Blog Tour Review + Giveaway: Stubborn

Title: Stubborn
Author: Jeanne Arnold
Release Date: January 6th 2014
Purchase: Amazon

Blurb:
With a train ticket, a bad attitude, and an unfortunate scribbling of obscenities across her forehead, seventeen-year-old Avery Ross is tossed out of the frying pan and into the fire when she’s sent from New York to the vast oil field region of North Dakota. When a green-eyed boy with a sultry Texan accent comes to her defense, Avery has no clue that his actions will lead her into a passion-charged summer, full of temptation and loss.

Defiant and relegated to work at her aunt’s boarding house, Avery discovers a connection between her aunt and the striking boy. He and his brothers are seeking revenge for the wrongful death of their sibling, and Avery becomes entangled in their battle over oil rights, loyalty, and love. Avery falls for the brooding, younger brother, Gabriel Halden, against her aunt’s forewarnings and creates more tribulations than any of them could anticipate.

*Click here to go to the Goodreads page!*

My review:

★★★★

Three and a half stars, rounded up.

This book has a lot going for it. My personal favorite aspect was the setting. It's set in the oil fields of North Dakota. Now, I'm from the Midwest, but I'm from theurban Midwest. Things like oil, mining, and farming communities are fascinating to me because I've never been around it. My own neck of the woods is home to steel mills and railways. I really like the depth with which Jeanne Arnold wrote about the oiling lifestyle. I've got no idea how accurate it is but it makes for a really unique setting that I've never read about before, in fiction or otherwise.

I also really liked the set of three Halden brothers that Avery meets, namely the youngest romantic interest Gabe. He's dark and broody and a cowboyish Texan complete with a twang in his accent. Where may I sign up to receive one, please? He was not overtly moody without reason, and I liked the way Avery got to know him over the course of the novel. That being said, I didn't really care too much for Avery herself. I often questioned her decisions and I didn't really "click" with her so to speak. I just kind of felt like she wasn't as well written as some of the other characters.

While there is a lot of action in this book that keeps it moving along at a fast pace, things like murder and revenge and romance, I felt some things were too glossed over, namely abuse. I felt that it didn't necessary get the respect and delicacy it deserves in this book.

All in all this is a solid book with swoon worthy southern, hard-working male characters, and I would definitely consider reading the next book in this series. I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author:

Jeanne Arnold is the author of STUBBORN and other young adult romances. At a young age she found her creative outlet in art, and for years her fictional characters came to life in drawings and paintings, until they demanded a voice. Now they grace the pages of her stories. Jeanne shares her time with her fictional teenage counterparts and her human family in Central New York.
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Giveaway:

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