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Rush Too Far by Abbi Glines
5 stars
Synopsis
Fallen Too Far was Blaire’s story. Now it’s time for Rush to share his side.
Everyone in Rosemary Beach thinks they know how Rush Finlay and Blaire Wynn fell in love. But Rush is back to tell his side of the story…
Rush has earned every bit of his bad-boy reputation. The three-story beach house, luxury car, and line of girls begging for time between his sheets are the envy of every guy in Rosemary Beach, and Rush handles it all with the laid-back cool of a rock star’s son. All he needs are his best friend, Grant, and his sister, Nan.
Until Blaire Wynn drives into town in her beat-up pickup truck with a pistol under her seat. The Alabama farm girl instantly captures Rush’s attention once he discovers that the angelic beauty is his new stepsister, but he vows to keep his distance. Even if she needs his help. Even if he craves her.
Because Rush knows why Blaire is all alone in the world, forced to ask for help from the father who abandoned her three years ago. And he knows if he gets too close it will destroy Nan, who has a secret connection to Blaire.
He has every reason in the world to stay away from her. Find out why he doesn’t.
My thoughts
We knew the story of Rush and Blaire. How they met, how their feelings grew until they exploded, how secrets can be life-altering, how something unreachable can happen to turn out very reachable.
This book was still different though, because even though we could – being readers – guess in Fallen Too Far that Rush might have had different thoughts running through his head in certain situations than what Blaire thought he did, well… I couldn’t have guessed what actually played inside that pretty head. Because boy, that hot piece of ass has a serious burden. He’s haunted by it.
I knew Rush was an amazing human being already, but he really is even better than I expected and knew him to be. Rush is one of a kind. He’s exceptional, he’s sweet, protective, fierce, loving, hot. Really hot. You will be swooning even more than during Fallen Too Far, which is indeed possible.
So I definitely think Rush Too Far adds a lot to the whole adventure of Blaire and Rush. I really believe that when you’ve read and enjoyed Fallen Too Far, you should definitely read Rush Too Far as well. It really gives you a look inside the life of Rush and the consequences of his, previous and current, actions. You get to know Rush at his best and worst, and by the end, I’m pretty sure you know all about him. And let me tell you, there is a lot about Rush we didn’t know yet. Stuff that you want to know. 😉
You say, when you’re so excited about this book, why not give it full stars? Well, the explicitly in this book is just… wow. And there’s a good chance it’s me, let’s make that sure first, that I’m prude or it’s just the fact that I normally don’t read books this explicit, but the explicit scenes are a little too hot for me sometimes to be able to give it 6 stars. I knew what to expect this time because I read all the Rosemary beach books by now, so I got more used to it, but it’s just not necessarily something I need in this much detail when I’m reading.
In the end, the sexuality didn’t keep me from reading these books (although if I’m really honest, I really considered it while reading Fallen Too Far) because I absolutely loved the concept of this story, how it played out, and I could really sympathize with the characters. So, it didn’t keep me from reading them and it shouldn’t stop you, either, because you will miss out on two awesome, engaging characters with a story that will have you swaying on your feet.
The explicitly is also pretty much the only disadvantage I can come up with, though. I love how Abbi created this story, who the characters are, how they evolved, how this book taught us so much more about Rush’s life. It was awesome to compare both Rush and Blaire’s thoughts in the same scenes, she did an amazing job with that, because everything fitted.
So really, read the Rosemary Beach books, because you don’t want to miss out on the RushCrush 😉
****** WARNING, CONTAINS SPOILERS*******
What immediately got to me when I read started Rush Too Far was how Rush was affected by his youth and Nan’s youth. It wasn’t something I had noticed this clearly in the other Fallen series books. The fact that he had to grow up so early in life because he was the only one taking care of Nan is pretty sad, in a way of him never being able to be a kid. He blames himself for so much when all he really wanted to do was make up for other people’s neglects.
“I had created this heartless woman. Another thing that was my fault. Nan had been neglected as a child, and I had tried like hell to make up for it. Instead, I’d created a heartless, vengeful adult.”
“Yes, I was getting obsessive over her safety, but that was because I was a fucking protector. My mother had forced that role on me at a young age, and it was in my damn blood now. I couldn’t help it.”
What I loved to see was how fast Rush felt protective over Blaire. And of course it’s in his blood because of his upbringing, but he doesn’t feel that way to all the people he hangs out it. Not at all. But with Blaire, he feels the need to stand up for her and take care of her almost from the very beginning, right after his conversation with Abe.
“Someone needed to help her. She was fucking alone.”
“I wasn’t kicking Blaire out. Not for her… Hell, not for anyone. The girl needed help.”
Rush Too Far is not just a retelling of Fallen Too Far several senses. First, there are several different scenes where they are apart from each other so that’s knew, especially the scenes with Nan. Then there is also the fact that – since I’m an weirdo who likes to compare the thoughts of the main characters in the same scenes of both books in so much detail that I’m reading them both at the same time – the differences between both thought range is pretty enormous. Blaire thinks she’s a onetime thing and doesn’t mean anything to him, while Rush feels with every passing moment more and more that she’s the one but he doesn’t deserve her.
“I grabbed her waist and put her on the bed behind her before covering her body with mine. More. I needed more. More of Blaire. More of her smell. More of her taste. More of the sounds she made. Just fucking more.”
“She didn’t understand, and holy shit, she thought she wasn’t good enough? She was so damn perfect it hurt.”
I think that’s one of the powers of this book. That they both have these convincing thoughts in their heads when the other was actually thinking something completely different. And still it all fits and makes complete sense. (I really hope that made any sense, because I’m not even sure myself anymore. I’m very sorry.)
What I thought was pretty interesting to see was that we got a little more of Nan. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely hate her, but we never really witnessed quite the kind of tantrums like we did here. Sure, she had them in Never Too Far and Forever Too Far, more than I can count, but this felt different, somehow. How she expected that just because she says so, it will happen. The only word that pops up in my head witnessing her in Rush Too Far is ‘child.’ She’s just a small kid wailing for candy that she’s been denied by her parents. She’s just insane mean while doing it, rotten almost.
I love how Rush loves Blaire. The way he feels about her is really intense and beautiful. Also, it’s a good thing I know how this series ends because the ending of Rush Too Far is pretty fucking devastating 😥
Crystal K 