Blog Tour for Swell by Julie Rieman Duck; Review

Posted by Donna
Release Date: September 1st, 2012

Finished Date: October 22nd, 2012

Publishers: Self Published 

Source: For Review 

Format: Kindle 

Pages: 224
Buy : Amazon UK / Amazon US 

When Christian Rusch plucks Beck Ionesco from the freshman ranks for himself, she’s tempted with parties, popularity, and love. But as the free-flowing booze that soaks his world seeps into her own, Beck begins using liquid courage as a way to ignore Christian’s dark moods… and cover her anxiety about his flirtatious friend Hillman.

However, when Christian breaks up with Beck, and Hillman makes a dangerous move, no amount of alcohol can stop the pain or keep her out of trouble. And just when it seems like she’s lost everything, Beck is partnered with Jesse Leary for an art project. After spending time with him, Beck realizes it’s more than a study date… and Christian’s not happy about it. Then again, Beck’s not sure she’s happy with him, either.

But only after plowing through a bottle of wine, a wild fight, and one guardrail that becomes Christian’s last call, does Beck admit to her problem and ask for help from the one whose life secretly parallels her own

The Review:  Swell is a story that deals with a lot of issues in our society nowadays from teen drinking to alcoholism and to rape. And I have to admit, I definitely wasn't prepared for this book before I started it. I knew the basics of the story but I didn't know just how deep the author would take it, and well yeah I was more than a little shocked but in a totally realistic way because, if anything, this story is realistic and I think there needs to be more books like this out there in the world.

Beck is our main character who experiences everything for the first time when she meets popular school boy, Christian. However, Beck doesn't realise that Christian has more problems than anyone ever thought and he's soon dragging Beck down with him. As the story unravels we watch both characters lose more and more of themselves to alcohol and with the story being told from Beck’s prospective, it’s a story that’s quite emotional – one that I didn’t always connect with at time but emotional nonetheless. I found it hard as a reader to watch the trouble that Beck was getting herself into, I wanted her to fight more but drinking just because the solution to all her problems. It isn’t until Beck meets Jesse that things start to look brighter for her but still, she’s not without problems.

As a reader, author Julie Riemann Duck gives you glimpses to a huge turning point for Beck at the start of each chapter – one that’s quite difficult to not get emotionally attached to because you can just see what’s going to come and you can’t help sympathise for Beck. Without this turning point, I don’t think it would have given Beck the strength she needed, so while it was always going to be a difficult subject, I think the author handled it very well.

All in all, while Swell isn’t a favourite of mine, I did still enjoy reading it. If you enjoy realistic stories, then this is the book for you.

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the tour! =)