Laura JohnstonCritiques

Some books are a hit and others are a miss and for me this book was a miss. I was bored by both the characters and the story to the point that I was planning my day whilst reading it.

Austin made this book for me. Sienna was an alight character but Austin I simple loved. Sweet love story, gripping tragedy and an all and all enjoyable read.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review. This doesn't influence my review in any shape or form.

It wasn’t just the title that caught my eye, it was the blurb that really made me want to read this. A FBI agent’s son hanging out with the daughter of a criminal his father put behind bars? Talk about interesting and different.

I had some high hopes for this book which unfortunately fell flat for me. But it was still a good book.

Our Story
Cody Rush has just moved to Gilbert, Arizona for his senior year. He had it all made for him back in his old high school he was even on the verge of getting a scholarship to play basketball. But now, he has to go to another school and play for another team and hope that some college offers him a scholarship. The only upside to moving is that Vic one of the most talented basketball players will be on this team. Meaning his chance at a scholarship might just become a reality.

That is until Cody discovers the truth about Vic. That talented basketball player who never played club ball ever only street ball, the one who has the raw talent is a drug addict. We’re talking full blown drug addict. Cody wants no part of it but somehow he is thrown into the mess and so is Vic’s sister Julianna.

One thing leads to another, Cody has a broken leg and can’t remember a thing only that he has photo booth pictures of him and Julianna together the night of the accident. Will she help him remember? Why isn’t she speaking to him? What happened that night?

That sounds so interesting right? The first part of the book had me on the edge of my seat but the middle part had me putting down the book and not wanting to pick it back up. To be honest I put it down for like a week and guess what? I forgot practically everything that had happened. It wasn’t memorable.

Our Characters
Cody Rush is a sweetheart, loyal and sympathetic. I loved that he played basketball. I’ve been searching for books with basketball in them but unfortunately this did not have a whole lot of basketball like I would’ve liked. But I did find him adorable.

Julianna was hard to connect with. She seemed to be the only responsible character in this book. Her mom is in jail, her dad is just doing who knows what and Vic is a drug addict. So she’s the one doing everything, plus working and going to school. I felt sorry for her but other then that I didn’t care for her.

I personally liked reading the story more from Cody’s point of view versus Julianna’s. I guess it was because I felt like he really did grow as a character throughout the whole book whereas I didn’t feel the same for Julianna.

Overall
Like I mentioned I had things come up and had to put the book down for a week and I ended up forgetting like everything that happened. This is not a memorable book, it’s a good book but not a great book.

A beautifully written and highly emotional older YA read. A chance meeting on the streets of Savannah has the power to alter the course of two lives. He's worked hard and overcome stereotypes and obstacles to get to just this place in his life. Everything is good. She's still an emotional mess after a horrible life loss but trying hard to make her way. The summer after their senior year is one neither is ever likely to forget...

This is a great read and one I recommend to all.

This book is third of the three books I’ve recently won which had been offered as part of an internet giveaway by the publisher and the following is my honest opinion for this book.

As with any young girl there’s a strong desire to have the best summer possible after graduating high school and before heading off to college. So Sienna, her mother and brother head off to Tybee Island, where the family had spent countless summers before. But this time it’s different, there’s a lot of guilt her father is no longer alive having been killed as she had been driving the car.

Sienna would love to have the memories of that night disappear, however this is impossible as visions keep on playing in her mind each time she sees a site from a happy moment in her life during one of her stays on the island.

During one of these mental rewinds of the past she blacks out, but luckily one wonderful hunk of a guy, Austin Dobbs, comes to her aid and she immediately gets smitten and her first true romantic relationship ensues. While she has a history, he has issues; yet somehow they make something out of it.

Ms. Johnston has created a wonderful coming of age story, one which will have you feel the roller coaster of emotions along with the characters of the book. The story tugs at your heartstrings and has you shedding tears for them; and might have you recall memories of when you’d been around Sienna’s age; which is why I’m happy to this book 5 STARS.

Between Now and Nvever by Laura Johnston
Enjoyed this read for many reasons: lots of mysteries, bit of romance and family life.
Starts out with Cody, whose father is in the FBI, his mom is a caterer, and a sister. They lost his brother Jimmy and we get to hear about him during the novel.
The book is also about Julianne. Her brother Vic is into drugs and his mother has gone to prison because of it. Her father dabbles in art, junk that he tries to sell as collages.
With alternating chapters we find out about a drug deal gone bad when Cody has gone with Vic one night. That night leads him to get hit by a car, during a dust storm and he doesn't recall ever meeting Julianna.
We get to follow their separate lifes and a combined one as she tutors him. He follows his career into basketball and she follows her into a beauty pageant-for her mother.
Over time the clues come back to Cody as to what happened the night he got hit. With help from other he remembers more and that leads to her helping him and she didn't even realize it. Other excerpt from the author's next book is included.
I received this book from The Kennsington Books in exchange for my honest review

4 stars

It was easy to get involved with the characters. I wanted to keep reading when the book was over. I wanted to see more of there lives. Between Now & Never is told through two different eyes.

