Blog Tour: Stubborn by Jeanne Arnold

So happy to be participating in this blog tour! Jeanne Arnold is definitely a new favorite of mine! 

Release date: January 6th 2014

Purchase: Amazon

My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

About Stubborn:

With a train ticket, a bad attitude, and an unfortunate scribbling of obscenities across her forehead, seventeen-year-old Avery Ross is tossed out of the frying pan and into the fire when she’s sent from New York to the vast oil field region of North Dakota. When a green-eyed boy with a sultry Texan accent comes to her defense, Avery has no clue that his actions will lead her into a passion-charged summer, full of temptation and loss. 

Defiant and relegated to work at her aunt’s boarding house, Avery discovers a connection between her aunt and the striking boy. He and his brothers are seeking revenge for the wrongful death of their sibling, and Avery becomes entangled in their battle over oil rights, loyalty, and love. Avery falls for the brooding, younger brother, Gabriel Halden, against her aunt’s forewarnings and creates more tribulations than any of them could anticipate.

My Thoughts:

Avery Ross is sent off on a train from her home in New York to the oil field region of North Dakota, and she is not at all happy about it. Sure, she loves her Aunt Meggie, but she really doesn't want to spend a summer working at her boarding house with all of the rough-around-the-edges oil men. Then, however she meets Gabriel Halden, well technically all the Haldens. Gabriel, however, just might change her mind about, well, everything.

I really loved this book! I mean, I thought I was going to like it but it's a bit different than the synopsis led me to believe. I expected Avery to be some sort of spoiled brat or something along those lines. She's actually pretty level-headed, for the most part at least. She's really quite smart, but it seems she's not smart in that annoying better-than-thou way. 

Then, there's Gabriel. Gabriel is... complicated. He has all of these layers, and this sort of hot and cold attitude. I really didn't know what to think of him. Yet, somehow, he has become one of my favorite fictional characters ever. This does not have anything to do with his awesome southernness and accent(okay, only partially!). I just, don't really know how to explain Gabriel to y'all. I feel like he really didn't want to like(and definitely not love) Avery, and yet I also feel like he liked her almost from the beginning. At only 19, he's been through a lot in his life, and I feel like Jeanne Arnold portrayed his character perfectly. 

To be honest, I even loved everyone else in the story(almost everyone--no spoilers!). Meggie was an amazing aunt and parental figure to Avery, a whole heck of a lot better than her parents seem to be for her. She's made some... interesting decisions in her life, but I feel like she is way stronger and more level-headed than anyone even gives her credit for. She is loved and respected by pretty much everyone, and no one messes with her. Then those other Halden brothers-- there is got to be some more of a story there! I even really loved the setting of the story, I've heard a lot about the oil fields 'out west' lately. 

All I'm going to say is if you love a really amazing book that dances the line between young adult and new adult contemporary, then I recommend you check Stubborn out. For me, I know that I will be reading any Jeanne Arnold book I come across. Definitely a new favorite author is this genre! 

*I received this book for review from the author, but this in no way affected my thoughts as expressed in this review*

About Jeanne Arnold:

Jeanne Arnold is the author of STUBBORN and other young adult romances. At a young age she found her creative outlet in art, and for years her fictional characters came to life in drawings and paintings, until they demanded a voice. Now they grace the pages of her stories. Jeanne shares her time with her fictional teenage counterparts and her human family in Central New York. 

www.jeannearnoldbooks.com | twitter.com/jeannesbooks

Giveaway:

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