REVIEW: Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

Title: Such a Rush
Author: Jennifer Echols - Website || Twitter || Facebook
Publisher: MTV Books
Published: July 10, 2012
Format: ARC, 325 pages
Rating: 4.5/5
Get it: Amazon || B&N

When I was fourteen, I made a decision. If I was doomed to live in a trailer park next to an airport, I could complain about the smell of the jet fuel like my mom, I could drink myself to death over the noise like everybody else, or I could learn to fly.

Heaven Beach, South Carolina, is anything but, if you live at the low-rent end of town. All her life, Leah Jones has been the grown-up in her family, while her mother moves from boyfriend to boyfriend, letting any available money slip out of her hands. At school, they may diss Leah as trash, but she’s the one who negotiates with the landlord when the rent’s not paid. At fourteen, she’s the one who gets a job at the nearby airstrip.

But there’s one way Leah can escape reality. Saving every penny she can, she begs quiet Mr. Hall, who runs an aerial banner-advertising business at the airstrip and also offers flight lessons, to take her up just once. Leaving the trailer park far beneath her and swooping out over the sea is a rush greater than anything she’s ever experienced, and when Mr. Hall offers to give her cut-rate flight lessons, she feels ready to touch the sky.

By the time she’s a high school senior, Leah has become a good enough pilot that Mr. Hall offers her a job flying a banner plane. It seems like a dream come true . . . but turns out to be just as fleeting as any dream. Mr. Hall dies suddenly, leaving everything he owned in the hands of his teenage sons: golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson. And they’re determined to keep the banner planes flying.

Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business—until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers—and the consequences could be deadly.

My thoughts.

Such a Rush was everything I was looking forward to and so much more. Jennifer Echols has surely taken me aback and given me a book that I will never forget. 


Jennifer Echols’ writing was unbelievably unique.


• I’m not sure I can pinpoint what exactly I love so much about Echols’ writing, but it definitely has to do with the way she brings in raw and real life situations that evokes deep emotion all around. She really impressed me with the way she doesn’t hold back on the issues. She allows her writing and the book itself to tell the story in full. Most of all, her writing is not forced, it’s set apart and it stands out on its own. Everything is believable and natural.


Leah is great main character.


• I do admit I had to adjust to Leah’s intimidating personality. However, she was amazing as I got to know her. She literally has been taking care of herself for such a long time, I admired her independence, her determination and her strength to make something out of herself. She’s had a tough life, but she’s a hard worker. Although she does have the looks to help her a bit, Leah doesn’t take crap. Even when people around her judged her and called her trash, she stood her ground and continued to fight. Leah did make some decisions I certainly didn’t agree with, but that’s what makes her such a good character. She’s not perfect. She has flaws and she has doubts and I love seeing her be the better person and doing the right thing. 

The airplanes and flight descriptions were magnificent.


• I have no knowledge about airplanes and flying except for the fact that flying is scary as hell, but the way Echols describes flying when Leah does it, is breath-taking. I did get a little overwhelmed with all the airplane talk since I didn’t understand, but as the story progressed I was really able to see flying the way Leah does. It’s exhilarating and terrifying but still overwhelmingly wonderful and I really felt that in Such a Rush. I understood the importance and need Leah had with flying.

The romance was my favorite.


• Grayson, Leah and Alec’s tandem was definitely original in its own way. I was expecting a typical brothers-fighting-over-girl love triangle type of thing, but what I got was something totally different, something nowhere near that concept. It was so refreshing, amusing and very entertaining to read. And the way Grayson and Leah just go at it with each other was intense, especially the palpable sexual tension and desire they obviously had pent up for one another. 



Overall, Such a Rush was a splendid read! I had high hopes for this book and in no way was I disappointed. There was drama, romance, and humor all wrapped up into one brilliantly written novel. Such a Rush was my first Jennifer Echols book, but it certainly won’t be my last.