{"id":2174,"date":"2015-08-05T03:12:27","date_gmt":"2015-08-05T07:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=2174"},"modified":"2019-12-17T20:59:06","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T01:59:06","slug":"review-kick-push-kick-push-1-by-jay-mclean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=2174","title":{"rendered":"Review: Kick Push (Kick Push, #1) by Jay McLean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

3.5 conflicted stars<\/b><\/p>\n

I loved it\u2026 but I also didn\u2019t. Honestly, I still don\u2019t really know how I feel about this book, so apologies but this review could be a bit all over the place as I purge my thoughts. I love Jay McLean\u2019s More Than<\/i> series, but I wasn\u2019t a huge fan of her precursor to this book Where the Road Takes Me<\/em>. Nevertheless, I was excited from the moment I heard about it and dove in with high hopes.<\/p>\n

Josh was introduced in Where The Road Takes Me<\/i>, as the best friend of Hunter, and for me, he absolutely stole that book! Lively and sarcastic yet responsible and deeply caring, I loved him from the moment he was introduced and was thrilled to see him get his own story. Hunter and Chloe both appear in this book, and I really liked seeing them again, but you can easily read this one as a standalone as it’s very much Josh’s story.<\/p>\n

At 16 Josh was happy, he had a girlfriend and was obsessed with skateboarding, with dreams of one day going pro. At 17 he became a father and one month after that his girlfriend left him and his baby boy, unable to handle their new life. Both sets of parents turned their backs on him , leaving him entirely alone with his baby until a good Samaritan offered him an apartment above her garage, giving him a starting point to get his life back together. Since that time, Josh has made his son, Tommy his number 1 priority. He is a wonderful father and has worked hard and sacrificed much in order to provide Tommy with the best life he can. It\u2019s been hard but he regrets nothing, his boy is his life and he treasures every moment with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some sacrifices greater than love. And some loves greater than any sacrifice. Tommy\u2019s greater than both.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Life gets interesting for him when his landlady\u2019s granddaughter comes to stay with her. Becca is quiet and withdrawn, and obviously struggling to cope with everyday life. She and Tommy share an immediate bond which becomes a very special friendship, complete with their own a secret language and lots of smiles, and I loved watching the happiness that they brought to each other. And as Becca reluctantly comes out of her shell, she starts spending time with Josh as well, and slowly becomes comfortable with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have a safe place, Becca?\u201d
\nI release a shaky breath, but I can\u2019t seem to look away. \u201cYes,\u201d I whisper. And I hesitate, just for a moment, from telling him the truth. \u201cYou.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Josh is beautifully tender with Becca. He can see that she has demons, but he never presses her, he just does what he can to make her at ease, but he also encourages her to live life, and doesn\u2019t hide the fact that he\u2019s attracted to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never have to be afraid of me, Becca, I\u2019ll never hurt you. And as long as I\u2019m around, no one else will either.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love the beginning of this relationship. It\u2019s gentle and tentative, but they also have fun together, and there are a lot of funny moments.<\/p>\n

You know what\u2019s worse than your landlady calling you out on wearing cologne purely because you want to impress her granddaughter? I\u2019ll tell you what. Being in the confined space of a truck while your son tells said granddaughter about how you paid him five moneys for him to tell you about what she said about you. <\/i>Yeah. That\u2019s happening.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Josh has all but given up his dream of skating, but he still finds solace in taking his board out whenever he\u2019s able, and watching him share that both with his boy, and with Becca was really sweet. And the two of them come together seemingly effortlessly.<\/p>\n

You know what comes after you kick and push?
\nYou coast.
\nCoast with me, Emerald Eyes?<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They fall hard for each other, and I loved seeing their relationship progress \u2013 it\u2019s a gorgeous love story which is funny, sweet and romantic with a nice amount of steamy time. And it\u2019s very much as a threesome, with Tommy an important part of what they have together.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou and Tommy\u2026\u201d She places my hand over her heart. \u201c\u2026you own me in here.\u201d And even as I feel her heart beat against my palm, I wonder if she knows that she just made mine stop.<\/i><\/p>\n

I press my lips to hers, trying, hoping<\/em>, that it\u2019s enough, that somehow, through a single kiss she\u2019ll be able to feel it: how much she means to me. How much I appreciate her. How much I <\/i>love that she didn\u2019t just want <\/i>me. She wanted us. All <\/i>three of us.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The whole way through the book we are given hints into Becca\u2019s background, but when the whole story comes out and we get to see the consequences of it all, it\u2019s shocking. It provides all of the answers that Josh (and the reader) have been looking for, and explains why she behaves the way she does. In fact, it really made me admire her \u2013 the fact that she was able to move past what is obviously so painful and damaging for her, and put her trust and her heart into Josh\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many things in my future that absolutely terrify me, but loving you for the rest of it isn\u2019t one of them.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But just when they\u2019ve found happiness together, the rug is pulled out from under them once more, triggering what could be their downfall.<\/p>\n

How many times can a person break before the only things left are shattered fragments too small to piece back together?<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s all very emotional, and Jay McLean does angsty, emotional writing so well. The story is written in dual POV and I could feel the highs and the lows right alongside the characters, but honestly, the drama sometimes felt like it was a bit too much. The fact that so much happened to them in their lives, and then all of this new stuff happened in such a short amount of time seemed OTT, neither of them handled it well and their reactions were both so extreme.

<\/span>Spoiler <\/div>
Although, I have to say, I really liked Josh\u2019s big outburst, that was clearly a long time coming, and very justified!<\/div><\/div>\u00a0 The combined effect of everything that happens feels a bit overwhelming for the story.<\/p>\n

But even with all of the drama, I liked the way that it resulted in both Josh and Becca taking positive steps towards their futures. Though I was disappointed to reach the end of this book and discover that it\u2019s actually not the end. The story is to be continued. It does end at a hopeful point though, and it\u2019s not a cliffhanger that leaves you desperate.<\/p>\n

So yeah, I liked it, but I didn\u2019t love it. The writing is great, and I\u2019m definitely invested in the characters, and their relationship, I\u2019m just not a fan of excessive drama in a book and in this one, it was all happening, and I lost the connection that I initially had to the story. But I am still keen for the next instalment so that I can have closure and see the HEA that these two characters so badly deserve.<\/p>\n

3.5 conflicted stars.<\/p>\n

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The Kick Push series<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"Kick\u00a0\u00a0\"Coast\"
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Kick Push (Kick Push, #1)<\/strong>\u00a0(Josh & Becca)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Coast (Kick Push, #2)<\/strong>\u00a0(Josh & Becca)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0\u00a0Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0\u00a0B&N<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Check out our Jay McLean Author Spotlight<\/a> for more amazing reads
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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback Review 3.5 conflicted stars I loved it\u2026 but I also didn\u2019t. Honestly, I still don\u2019t really know how I feel about this book, so apologies but this review could be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":3.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,13,9,1036,29],"tags":[110,116,48],"class_list":["post-2174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-new-adult","category-romance","category-single-parent","category-steamy","tag-jay-mclean","tag-kick-push","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Kick-Push.jpg?fit=150%2C239&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-z4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}