Raw Blue Review

After years of dying to get my grabby hands on Raw Blue and being unable to due to it's lack of Americanness, I was so so happy to get a copy for Christmas. So happy, in fact, that it was the next book I read. And (due to the craziness of the holiday season as well as my own reading funk) it was also the first book I finished in 2013. Personally, I cannot think of kicking the new year off with a better book, because Raw Blue rocked it.

Carly centers her life around the thing she loves most: surfing. It's not only a hobby for her, but a way to escape everything in her life that isn't so great, like her disapproving parents. But mostly she's looking to avoid a secret from her past that haunts her at every turn. Then she starts to do something unusual for her: opening up to people. And when she opens up to Ryan, things start to change.

Carly is an easy character to relate to and feel for, but not always a character to like. She's prone to doing things like running away, being too hard on herself, and making people that care about her feel a little uneasy. Still, I was rooting for her the whole way through, and not out of sympathy, either. I think part of the reason for that was the way Kirsty Eager wrote her.

That makes sense, because Kirsty Eager can write, whether it's a raw emotional scene, some light-hearted banter, a moment between scenes, or steamy scenes. Even when the book was a little slow, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to put it down. I was just too absorbed in her writing.

And there were some slow moments. Dull, even. Mostly in the beginning. By about the 140th page in, though, I was hooked and the dull moments didn't matter. Made it better, even, because I had history with Carly now.

OK, let's talk about Ryan. He was the dream guy and he was hot and sweet and if you don't love him WTF? Basically I just think he's wonderful and he was perfect for Carly. Their relationship, while definitely not as perfect as Ryan, was so great to read about.

Raw Blue is a slow burn and you don't even realize you care as much about these characters until all the sudden you do. I only wish it was more available in the states, because I can't recommend it to anyone.

Plot: Slow, but not the focus of the book, either.

Characters: Great. 

Writing: So great.

Ending: Yeah girl! About time!

Content: There's swearing, smoking, mentions of rape, and sex.

Overall:

Please stop talking, I am reading and it's a very good book

After waiting forever to read Raw Blue, it definitely didn't disappoint.

Raw Blue is available in Australia (Penguin publishers) and the UK (Catnip publishers). Bummer, right? But, luckily, you can do what my awesome grandma did and order from The Book Depository!