writing suspense scenes and red wine when writing love scenes. And eating chocolate is good when writing any kind of scene.

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