Upsy Daisy by Chelsie Edwards

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Title: Upsy Daisy
Author: Chelsie Edwards
Series: Higher Learning #1
Published by: Smartypants Romance
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Format: eARC
Pages: 452
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Source: Smartypants Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Monthly Motif Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

College, cookies, capers, Oh my!
Daisy Payton has everything.
Exceptional grades.
Impeccable clothes.
Model family.

But perfection comes at a high cost, and Daisy is wilting. Determined to use college as her chance to bloom anew, she’s focused on only one thing, leaving the Payton name behind and forging her own path—even if she has to tell the teeniest of fibs to do it.

Trevor Boone has nothing.
Abandoned as a child.
Raised by distant relatives.
Constantly reminded he’s a burden.

Trevor’s lived at the edges of opulence for years, having all he’s ever desired dangled just out of reach. But his ambition is finally about to pay off and nothing will distract him from his goal—finishing college top of his class and starting life, on his own terms.

When Daisy and Trevor meet it’s clear from the start that they’ll tempt each other to distraction, can they learn to put their ambitions aside and fall or will they lose it all?

My Review:

I received a free copy through Smartypants Romance in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4.5 stars — I feel like it’s been awhile since I’ve been this emotionally impacted by a story.  Daisy GOT to me.  Like, I felt so hard for her, even despite the HUGE mistakes she was making all over the place.  And it wasn’t just her, Trevor too!  My poor hubby had to try to sleep beside me as I bawled all over my pillow…

Daisy’s story was everything I was wanting, and everything I didn’t know I needed.  This was such a fabulous new adult book because it really showcased that time in our lives where we’re no longer children, but we’re not full adults yet.  She struggled so hard with her identity, and what she wanted out of her college experience.  Even as I cringed at the decisions she made along the way, I fundamentally understood why she felt she had to make those decisions.  They’re just the kinds of mistakes that showcase how the education you receive in post-secondary isn’t limited to what you learn in the classes…it’s about what you learn about life and yourself.  Daisy’s growth was unbelievably satisfying, even if it put me through the wringer.  I loved how she was this ironic combination of kind and sort of self-involved…she couldn’t always see past herself, but when she did, she did everything to help make her loved ones lives better.  And she was wonderfully sassy — she gave as good as she got.

Trevor was such a sensitive, thoughtful guy.  But at the same time, when he was caught up in Daisy he made seriously thoughtless choices.  I kind of didn’t mind that, even as I wanted to shake him.  It shows just how taken he was with her that he didn’t think things through.  But outside of all of that, he was there for his friends, not just as support, but to gently push them as well.  His childhood had impacted him so greatly that you could see it in everything he did — and my heart hurt for the abandoned boy that still lived inside him.  He was smart, funny, driven, kind, and almost poetic at times (especially when thinking about Daisy).  He was definitely a guy to swoon over, in spite of the mistakes he made.

I think that’s one of the things that I loved most about this book — they both made huge mistakes that hurt people, and they both had to learn to grow (and choose to grow).

I LOVED them together.  From those first moments of butterflies, to not being able to stop thinking about one another…  It was sweet, and then it was heartbreaking, and savage, and finally fulfilling.

This book wasn’t just a romance — it was about each of them figuring themselves out and growing.  And they did it with some fabulous secondary characters along the way.  I LOVED the friendships that Daisy formed with James and Odie.  Those relationships went through their own wringer, but it was fabulous to see such great female friendships represented.  I also really loved the dynamics of Daisy’s family and what we learned about her through Dolly and her Dad.  And similarly, I loved Trevor’s best friend and cousin Julian, and the relationship that they had.  And even though Elodie and Gracie played smaller roles, I appreciated them as well.

One of my other favourite aspects of this book was that it was own voices, and that brought so many things to the table.  The greatest part was that so many of those things were subtle, because it was just an aspect of black culture, and that’s not something that will ever come across the same way if written by, say, a white author.  I learned so many things, and I got to see how different things impacted the lives of our characters.  It was all so natural, but it opened my eyes and made me think.  Race was not a significant aspect of the story, but that didn’t mean that reading about Daisy and Trevor and all their friends didn’t impact me and educate me…without even trying.

So why not full 5 stars?  My stupid brain.  There were a few things that didn’t feel…authentic for 1970s.  I mean, I don’t know for certain (I could be way off base), but they struck me as more prevalent 1980s and higher behavior.  Does it really matter?  No.  It just took me out of the book for a second.

Needless to say this book sucked me in and blew me away.  It made me feel, it made me think, and it gave me a beautiful romance.  Success.