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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Review and Giveaway: Girls Love Travis Walker by Anne Pfeffer

REVIEW

No way out.

“If you fail, it’ll be your own damn fault!”

Girls Love Travis Walker - what story do you expect with such a title? If you expect an easy romance in which a heartbreaker guy will find his match, you're wrong. This is the second book when the title tricks me, but luckily, I liked both books one more than the other.

Travis, contrary to the image that he puts up, is not the usual lady’s man type, without a care, not even the one about finding out who will be his next victim. Yes, he is a no strings attached lover, but he is fair and honest with his conquests that should know from the beginning how it works. What not many people know or rather almost nobody know, are the problems he has to face. Problems that he needs to cope alone. Why alone? Because here, the pride and the prejudice have completely different faces and applications. Travis is a fighter, but he is too young for what life has merciless booked for him, trials that could kneel and despair even an adult.
I would have to suck it up and stay alive.
Thus, contrary to what you could think such title would bring, we will get Travis’ forced maturation. He fights to exhaustion, but in spite of everything he does, his successes are temporary and seem insignificant. All that he prevails is destroyed by the previous decisions, decisions that at their making not only seemed to be the best solution, but truly the only one. His thoughts are sincere, his judgment appropriate to his condition. The author manages to convey very well Travis’ evolution. As his physical beauty and the attractive way that he acts were declared from the beginning of the story, the reader will discover step by step his inner beauty. Young Travis is still attracted to the "needs" of his age, to the desire to have fun. The heaviness of these desires (and how he wants to meet them) gradually changes in his mind and this change occurs naturally. In fact, the naturalness, the credibility of everything that happens along with author’s style and sensibility, is one of the trumps of the story. All that it happens (to him), the exponential afflux of his problems and the growth despair are possible in the real world and there is not even a moment for you to feel that something is exaggerated.
“When I first saw you, I thought you were both the handsomest and the saddest boy I’d ever seen.”
In the same time with his “social” story, it takes place Travis's love story. A love story that starts not at first sight, on the contrary, but one in which the feelings grow up and acquire solid foundations. The romance doesn’t lack of ups and downs given the reality of Travis; as I said, the pride and prejudice have here other applications and effects.

In addition, wreathed in an appealing story, the author manages to make a subtle social critique and to give, without being in any way intrusive, some tips regarding our day young people's lives and their mores. Who knows how to read will find enough aspects to consider for their future decisions.

The story flows smoothly, but like a river that receives tributaries and whose bed is in danger of no longer support the flow and it will  have to bite the banks. And the banks are in fact parts of the soul and even of the body of Travis. There is a crescendo, there is a desperately climax and a denouement that can be ... any.

The duty, pride, love, prejudice and fear of it, the desperation and a poor, poor hope will be the coordinates of the life of the one that all the girls love.

I liked it? Certainly. Do I recommend it to you? Of course!
Fall down seven times, get up eight.
About the author:
Hi! I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where I lived out in the desert and had a bay quarter horse named Dolly. If I wasn't riding, I was holed up somewhere reading Laura Ingalls Wilder or the Oz books or, later on, Jane Eyre and The Grapes of Wrath. Horses eventually faded as an interest, but I ended up with a lifelong love of books and reading. 

After college and eight years of living in cold places like Chicago and New York, I escaped back to the land of sunshine. I live in Los Angeles, California, near a large rotating neon chicken head with my daughter and my dachshund Taco. I have worked in banking and as a pro bono attorney, doing adoptions and guardianships for abandoned children.

As a writer, I'd always been interested in children's books, since they had meant so much to me as a kid. I found I especially liked writing books for teens. I've published three books in the Young / New Adult category and have now switched gears. My next book will be a fantasy for third and fourth graders.

Awards:
Named one of the best indie books of 2013 by IndieReader.com
Third Place Winner for Fiction 
2013 IndieReader Discovery Awards
Finalist 2013 Indie Excellence Awards
Named an “Irresistible Read” by www.compulsionreads.com


Author's Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

16 comments:

ilookfamous said...

This sounds like a great story: one where a young man discovers that no man is ever truly an island. Great review, thanks for sharing.

Candace said...

Well said and gorgeous review! Thanks so much!

CCAM said...

@Elise, @Candace - Thank you, I'm happy you liked it!

Unknown said...

This book sounds really good, thanks for sharing it and for the giveaway :)

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great read!

Anonymous said...

Would like to discover why Girls love Travis :D

Fayth97 said...

Hmmmm....I think I'm going to like finding out why girls love Travis Walker.....

Unknown said...

looks very good

Unknown said...

would love to read this book!! new to me thank u

Unknown said...

Sounds like a good read! Thank you for the review & giveaway it's been added to my tbr shelf on goodreads! :)

Unknown said...

I love your review! The story sounds really interesting. i didn't realize it was already in my TBR list!
Thank you for the giveaway!

Anonymous said...

thanks for the giveaway! :D

CCAM said...

@Maricris - Blush! Thank you!!

@all - thank you all for your kind words; Good luck in the Giveaway!

Unknown said...

I look forward to reading your book. Thank you for the opportunity to do so.

Jana Leah B said...

Sounds like a great read. Thanks for the giveaway.

nurmawati djuhawan said...

thx u for hosting ^^