Cody Rush a basketball player. It is the summer before his senior year and his family had just moved into town. He has met some local jocks. He is involved in a hit and run accident that has left him with no knowledge of the night he was hit. But he has photos of a girl with him in his pocket.

Julianna's family life is falling apart. Her mother is in jail for two years. Her brother is also a senior this year and has had a drug problem. Her father a artist.

Cody hires Julianna to help him with his art classes. He also wants to know what happened the night he was run over what part did Julianna have in the night.

Cody and Julianna start becoming friends. No one wants that.

The drama, the mystery was okay. The weak problem I had was with Cody and his father. They were close but Cody doesn't go to his father when his memory comes back. They don't say much about the accident and case. Cody's father is a FBI Agent who arrested Julianna's mother.

This is a clean read.

I would read more books by Laura Johnston in the future.

I was given this ebook to read by Net Galley and Kensington Books. In return I agreed to give honest review and be part of Between Now & Never's book tour.

Between Now & Never is an enjoyable YA romance story with a suspenseful twist added into the mix.

Author Laura Johnston weaves an intriguing tale set in Gilbert, Arizona, and written in the first person narrative that alternates between high school seniors Cody Rush and Julianna Schultz. The readers follow Cody and Julianna as their worlds unexpectedly collide, and they have to deal with family drama, romantic tension and angst, tragic pasts, and danger from drug dealers.

Cody and his family recently moved from Scotsdale to Gilbert. He is a high school senior and star basketball player, who is one of the top college prospects. He befriends fellow high school basketball standout and top prospect Vic Schultz, but their friendship goes downhill when Cody realizes that his FBI agent father has put Vic's mother in prison for mortgage fraud, and Cody is unknowingly drawn into a drug deal by Vic, that results in Cody becoming involved in a hit-n-run, beaten up, and left in a sand storm by a couple of local drug dealers. When Cody awakens in the hospital with a fractured leg, he doesn't remember anything that happened to him that night. Cody sees a set of photo booth pictures of him and Vic's sister Julianna that was taken at the mall that fateful night, and he tries to get Julianna to help him piece together what happened to him, but Julianna won't have any of it when she discovers that it was Cody's father who was responsible for sending her mom to prison, and putting her family's life into a downward tailspin. As Cody and Julianna fight the obvious attraction they have for each other, Cody starts having flashbacks, while Julianna unknowingly holds the key to the answers that he seeks.

Between Now & Never is more than just your usual YA romance story, it is a multi-layered tale that is full of intrigue, suspense, danger, and tragic family drama. The reader follows Cody and Julianna as their worlds unexpectedly collide and are drawn together by a set of circumstances that intertwines romance and danger as Cody tries to fill in the pieces to the puzzle of what happened to him, while Julianna is desperately trying to keep her family afloat since her mother was sent to prison. As their story unfolds, the reader gets a glimpse into their very different lives, and how their unexpected meeting brings to the surface their tragic pasts, family drama, secrets, and a dangerous run in with local drug dealers that puts them into some pretty rough situations, but it also brings an unlikely friendship and heartwarming romance.

While the story slowly builds, it does at times get to be unnecessarily repetitive (by this I mean the numerous times that the reader is reminded that Cody's dad was responsible for busting Julianna's mom), but the intriguing twists and turns intertwined with teenage angst will have you forgetting that as it keeps you turning the pages and guessing what will happen next until the satisfying conclusion.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by I Am A Reader Blog Tours.

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2015/04/between-now-never-by-laura-joh...

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have a few male characters on my book-boyfriends list and Austin made it into the list. What I love so much about Austin is his honesty. He is always honest with Sienna…ALWAYS. The building-up of the story and the romance was great. I actually liked the pacing because there were interesting facts in this story. I am a Psychology major and I learned something in this book that could be seen as Epilepsy but it isn’t—it has to do more with the psychological matter and I can’t wait to investigate more on this.

I loved every character, except for Kyle (Sienna’s boyfriend) and Nancy (Sienna’s mom). I was in my Advanced Spanish class in college and I kept rolling my eyes, shaking my head, raising my hands in a frustrated way so much that my friend seated behind me asked me if I was okay. I was so frustrated with those two. Not only that, I hated the cheating part. I don’t and will never agree with cheating and this story has loads of it, coming from Sienna. This is the reason why I can’t give this story 5 stars (or rather, flowers).

All in all, it is a great story to read. Very light and to the point and shows a lot about honesty coming from a guy, which I love.