Tuesday 30 July 2013

Guest Book Review: Christina Courtenay - New England Rocks

Reviewed by Victoria Stone

First impressions, how wrong can you get?
When Rain Mackenzie is expelled from her British boarding school, she can’t believe her bad luck. Not only is she forced to move to New England, USA, she’s also sent to the local high school, as a punishment.

Rain makes it her mission to dislike everything about Northbrooke High, but what she doesn’t bank on is meeting Jesse Devlin…

Jesse is the hottest guy Rain’s ever seen and he plays guitar in an awesome rock band!There’s just one small problem … 

Jesse already has a girlfriend, little miss perfect Amber Lawrence, who looks set to cause trouble as Rain and Jesse grow closer.

But, what does it matter? New England sucks anyway, and Rain doesn’t plan on sticking around …

Does she?

This story is all about the very feisty Rain, who manages to get herself thrown out of boarding school. Furious with her constant rule breaking her parents punish her by sending her to a normal school in New England.

First day, she literally stumbles into Jesse, (It's how all the greatest love stories start). She thinks he's the "fittest" boy she has ever met, but she wasn't going to fall for him because she wasn't falling for anyone ever again.

Rain decides that she isn't going to be doing much at her new school because she doesn't plan on sticking around for long. After she is made to choose her classes and after school classes, she heads off to her first lesson.

Who should she be sharing that class with, Jesse. They end up sharing quite a few classes together and they both do after school football practice together also. As much as she doesn't want to make friends, there is something about Jesse (other than those eyes and good looks) that she can't stay away from.

Jesse though, has a girlfriend. How can I describe her, ever seen Mean Girls? Well she would be known as a plastic. (We don't like plastics, unless you are one. Awkward!) 

As Rain and Jesse get closer, Amber (the plastic) gets more and more jealous. Will Jesse see sense and finish with Amber? And will Rain stop refusing to make friends and stop breaking the rules? 

I absolutely could not put this book down. I managed to read it in an hour and a half. It was such easy reading, with a compelling story. 

I love a story where the girl is feisty and cool, rather than obsessed with looks and clothes. It's so refreshing. I also really liked that Jesse was the one with the girlfriend too, as it's normally the girl with the boyfriend. 

There wasn't anything I didn't like, I loved the relationship that Rain had with her dad it really resonated with me and my relationship with my dad.

I'm normally good at guessing if a bombshell is going to come up and I didn't expect the one I got at all. 

This was so enjoyable and refreshing. Although Rain was a rule breaker I think she is a good role model for girls. 

This is certainly a book I would pick up again and again. I will now be looking out for more books from Christina.

I'd like to thank Jane at Choc Lit for sending us an ecopy of this book to review and Victoria for reviewing it for me.  Amazon links: Paperback or Kindle 

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