{Review/Giveaway} The Superlatives Trilogy by Jennifer Echols: BIGGEST FLIRTS, PERFECT COUPLE, MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED
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| Check out the blog tour schedule now for more fun tour stops! |
Welcome to today's PERFECT COUPLE Tour Stop!
Today, I'm treating you to a review of all three books in the series:
That's right, you're getting a sneak peek at PERFECT COUPLE, out next week, and MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED, which isn't out until AUGUST!
O P E N I N G H O O K:
(From PERFECT COUPLE)
Mr. Oakley had told us a picture was worth a thousand words, and these posters were his proof. He was right. Descriptions in my history textbook read like old news, but these photos made me want to stand up for people, like Dr. King did, and protest injustice, like Tank Man did.
(Page 11, US E-ARC edition)
The Superlatives Trilogy by Jennifer Echols follows three best friends through the beginning of their senior year as each friend has her life turned upside down and changed. The girls attend school in Pinellas County, Florida, not far from Tampa Bay. I attended university in Tampa and even did some student teaching in Pinellas Country, so I was a fan of the setting from the get-go! The school is a fun one, too: The students all get to nominate seniors for Superlative roles in the yearbook, and get really excited about the results. I don't remember having this section in my yearbook or anyone being excited about it. Because of that, even the word "Superlative" was new to me. I really liked the way the series was centered around these things, with each girl starring in a book named after her newfound title.
You can read the books out of order and they all stand alone, but time progresses, and you'll know the outcomes of previous books if you start later in the set.
BIGGEST FLIRTS
In BIGGEST FLIRTS, Tia doesn't want a boyfriend. EVER. Due to a lot of her upbringing, she's sworn off growing attached to anyone. She's having a lot of trouble keeping that promise to herself, however, when Will moves to Florida from Minnesota and turns her life upside down. The two are constantly joking around at band practice, and when they're given the superlative title Biggest Flirts, it sets off a series of misunderstandings that throw the two closer together than ever.
PERFECT COUPLE
In PERFECT COUPLE, yearbook photographer Harper is having issues with her boyfriend Kennedy, who is the yearbook's editor-in-chief. When the senior class nominates her and Brody as the Perfect Couple That Never Was, Harper starts seeing him in a new light. But she has a boyfriend, and Brody has a girlfriend. The two are from completely different worlds and incredibly miscast. What was the senior class thinking when they paired the two of them together?
MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED
In MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED, Kaye and her long-time boyfriend Aiden are voted for the most coveted role. Kaye is Student Council Vice President and Aiden is President. They're going to go to Columbia together after graduation and get married. After three years, Kaye knows this like she knows her own name. But when Aiden gets mad and says they need to take a break, everything she thought she knew collapses. She leans more heavily on her good friend Sawyer, who's already there when she needs him. She just never knew how much until now.
MY THOUGHTS
All three books are different and unique, yet work together so well with one another. I also found little quirks about many of the characters that I've experienced/believed myself in life, which endeared them further to me. Harper's story was my favorite of the three, which is appropriate, since this tour is for her book, PERFECT COUPLE. The story I most anticipated was this summer's release of MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED, because Sawyer went from being an idiot character to someone who had really grown on me over the course of the series. I wanted him to get a happily ever after and have something in his life go right for once. He's so much more than what initially meets the eye, and I was glad that Jennifer Echols took the time to develop him and create a character we could love in MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED. My favorite male love interest of the three was Will from BIGGEST FLIRTS. So every book had an element I liked "best!"
While we don't see all that much of the friendship between Tia, Harper, and Kaye in the first book, BIGGEST FLIRTS, we get more and more of their relationship as the series progresses. I was surprised I wound up liking all three girls as much as I did, since they were going through a lot with Tia in the first book and were seen through jaded eyes. I really like their friendship, and think there needs to be more books with strong high school friendships as the focus in YA fiction. I think Echols handled this well, and really applaud the way she handled the characters. She also excelled at creating male love interests who aren't the be-all and end-all of a girl's life. The guys help the girls change and evolve and grow into who they are becoming. They keep them from staying in the same old rut and never discovering themselves. They're great at encouraging and supporting the girls through tough times and are good boyfriend role models, which we also need more of in YA. Sure, they aren't perfect, but nobody is! There are also three different looks at family situations, some better than others, and I like that there is a focus on family, whatever it may be. There are so many things right about the elements of this series that aren't in many YA novels!
What's cool about this series is that, if Echols wanted to, she could write many more books set in this world, with this senior class (or future ones) as standalone novels the way Miranda Kenneally frequently does. I would read that!
The series is a fun, light read with good characters that are easy to root for, especially if you enjoy school stories!
C O N T E N T R A T I N G S
Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Romance: PG15 ( sexual situations/heavy making out )
Language: PG15 ( cursing; sexual language )
Violence: --
Other: PG15 ( mentions of formerly doing weed; a parent previously in prison for robbing a bank; underage drinking; mention of teenage pregnancy; an instance of cheating )
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C O V E R D E S I G N:
I really like the way they're all set against the same school photo backdrop (Even if this isn't the way they were taken in the final "real" photos). I also love the personality of MSOT LIKELY TO SUCCEED, where Sawyer is photobombing Kaye's picture!
I'm also a fan of the way they used the same curly yearbook script on each book for the title, but changed the colors.
At the bookstore, you'll know these books go together!
