Monday, May 13, 2013

Blog Tour: Click To Subscribe by L.M. Augustine {Review + Giveaway}


Genre: Young Adult Romance
Publication Date: May 9th 2013
Author: L.M. Augustine
Format: Mobi/Kindle given for tour
Pages: 252



1,135,789. That’s how many subscribers sixteen-year-old West Ryder has on his web vlog series. But he only has eyes for one of them. As one of the internet’s most prestigious video bloggers, West talks about high school relationships under the name “Sam Green.” As far as he knows, no one from school, not even his best friend, Cat, has seen his videos. But the highlight of the whole thing is Harper Knight, who comments every day at exactly 2:02 in the afternoon. He doesn’t know anything about her aside from the occasional deep philosophical messaging on why pizza tastes so delicious, but as stupid as it sounds, he might be falling for her. So when they finally agree to meet in real life, West’s hope for romance seems more and more in reach. But that all changes as soon as he arrives at their meeting spot and sees Cat walking toward him, wearing the same “I <3 Sam Green” T-shirt Harper promised she'd have on. To his alarm, West realizes he is falling in love with the best friend who has always been a sister to him.




MY TAKE:
 16 year old West Ryder has just lost his mother to a drunk driving accident that his father caused leaving him basically alone to deal with the aftermath. The only way he can cope with his feelings is to start a video blog (VLOG) under a fake name (Sam Green) to vent his feelings where he meets Harper. A girl he has never met but starts falling for when they start chatting daily via email. They agree to meet up eventually and to his surprise he has known Harper all along. His best friend Cat confesses to being in love with him for years, throwing his emotions into Chaos. Feeling betrayed West dismisses his best friend's feelings not wanting anything in their relationship to change because he has already lost so much. West wants things to stay the way they always have been but Cat vows not to give up on him. The more time West spends in his own head, the more he realizes what he wants is right in front of him.

*sigh*

I had high hopes for this one, I really did but sadly I just didn't fall in love with it. The story was sweet between West and Cat and they had me cracking up several times with their crazy, dorky banter. I felt bad for West due to the loss of his mother and his dad being an affectionless drunk. The only person he could really count on was Cat, his best friend since childhood. I was loving the story during the first half but it seemed like once the "Cat" was outta the bag it became West going back and forth between thinking he loved her and not. Don't get me wrong some angst is expected when dealing with young adult stories but the two steps forward six back really irked me with this book. I started to feel really bad for Cat throughout the rest of the book because she took the brunt of his back and forth behavior. One minute he's hot the next cold it just irritated me for her. 

I think what I liked most though was Cat herself. Even though West was being a punk she still kept her word and didn't give up which ultimately redeemed the book a little bit for me. She was the strength they both needed and knew exactly how to handle West and I loved seeing her be his support. She was there every single time he needed her and even though I thought she was turning into his doormat she surprised me by speaking her mind and wasn't a shrinking violet. I love a good strong female and Cat was definitely that and more.

With the story only being told from West's POV we don't get to see what Cat is going through and I would have liked to see that just to get out of West's head a little. The story really only revolved around West and Cat with little mentions about his dad a few times. He was really hateful to West at times and I thought it would have been explained a little more and at one point I started to think there was a big secret about West that caused his dad to be so hateful to him. Like there was some mystery surrounding his mother's death and his father kept it secret for a reason but I was wrong. His dad was just a dick. 

Overall it wasn't terrible but it wasn't a slam dunk. I did like some thing and some things I didn't, but I was satisfied with how the author chose to end the story, I thought it was very nicely done. I would recommend this book to lovers of only Young Adult books filled with angst and "will they, won't they" moments and a cutesy ending. 




Quotes:
“We can be friends for now. But West Ryder, if you think this means I won’t fight for you with every last breath I have, you’re in for a hell of a surprise.” Loc. 1303

 “You don’t get that our friendship is more powerful than any romance will ever be. You don’t get that we aren’t ‘just friends’ but like siblings, that we were made for each other—maybe in the romantic sense, maybe not." Loc. 1643

Giveaway:



Author Bio:
L.M. Augustine is a YA romance author who is obsessed with writing about dorky teenagers, love, and happy endings. He currently lives in New England, where he spends far too much time reading books and screaming at his computer, and he believes that the solution to the world’s problems can be found in chocolate cake. Click To Subscribe is his first novel, but it won’t be his last.
Find L.M. on Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Blog

2 comments:

  1. Ill be reading this in the next week or so, and am looking forward to it. You picked great quotes to share!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sorry this one wasn't all you'd hoped and dreamed it would be. LOL I like the quotes though.

    ReplyDelete

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