Jul 11, 2013

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Saving Ben - Ashley Farley

Welcome to my stop on the Saving Ben blog tour! You can view the tour schedule here.

Title: Saving Ben
Author: Ashley Farley
Release Date: January 31st 2013
Publisher: Self-published
Source: ecopy for blog tour
Life is sweet for Katherine Langley. A freshman at the University of Virginia, she is free from the drama of her parents’ dysfunctional marriage and ready to focus on studying to become a nurse. Her brother, Ben, belongs to the hottest fraternity on campus, and her new roommate, Emma, is beautiful and charming, a party girl whose answer for a hangover is happy hour. She is also a psychopath.
When Katherine’s obsessive-compulsive overprotective brother succumbs to Emma’s charms and falls dangerously off-track, Katherine must save Ben from himself. Lives are threatened and someone disappears on New Year’s Day. The only evidence left: a single set of footprints in the snow.
From the university campus to a cozy cottage on Carter’s Creek, Virginia, Saving Ben is a haunting tale of love and loyalty, anger management, substance abuse, and betrayal.
Saving Ben definitely didn't turn out the way I'd thought it would. Right from page one, I was hooked; I flew through this book. The characters were all captivating, particularly Kat's narration, and with that ominous book description, I was curious to know just how bad a situation Ben was in and how he could be saved.

I liked Kat. She was smart and strong-willed, and even though she was quite the party girl, she knew when to draw the line and hit the brake. She was also perceptive and had a backbone, which allowed her to see everyone as they truly were and deal with them.

So it's no surprise that Kat's the first to see Emma for the &%!*@ that she was beneath that attractive surface. You know that fun, beautiful girl in horror movies who turns out to be the serial killer, a la Leighton Meester in The Roommate? That's the kind of vibe I got from her. As soon as she was introduced, I was wary—wary and curious. Why did she become the person that she was? But soon enough, hatred won over that curiosity. Emma was manipulative, an opportunist, possibly a klepto, and certainly a psycho. I wanted to strangle her and bang her head on a wall. Repeatedly.

Yeah, this girl gave me a lot of murderous feels.

Even with that title, I'm glad the book didn't just focus on Ben's fixation with Emma. There were a lot of aspects to the story such as family drama, eating disorders, substance abuse, anger management, and even just the plain old New Adult issue of settling into college, fleshing out the characters even more.

Overall, Saving Ben was nothing groundbreaking or mind-blowing, but it was a good emotional read that made me appreciate my family even more. The book's unexpected turn of events surprised me even though it felt overdone for someone like me who's watched more than her fair share of telenovelas. Still, I liked how honest Kat dealt with all that happened. Some people are just so bad, not even tragedy can make them forgivable.

MY FAVORITE PART was Ben climbing the cliff he'd fallen over.

     RATING:
 
About the author:
I wrote a novel, SAVING BEN, in honor of my brother, the boy I worshipped, the man I could not save. It’s not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings.

I'm a wife and mother of two teenagers. I have lived in Richmond, Virginia, for seventeen years, a city I love for its history and traditions. Personal experience with my brother inspired me to become involved with the leadership symposium in my son’s school where I’ve helped bring in speakers to raise parents’ awareness of the alcohol and drug problems children face. When I’m not steering volunteer committees or working on my next novel, I can be found swimming laps or playing tennis.

Giveaway!
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2 comments:

  1. Great review, doll! I really enjoyed emotional reads like this that have a good family basis and relationship. Great review! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This book sounds interesting to say the least! A horrible female roommate that you want to smash over the head? I think I want to read about this chick. Plus, I love a good brother sister story. Great review!

    ReplyDelete

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