UPSIDE DOWN by Lia Riley (May 12, 2015; Forever Trade Paperback; Off the Map #1)
If you never get lost, you'll never be found…
Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying good-bye to the past-and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she'll act like a carefree exchange student, not a girl sinking under the weight of painful memories. Everything is going according to plan until she meets a brooding surfer with hypnotic green eyes and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.
Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.
Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying good-bye to the past-and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she'll act like a carefree exchange student, not a girl sinking under the weight of painful memories. Everything is going according to plan until she meets a brooding surfer with hypnotic green eyes and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.
Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.
My Review:
Upside Down is an amazing story packed with so much; It is emotional, it is painful, it is sweet moments, it is sorrow. The characters have been through a lot and then they find each other and its like fate.
Talia has been walking around hiding herself from everyone, and to a point herself. She goes through the days in the motions of life, but she's keeping secrets and holding things in. When she gets to Australia as an escape from her life at home and a way to start fresh, she discovers that its not as easy as all that. And then she meets Bran, the one person who isn't going to let her fake smiles pass, and isn't going to hide the fact that he notices something is going on with her.
I love that Bran and Talia's earlier interactions were rife with snark and banter and that "I could really dislike you" vibe. I think it gave them a way to be a little less serious and less broody amongst each other. Bran is good at calling it like he sees it and not sugarcoating anything, and I think that really is what Talia needed; someone to take notice and let her know they did.
Upside down dealt with more than just the brewing romance between Bran and Talia, it also showed their life struggles and how they could help each other with some of them. It showed a respect and understanding between them.
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