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My Review:Title: Girls Love Travis Walker
Author: Anne Pfeffer
Published by: Indie
Release Date: March 15, 2013
Format: eARC
Pages: 323
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Source: the author
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:
Blurb:Once upon a time, Travis Walker’s charm and sex appeal could get him anything he wanted. He had friends; he had school, and he had girls. Lots of girls. Then his dad went to prison. Now Travis has two jobs instead of school; he has an angry landlady, and the kind of women he once wanted are the last thing he needs. With his mom too sick to get out of bed, it's up to Travis to scrape together enough money for rent and food . . . all while trying to keep blind panic at bay.
Travis’s smile – and ripped abs – don’t work with the serious girl who gives out meals at the Community Center or the tough firefighters in the teen training program he's joined. Lucky for him, he’s a natural at firefighting. Even more amazing? He's learns he’s capable of friendship—not the kind with “benefits”, but actual friendship—with someone of the opposite sex. And this particular someone makes Travis believe falling in love might be possible, even for a player like him.
But the awesome new people in Travis' life think he's a regular high-school kid, not a dropout struggling to stay off the streets.
As disaster—and the truth—close in, will Travis be strong enough to fight for the future he deserves?
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
4.5 stars — In some ways I think the blurb for this book does it an injustice. It evoked way more emotions from me than I was expecting…I guess I really thought it was gonna be more fluffy….but then again rereading the blurb it does mention what Travis is going through, so it could be just me too…my brain is operating on a weird wavelength lately.
So I guess that little rambling up there was mostly to say that I was uber pleasantly surprised by this book!! In fact, if I hadn’t been sitting in the middle of a Chateau Lake Louise restaurant while finishing it, I would have definitely blubbered all over the place….it was hard to maintain zero tears. Travis was a spectacular and real character. He made silly decisions based on pride, and it was so hard to watch him flounder while you shouted at him to talk to people, let someone in! I’ve only read a smattering of stories that touch on that line of poverty right before homelessness, and I thought Ms. Pfeffer did a fabulous job. Travis was such a guy guy at times, and his public face could be one thing, while you watched what went on behind the scenes. I LOVE guy POV books, and this one did not let me down. Sometimes I worry that the character’s voice will be too girly, since it’s written by a female author, but Ms. Pfeffer did a great job of….well, I guess maintaining his masculinity. And it was kind of interesting to see a guy who slept around a lot not b/c he could, although that was part of it, but also b/c he just genuinely had a love of the female form.
All the little subplots fit so well…his counsellor trying to keep him in school, the brush clearing job, the community center, his homelife, and the fabulous opportunity with the fire department. And then there was the love….oh the love. Yup, that was thoroughly enjoyable too. 🙂 And I really loved her reaction at the end of the story after the big climax and her explanation…b/c you know what?? That’s exactly how I would react…at first I was wondering where it was going, but then when she explained I knew her heartache and uncertainty. Of course, this part of my review probably makes no sense since I’m trying not to be spoilery, but still want to weigh in on things. This is why I will never be a professional reviewer. 😉
NOTE: I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this book from the author when I requested it — thank you very much!!
ON REREAD:
4 stars — This one held up amazingly well on reread! I still felt a lot of emotions, and it was still seriously hard to watch all the struggles that Travis goes through. He’s a genuinely good guy deep down, but he’s also a teenaged guy with the flaws that come along with that. I still found him fairly realistic, even in his boneheaded moves for pride. And I appreciated that he raged against his circumstances, that it really had a profound effect on him. Basically, I loved it almost as much as the first time around!
I will also say that my original review mentioned the blurb, but it has since been updated and I feel like it’s a much better fit with the story.
I’m glad this one stood the test of time!