FROSH: First Blush - Monica B. Wagner

I am taking off on vacation this week, so I hope to get a lot of reading in. I'll be in Fort Worth and Austin, so I'll also be doing a lot of site seeing, spending time with T's family, and trying delicious craft beers. I've got three scheduled posts for you this week, I know that's a bit disconnected, but it should do for now! I promise to get a guest post in here next time. While you're waiting on me to return, be sure to check my Goodreads page. I have 5 new reviews posted between last week and today that won't be on the blog, mostly due to more mature themes. If that's you're kind of book, definitely check those reviews out!

This first book for the week is a cross between YA/NA , focuses on the freshman year of college, and has multiple POV's, so it's sure to grab the attention of some of my readers. Plus, it's book one in the series and has the kind of cliffhanger I like!

Rating: 3 stars
Published: October 2015
Many thanks to Netgalley and Paper Lantern Lit for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Amazon Goodreads

It's freshman year at Hillson University and before classes have even started the drama is heating up. Ellie wants to be a journalist, but there is only one spot available for the campus newspaper. She may have been given the task to write about the star QB, but in order to make a splash she has to dig a little deeper. Grant may be the star QB, but he's got a secret that could affect his future and he's not sure who he is outside of football. He can't have the reporter screwing it up for him, but she's too cute to ignore. Devon's the IT girl on campus this year, she's well known thanks to her dad's name being on a building. None of that matters to her though, she wants the QB on her arm and her name in everyone's mouth. Charlie's the nerd with eyes only for Devon. He's willing to do what it takes to get in her line of sight, but he may not even need to.

FROSH: First Blush is the intertwining of these four and their first week of school. I was too excited for this book, it had a great premise and the characters seemed like my kind of people. I really enjoyed reading from Ellie's POV, her drive to succeed mixed with stumbling through her first week alone at school made for entertaining situations. I both liked and disliked Grant, he seemed to float where he fit best in the book, but as a character I wanted to read about his story separately. I disliked Devon from start to finish, but rooted for her role in Charlie's life as much as possible. It's an interesting mix of characters, all very different personalities, mashed together for an interesting first week of school. The parties were realistic, the dorm room situations exactly like I remembered, and the interactions completely believable.

 Unfortunately, the changing POV was hard to follow along with from time to time and I felt like some of the characters, especially Ellie, changed during the book without any reason to. I felt her characterization changed and who she was as a person didn't connect from start to finish. While each POV was unique, it was easy to lose track of time and where I was at with each character. Additionally, it all moved almost too fast. For the first week of school there sure was a lot happening! The first football game, several parties, and a lot of twists and turns. I almost wish I had more time to spend with the characters, because we only saw glimpses of their background and how it affected them and that detail could have been useful.

 Overall, it is a well written novel with a cliffhanger that absolutely left me wanting more. I'd like to see what happens to the characters in the next installment