Howling Books and Design: Going Under Series Tour Review and Giveaway!

Going Under
Author: Georgia Cates
ASIN: B007J7FTZI
Release Date: March 1st 2012
Format : Kindle
Genre: Young Adult, Romance,
Contemporary
Series: Going Under #1

Summary
Jessie Boone is a self proclaimed bad boy and doesn’t march to the beat of anyone’s drum, but his own. Growing up in less than desirable circumstances has made him no stranger to the hard knock life and his determination to leave it behind is fierce. When he finds himself transferred to East Franklin High School, he sees his opportunity to use his athletic ability to snag a college football scholarship, but Forbes Henderson, the player Jessie means to replace isn’t giving up his spot willingly. In fact, Forbes is willing to go to extreme measures to retain his place as first string quarterback. When Forbes’ malicious plan to injure his replacement fails, Jessie is furious and determined to show him he messed with the wrong person; not only is he going to take the position of first string quarterback, he’s going to take his girl, too.

Claire Deveraux is perfection at it’s best. She is beautiful, intelligent and unaware she just became Jessie Boone’s conquest as revenge against her boyfriend, Forbes Henderson. Like her flawless performance as the perfect daughter and student, Claire’s production of being the perfect girlfriend has everyone fooled, except Jessie Boone, and she fears this tattooed bad boy will see her secret desire to explore his crude threats and promises to rock her perfect world. If she decides to give in to one uninhibited moment with Jessie, will she learn too late that it was all an act of vengeance or will Jessie learn the taste of first love is sweeter than that of revenge?

Review
In my opinion, the ending to this book couldn’t have been more perfect. It just brought the whole story together in a well suited way. I had moments where it brought tears to my eyes as well as heart wrenching moments. This book is far from my normal reading range since I read mostly fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi type books, so to read this Young Adult Contemporary book is a big step. And I don’t regret reading it. What drew me into wanting to read this book was the bad boy aspect of it. I can’t wait to read book two.

The plot is the bad boy/good girl type of love story, where they can’t be together because of how different they are. Jessie is seen as a bad boy because of where he use to go to school, which on the poor side of town. No one likes him because of that, causing him to act like they expected him to be, not his true self. This changes when Claire catches his attention. Claire changes Jessie little by little as they get to know each other. Claire wants to be together with Jessie, but there's a small problem; she has a boyfriend. To be fair, she's never really loved him. Of course, this is a love story, so this is a minor inconvenience to the plot.

When Jessie's first introduced, you think he’s a bad boy through and through. His character is more then that though, and you see the many sides to him. At first, he doesn’t want to get close to Claire, but soon he starts to fall for her and starts to open up. He’s a sweet guy who has a rough life, but he tries his best to do good. I do like his character, and who couldn’t love a dark hair, blue eyed guy. I do find it also sweet that he lets Claire call the shots about their relationship. She controls when they kiss, and he doesn't push her boundaries about sex. With all the teasing she does, he really is a saint for holding back.

Claire is our main female character. She is a sweet girl and goes to a school for the rich. She was even dating Forbes Henderson, who was the starting quarterback for their school. However, she doesn’t want to be the sweet, rich popular girl who dates the rich star quarterback. She wants something different. She finds that when she meets Jessie. I do enjoy the times she teases Jessie, because she doesn’t realize what she can do to him.

Payton is a smart mouth teenager who I love. She makes me laugh numerous times because of her great, unique personality. She stays by Claire’s side, no matter what Claire wants. To me, this makes her a true friend. She even helps Claire in her own unique way, as the helps she gives doesn't seem like help in that moment.

Dane is one of Jessie’s only friends in the wealthy school. He’s a great guy, and has known Claire for a long time because of the friendship that their parents share. He’s protective of her, and would do anything to help the situation between her and Jessie.

I find the romance to be a bit fast between Claire and Jessie. Even though Claire has a boyfriend, she ends up falling for Jessie right away. Jessie does try to resist, but there's an instant mutual attraction. Their relationship grows more and more intense, but they do face their challenges as they grow as a couple. If it wasn’t for all the hurdles they had to overcome in the book, I probably wouldn’t have liked how fast they fell for one another.

Rating
5 out of 5 Howling Wolves