Thursday, July 26, 2018

Review: Surviving Adam Meade - Shannon Klare

Surviving Adam Meade
Shannon Klare
Series: Surviving Adam Meade, #1
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Claire Collins has a plan: get into college and leave North Carolina behind. What she doesn’t have is an idea for how to get rid of the local football star and womanizer extraordinaire—Adam Meade, who she can’t even avoid (despite many efforts), because Claire’s dad is the high school football coach.

Seventeen-year-old Adam Meade never fails. He always gets what he wants… until he meets Claire, the new girl who leaves him unnerved, pissed off, and confused. But there’s something about her that he just can’t resist…

With the bite of lemon meringue pie and the sugar of sweet tea, Surviving Adam Meade is a sexy and compelling young adult novel about two strong-willed people who think they know what they want but have no idea what they need.
Yep, I am writing this review with a few happy tears in my eyes, because Surviving Adam Meade did a great job of hitting me right in the feels.

Who?
  • Claire, the coaches daughter and resident new girl, who was still trying to recover from a broken heart. Her goal was to get into the college of her choice and avoid boys, especially football players, at all costs. 
  • Adam, the quarterback and resident football hero, who shunned most attachments in order to focus on his goals - football, a championship, and college. 
What?

Though they both wanted to keep it simple, neither Adam nor Claire were able to deny the crackling attraction, which existed between them. Would they be able to move beyond their past and forge a future? And would a future together be possible given their divergent paths? 

Why?

This book grabbed me from the very beginning and never let go. I found myself totally captivated by Adam and Claire's story. 

One of the very first things I noted, was how much I loved the banter. And I am not just talking about that, which occurred between Adam and Claire, but more like how all the characters interacted. There was a fun ease between them, which I really loved. When I was reading the exchanges between Claire and her family, I could almost hear my own dad's and sister's voices.

Claire was the character we knew a lot more about in the beginning. We didn't know all the details, but we knew she suffered a romantic loss, as well as a loss of her friends and her status due to her family's move, but Adam was more of a mystery. He was quite complex, and the details and depth of his character were slowly revealed, layer by layer. I won't pretend his story didn't break my heart, because it did. There were these little details Klare gave us, that had me thinking one way or the other, but the real story broke me even more. 

Then we had Claire and Adam, who sort of made me nuts at times, but I still adored. There was tension between them immediately, and it was easy to see how this was moving from irritation to attraction. The push and pull kept me on edge, and I kept wondering when they would act on it. I loved every delicious second of it. I also liked the way they challenged each other, and there were so many times when they would insist the other tell them what they are thinking, so they could openly discuss things. People, that's how you make things work. 

The drama came in the form of their pasts and their futures. Both Adam and Claire had sound arguments for why they did not want to become involved in any sort of relationship. They had these abandonment issues they were dealing with, plus they were getting ready to head off to college in a few short months. These fears and complications were very real, and I thought Klare tackled them well. She didn't make it easy, nor did she cop out. 

There was this one scene, where Claire just let's everything go, and I just kept flashing back to that final scene from When Harry Met Sally, and the tears fell. 

An actual photo of me reading that scene

Overall

A fabulous hate-to-love romance, which had me laughing, smiling, and rooting for these two to follow their hearts, because sometimes you just know when you've met your match.

**ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to leave this right here for anyone who wants to feel some feels


Do you have a favorite college football team?
Let us know in the comments!

26 comments:

  1. Alright, Sam, you got me with the When Harry met Sally reference! I like the banter you described -- that sounds soooo fun!

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    1. I wanted to post the whole excerpt, because it was so spot on When Harry Met Sally, and I loved every second of it.

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  2. Yay! I know you were really excited about this one, so I'm thrilled that it hit all the right notes for you, Sam. It sounds like a swoony and emotional read. I'm interested now! :)

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    1. I love romances, and this hit all the right romance notes with me. A lot of YA books have romances, but they most do not have the same romantic quality of NA and adult romances. This one did. The romance was really the central focus, and everything else was secondary to that.

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  3. Aw, this sounds like such a great story. I love when an author can develop great dialogue and banter that comes across as totally realistic. That’s always a big bonus for me. I’m glad this was such a hit for you!

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    1. I thought I would like it, because Swoon Romances usually work for me, but I really loved it. I was so into the way they all talked to each other. Normally, I like more narrative than dialog, but this dialog was so great, I kept looking for more.

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  4. I’m glad to hear the author didn’t cop out. Sounds like a delightful read.

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    1. Nope. It was messy, and she made them work for it. I am usually a stickler for the nice and tidy, but this worked for Adam and Claire.

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  5. This sounds fantastic. It sounds like this book handled a lot of different elements very well from the characters, to the family, and wrapped it up with a feel good romance.

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    1. You nailed it right there - feel good romance. This is what I want in my entertainment, and I was really yearning for a full on romance too, which Klare delivered.

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  6. Aww, this sounds wonderful! I'm especially interested now that you've got me thinking about When Harry Met Sally, lol.

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    1. The scene in the book was so delightful. I thought I was going to explode.

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  7. I've never seen When Harry Met Sally but I watched the video to feel some feels and now... I need to watch When Harry Met Sally.
    I also need to read this book. :)

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    1. You HAVE to see that movie. It's one of those epic-classic rom-coms.

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  8. You caught my attention when you said they challenged each other. I love nothing more than two characters pushing each other to be their best! This book sounds awesome!

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    1. They weren't the most obvious match, but they were great together.

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  9. As the mother of three teenagers, I have a problem with "sexy" YA books. Yikes! I prefer them sweet :)

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    1. When I saw that in the synopsis, I sort of scratched my head, because the first adjectives that entered my mind when I read this book were fun and adorable. I have read some sexy YA books. This wasn't one of them in my opinion.

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  10. GAH! This sounds so good!! I'm such a whore for hate-to-love banter. I need this one now!

    Also i totally LOL'd at your "actual photo" ha!

    I love this review, thanks Sam!

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    1. Oh, you didn't recognize me in the photo? 😝
      The banter game was strong in this book, and I must commend Klare on that.

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  11. Okay, so the hate-to-love, the banter, the way they challenge each other and openly discuss things, oh my god why don't I have this book on my TBR and what am I doing not reading this, I do not know. I'm going to Goodreads to add this wonderful book right away. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful review! <3

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    1. This definitely delivered more than I expected. I am a little scared to read the next book (I think it might still be on Wattpad), because the description eludes to trouble in paradise, but we all know how it will end. ;)

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  12. Just when I think I'm over YA you review an awesome book and change my mind. This sounds like such a brilliant read and it involves sport, I'm a sucker for any books which features sports and I don't even like them! This sounds like exactly the type of YA I'd love, I may not read as much YA as I used to but this is one I am adding to my TBR after your wonderful review.

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    1. I was kind of sad to see Nick was not a fan, because I really liked it. The heroine is a bit angsty, but she had just been dumped and made to move to a new place and a new school her senior year. So, i gave her some leeway there. She grew by the end, and I was fully vested in the romance.

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  13. Hmm... this one sounds a bit generic to me? But not in a bad way - it can be nice if done well and not every book needs to be unique to be enjoyable! The synopsis sounds like some NA novels I know, but then this one is YA friendly so it's like a more teen-friendly version of those kind of books.

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    1. My go to are romances. They make me happy, and this one had that little something extra that elevated my experience. This was definitely YA. It's not sexy in the NA way. Maybe they are trying the imply that the hero is sexy? I don't know.

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