BLOG TOUR: The Boy is Back by Meg Cabot

HI there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we're joining a TLC Book Tours promotion already in progress starring the latest release from an author well known in the literary arena.  She's the creative mind behind the stories that brought us Princess Mia, among other memorable characters, and while this one is is technically fourth in a series, it reads perfectly well as a stand alone.  Ladies and gents...because in truth, there is just as much for the ladies as there is for the gents with this multi-narrator affair...today's blog tour guest and book of choice is...

The Boy is Back

by

Meg Cabot

9780062378774

William Morrow Paperbacks

About the book...

In this brand-new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, a scandal brings a young man back home to the small town, crazy family, and first love he left behind.

Reed Stewart thought he’d left all his small town troubles—including a broken heart—behind when he ditched tiny Bloomville, Indiana, ten years ago to become rich and famous on the professional golf circuit.  Then one tiny post on the Internet causes all of those troubles to return . . . with a vengeance.

Becky Flowers has worked hard to build her successful senior relocation business, but she’s worked even harder to forget Reed Stewart ever existed. She has absolutely no intention of seeing him when he returns—until his family hires her to save his parents.

Now Reed and Becky can’t avoid one another—or the memories of that one fateful night.  And soon everything they thought they knew about themselves (and each other) has been turned upside down, and they—and the entire town of Bloomville—might never be the same, all because The Boy Is Back.

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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Once upon a time, there was a fair maiden not from the wrong side of the tracks exactly, but certainly not from the pristine, nose-raised-high hills surrounding.  She had a mad crush on the local "prince" and as luck would have it, one day, her chance came to make all her wishes come true.  Only thing is...wishes are wishes, and reality is  well, reality...the latter isn't always as nice or accommodating as the former.

Our "maiden" would be Becky Flowers; modern business woman with a heart of gold, and ten years removed from the high school girl crush she had on our "prince", Reed Stewart.  Good times were had back then, until it all came crashing down on prom night.  No, it's not what you're thinking, though still traumatic to their love lorn hearts and with consequences that would remove them from each other's lives for a full decade.  What?  TEN YEARS?!  Yep, ten long years...but tell that to either one when their paths cross once again because to read their thoughts, you'd think only days had passed.  One thing leads to another and soon it seems inevitable, the heart wants what the heart wants...but will it be enough to remove the hurt of the past, the hardships of the present, and form a possible future?  

Okay, so the Stewart family is definitely not the Brady bunch.  They have problems like everyone else, but they hit the publicity fan when their seemingly level headed parents tried a variation on the "eat and ditch" ploy popular in some circles, and it backfired.  Do I think they had ill intents?  No, but that doesn't mean everyone else agrees which acts as the fuse that lights the proverbial fire under their children's behinds to help get their financial picture in order...and boy does it need help.  The antics of Marshall and Carly, Trimble and Lyle, and several other choice voices, add the flavor and flair the story needs to keep things interesting...otherwise we're dealing with a case of parental units getting older, possible shadiness occurring to their money holdings from unexpected sources, and a second chance love story.  All good things, but the extras are what make this one come together.  Now to the sticky part...

Try as I might, I couldn't really get on board the bandwagon of fandom.  I suppose it could have been the format (it's told COMPLETELY in tweets, messages, emails, and news postings...but I have enjoyed this style from time to time), maybe the multi-narrator voice of the story (then again, doubtful), or maybe it was just TOO light (with that whole non-event deal) for me at this moment in my reading life. In retrospect though, I think my biggest issue was the event that drove the wedge between father, son, and potential daughter-in-law, so many moons ago.  I was waiting for some big to-do and when it happened, it was (to me) pretty much a non-event.  I mean, teens do things much MUCH worse in life and fiction without the harshness doled out here, not to mention that Reed really should've grown a pair in TEN FLIPPING YEARS.     

Whatever the case may be, I don't regret my time between the pages, but sadly, I probably won't be making another journey either.  Cie la vie!  Every book is not for every person, but this one might just be YOUR NEXT BEST READ!  You'll never know if you don't give it a shot though, so please...pick up a copy, crack the spine (*shudders*) and tell me YOUR point of view!

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About the author...

Photo by Ali Smith

Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to her award-winning adult contemporary fiction, she is the author of bestselling young adult fiction, including The Princess Diaries and the Mediator series. More than twenty-five million copies of her novels for children and adults have sold worldwide. Meg lives in Key West, Florida, with her husband.

Website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter

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Special thanks to Trish at TLC Book Tours for the chance to bring this tour to you as well as to the HarperCollins Publishers publicity team for the copy for review.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title, the series, the author, the publisher, THIS TOUR, or those forthcoming, feel free to click through the links provided above.  This title is available now via William Morrow Paperbacks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!