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O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: BIGGEST FLIRTS
Author: Jennifer Echols
Release Date: May 20, 2014
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Received: Borrowed
Received: Borrowed
SUMMARY:
Tia and Will’s lives get flipped upside down when they’re voted Yearbook’s Biggest Flirts in this sassy novel from the author of Endless Summer and The One That I Want.
Tia just wants to have fun. She’s worked hard to earn her reputation as the life of the party, and she’s ready for a carefree senior year of hanging out with friends and hooking up with cute boys. And her first order of business? New guy Will. She can’t get enough of his Midwestern accent and laidback swagger.
As the sparks start to fly, Will wants to get serious. Tia’s seen how caring too much has left her sisters heartbroken, and she isn’t interested in commitment. But pushing Will away drives him into the arms of another girl. Tia tells herself it’s no big deal…until the yearbook elections are announced. Getting voted Biggest Flirts with Will is, well, awkward. They may just be friends, but their chemistry is beginning to jeopardize Will’s new relationship—and causing Tia to reconsider her true feelings. What started as a lighthearted fling is about to get very complicated…
Perfect Couple is #2 in the Superlatives series about seniors at a Florida high school who are selected for their class's superlative categories in the yearbook, and how the labels change the way they view themselves and alter the course of their lives.
Can your heart be put to a popular vote?
As yearbook photographer, Harper is responsible for capturing those candid moments that make high school memorable. But her own life is anything but picture perfect. Her parents' bitter divorce has left her wondering what a loving relationship would look like. And ever since the senior class voted her and star quarterback Brody the “Perfect Couple That Never Was,” her friends have been on her case to ask Brody out.
Brody doesn’t lack in female admirers, but Harper can't see herself with him. He seems confused about why they were matched together, too. They’re total opposites—the last people in the world who would ever be compatible, let alone the “perfect couple.” Yet ever since the class paired the two of them, they've found themselves drawn together--first by curiosity, then by an undeniable bond.
The trouble is, though they're very attracted to each other and both of them admit this, they have a hard time getting along or even communicating clearly. If they’re the perfect couple, this shouldn’t be so difficult! Soon it becomes clear their class was wrong, and they throw in the towel. But after they walk away, both of them feel so changed from making the effort that they can’t forget each other. What if that means this match made in hell is the perfect couple after all?
The "Superlatives Series" is about seniors at a Florida high school who are selected for their class Who's Who categories, and how the labels change the way they view themselves and alter the course of their lives.
Most Likely to Succeed will focus on characters Kaye and Sawyer.
Tia just wants to have fun. She’s worked hard to earn her reputation as the life of the party, and she’s ready for a carefree senior year of hanging out with friends and hooking up with cute boys. And her first order of business? New guy Will. She can’t get enough of his Midwestern accent and laidback swagger.
As the sparks start to fly, Will wants to get serious. Tia’s seen how caring too much has left her sisters heartbroken, and she isn’t interested in commitment. But pushing Will away drives him into the arms of another girl. Tia tells herself it’s no big deal…until the yearbook elections are announced. Getting voted Biggest Flirts with Will is, well, awkward. They may just be friends, but their chemistry is beginning to jeopardize Will’s new relationship—and causing Tia to reconsider her true feelings. What started as a lighthearted fling is about to get very complicated…
Title: PERFECT COUPLE
Author: Jennifer Echols
Release Date: January 13, 2015
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Received: For Review
Received: For Review
SUMMARY:
Can your heart be put to a popular vote?
As yearbook photographer, Harper is responsible for capturing those candid moments that make high school memorable. But her own life is anything but picture perfect. Her parents' bitter divorce has left her wondering what a loving relationship would look like. And ever since the senior class voted her and star quarterback Brody the “Perfect Couple That Never Was,” her friends have been on her case to ask Brody out.
Brody doesn’t lack in female admirers, but Harper can't see herself with him. He seems confused about why they were matched together, too. They’re total opposites—the last people in the world who would ever be compatible, let alone the “perfect couple.” Yet ever since the class paired the two of them, they've found themselves drawn together--first by curiosity, then by an undeniable bond.
The trouble is, though they're very attracted to each other and both of them admit this, they have a hard time getting along or even communicating clearly. If they’re the perfect couple, this shouldn’t be so difficult! Soon it becomes clear their class was wrong, and they throw in the towel. But after they walk away, both of them feel so changed from making the effort that they can’t forget each other. What if that means this match made in hell is the perfect couple after all?
Title: MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED
Author: Jennifer Echols
Release Date: August 4, 2015
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Received: For Review
Received: For Review
SUMMARY:
Most Likely to Succeed will focus on characters Kaye and Sawyer.
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Jennifer Echols was born in Atlanta and grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama—a setting that has inspired many of her books. She has written nine romantic novels for young adults, including the comedy MAJOR CRUSH, which won the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the drama GOING TOO FAR, which was a finalist in the RITA, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Book Buyer’s Best, and was nominated by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults. Simon & Schuster will debut her adult romance novels in 2013, with many more teen novels scheduled for the next few years. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and her son.
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Enter to win...
Win (1) of (5) books in the Superlatives series:
BIGGEST FLIRTS (Superlatives #1) or PERFECT COUPLE Superlatives #2) by Jennifer Echols
(US Only)
Win (1) of (5) books in the Superlatives series:
BIGGEST FLIRTS (Superlatives #1) or PERFECT COUPLE Superlatives #2) by Jennifer Echols
(US Only)
US/CA ONLY.
Enter now!
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