In honor of the release of PERFECTLY MESSY (the sequel to Effortless With You) by Lizzy Charles I'm giving away THREE ecopies!!!
From Goodreads: Popularity isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Justin Marshall knows this better than most. For the captain of the basketball team, small business owner, and son of Minnesota's next governor, life can get pretty overwhelming. But Justin can handle anything as long as he has Lucy, the girl who fell for the man he’s trying to be.
But for Justin and Lucy, finding time together proves challenging. Stolen kisses and whispered promises just aren't enough. That is, until scandalous photos of the couple are leaked to a press intent on creating a juicy scandal during Justin's dad's gubernatorial campaign. And when Lucy becomes fair play for the tabloids and gossip pages, Justin does the only thing he can to protect her: he breaks her heart.
For Lucy, junior year is everything she hoped it would be: new friends, second chances, and a boyfriend she can’t stop kissing. That is, until the boy she’s pretty sure she loves chooses the life his family wants for him, over her.
Now it’s up to Lucy to teach him what it really means to have everything. Because for Justin, being who everyone needs him to be just might cost him the one person he can’t live without.
My take: PERFECTLY MESSY, the sequel to EFFORTLESS WITH YOU by Lizzy Charles is a breath of fresh air in the contemporary young adult market. The characters are well rounded and extremely likable, jumping off the page so much you feel like they’re a part of your lives. Charles places these wonderful characters in real-life high-stress scenarios that would even make adults buckle, let alone the two teenage leads. Yet, these experiences define and shape who they are, and that is what is so beautiful about the young adult genre. Charles’ characters handle the situations thrown at them in a real and raw way that only teenagers could and that is what makes PERFECTLY MESSY so undeniably fantastic...the sheer ‘reality’ of this beautiful piece of young adult fiction.
Charles decided to alternate the points of view between main characters Lucy and Justin, and if you’ve read EFFORTLESS WITH YOU then you know how much of an awesome treat it is to finally get inside Justin’s gorgeous head! The decision, in my opinion, was a brilliant one because it allows readers to get a more in-depth look at the characters and the obstacles that are pushing at them from both sides. It gives insight into their characteristics, seeing how they each react differently to the same situation, and it strengthens them as individuals, separating them both from the relationship that makes them whole. The technique is beautifully done and Charles gives readers two unique and clearly distinct voices which weave effortlessly between chapters.
The chemistry between Justin and Lucy that readers fell in love with during the first book is doubled if not tripled in PERFECTLY MESSY. This time Charles raises the stakes, putting their relationship under the scrutiny of a political-fueled media and the harshest kind of judges--their peers. No matter how perfect their relationship was, or they were for each other, they were going to run into obstacles, and Charles didn’t pull any punches, placing our beloved Lucy and Justin in the tensest of situations, forcing them to question their love, their family, and their true sense of self. And it is well-written, with a sharp pace that keeps you turning pages, and dialogue that is so realistic readers will feel transported to high school, in a good way. Another thing I love about Charles, like I stated before, this is a real story. Too often in the young adult genre we find characters behaving in a manner that teenagers wouldn’t dream of and her characters are extraordinary in their believability.
And if nothing of the above hooks you, then let me give you this...the HEAT between Justin and Lucy is enough to pick up this book. Their relationship is intense, with a love the sings every time their in each other’s presence, and an electricity that sizzles off the page. Lucy isn’t the girl who stands behind Justin (though she does have his back) she’s the girl who stands beside him, matching each of his confident strides, as well as each of his screw ups. That’s what I love about Lucy, she’s a strong female character who is able to love the male lead while knowing who she is and this enhances the relationship between the two rather than deter it. I mean, what is better than two strong characters joining together and embarking on a true tale of love, complete with the ups and downs and trials that come naturally during that time period in their lives?
PERFECTLY MESSY is all and more than fans of EFFORTLESS WITH YOU could hope for and will have readers cheering for Justin and Lucy one second and fanning themselves from the heat the next.
This is definitely a read you don't want to miss! So I'm giving away three ecopies! Simply enter the rafflecopter below!
Happy Reading!!!
seeing this a few times already! :D
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