Such a Rush

Title: Such a Rush
Author: Jennifer Echols
Year Published: 2012
Pages: 326
Publisher: MTV Books
Price: USD 9.35 at Book Depository

Such a Rush tells a story about Leah Jones. Leah lived with her mother, her irresponsible mother who had no job, no brain (seriously, I hate her so much!), and often moved from trailer park to trailer park. During her stay in Heaven Beach, South Carolina, Leah worked at the airport to earn money for her and her mother and often saw banner-advertising plane from Hall Aviation flew up in the air. Leah then decided to save some money and learned to fly with Mr. Hall, who realized that Leah was talented in flying and decided to give her free lessons.

Mr. Hall was divorced and he had 3 sons: Jack and the twins, Alec and Grayson. Jack was an air force pilot and the twin, who were still in high school, lived with their mother. The three often came visitting their father during holiday to help him run the banner-advertising business. That was where Leah saw them and secretly had a crush on Grayson, the adrenaline junkie one.

Three years after starting her flying lesson, everything changed. Jack was killed in Afghanistan and one month later, Mr. Hall was found dead in his apartment. Leah thought that it would be the end of Hall Aviation, as well as her own flying career. That's when Grayson and Alec came and decided to run their late father's business. Grayson surprisingly came to Leah to ask her to be a pilot in Hall Aviation and also to ask her to date Alec. Grayson had a secret and forced Leah to do what he wanted without letting her to know what the secret was. As Leah's career and future was on Grayson's hand, she couldn't refuse it.

What secret did Grayson keep about Alec? Would the plan run smoothly? Would Leah, Grayson, and Alec succeed in running Hall Aviation?

Wow Jennifer Echols!! You amazed me with this book so much! Well, this is the second book writtten by her that I read. The first one, The One that I Want, actually didn't amaze me. It was okay but the characters were too black and white, the story was predictable and didn't leave any strong impression to me. But this one... OMG I think I can reread this book again and again. I love it so much!

This is a book about reaching your dream. No matter how impossible it may seems, if you try hard to reach it, it is possible. Leah's life was so tough. Her mother (who gave birth to her when she was 16) didn't have a work and depended a lot to her boyfriends who often promised her to get her a job somewhere, causing her and Leah moving a lot, but never succeeded in finding any. Instead, they broke up causing Leah and her mother move again to new place. Leah had to work to earn some money to pay the bills. Leah also infamous for her bitchy behavior. Although this was actually not true, the way she dressed (actually she had no choice because she didn't have enough money to buy proper clothes) and people's impression of her had already made a final judgement. Generally, girls like Leah weren't a pilot material. But somehow, it was there. Being a pilot was in her blood.

I love Leah as a main character. She was so lonely but she kept her feeling for herself. She tried so hard to be strong and not letting any people to pity her. She was smart but so introvert. She let people judged her whatever they wanted although it actually hurt her. Her only escape was flying. That's why she tried very hard to keep flying for Hall Aviation no matter what after Mr Hall's death. Although I think Leah's life was so miserable, I can't help to envy her because from her young age, she already found out her passion and she could fight hard to follow it. She had all materials to be succeed in the future.

I also love the other charactes, Grayson and Molly, Leah's friend who joined Leah and the Hall twins in running the Hall Aviation later. Grayson was the black sheep of the family. The troubled one. The one that often be scolded by Mr. Hall. But deep down inside, he cared a lot with his family and he had his own fear of his family's future after Jack and Mr. Hall's death. I enjoyed reading Leah and Grayson fighting. Molly was the popular girl. No one knew why she decided to make Leah her best friend. Leah often thought that Molly was using her as a "charity". Molly was so contradictive to Leah but with her Leah found someone who could be trusted. Too bad, Alec's character wasn't explored properly. He was described only as the good and handsome one. He was so polite and never made mistakes. But hey, who likes good guys? They are boring!

Anyway, this book may contain romance (and... It has sex scenes too), but I think the point of the story is more to family, friendship, and how to reach your dream even when you have to struggle a lot to be succeed. This book is really a great read and Jennifer Echols did a very good job in writing it, especially about the aviation stuffs. It brings a lot of new knowledge for me.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!