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Release Blitz and Reviews: Rush Too Far: Abbi Glines

by - Monday, May 05, 2014


Rush Too Far

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Expected May 6, 2014

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.


Atria Books
Atria Books | 256 pages | ISBN 9781476775944 | May 6, 2014 |$15.00 |eBook ISBN: 9781476775951 | $7.99

Graphics from Abbi Glines FB page
Read on for an early look at the highly-anticipated follow-up to Fallen Too Far, Never Too Far, and Forever Too Far, the three new adult novels that launched the #1 New York Timesbestselling Rosemary Beach series by Abbi Glines

RUSH TOO FAR
Abbi Glines
Available from Atria Books in eBook and trade paperback on May 6, 2014.

They say that children have the purest hearts. That children don’t truly hate because they don’t fully understand the emotion. They forgive and forget easily.

They say a lot of bullshit like that because it helps them sleep at night. Such sayings make for good, heart-warming clichés to hang on the walls, to bring out a smile in people passing by.

I know differently. Children love like no other. They have the capacity to love more fiercely than anyone else. That much is true. That much I know. Because I lived it. By the age of ten I knew hate and I knew love. Both all-consuming. Both life-altering. And both completely blinding.

Looking back now I wish someone had been there to see how my mother had sown the seed of hate inside of me. Inside of my sister. If someone had been there to save us from the lies and bitterness she allowed to fester within us, then maybe things would have been different. For everyone involved.

I never would have acted so foolishly. It wouldn’t have been my fault that a girl was left alone to take care of her ailing mother. It wouldn’t have been my fault that the same girl stood at her mother’s graveside, believing that the last person on earth who loved her was dead. It wouldn’t have been my fault that a man destroyed himself after his life became a broken, hollow shell.

But no one saved me.
No one saved us.

We believed the lies. We held onto our hate, and I alone destroyed an innocent girl’s life.

They say you reap what you sow. That’s bullshit, too. Because I should be burning in hell for my sins. I shouldn’t be allowed to wake up every morning with this beautiful woman in my arms, who loves me unconditionally. I shouldn’t get to hold my son and know such a pure joy.

But I do.

Because, eventually, someone did save me. I didn’t deserve it. Hell, more than anyone it was my sister who needed saving. She hadn’t acted on her hate. She hadn’t manipulated the lives of our family members, not caring about the outcome. But her bitterness still controlled her while I had been delivered. By a girl…

No, she wasn’t just a girl. She was an angel. My angel. A beautiful, strong, fierce, loyal angel who had entered my life in a pick-up truck, carrying a gun.


We saw it all happen in Fallen Too Far and got Blaire's side of the story. Now it is Rush's turn to tell us what he was thinking and feeling. I always had a soft spot and a bit of a crush on Rush Finlay even when he frustrated and made me mad with some of his antics. This story gave me more reason to like him and to understand his motivation for some of his questionable decisions.

We get into his head to understand why he pushed Blaire away so hard, how hate filled he was, and how much he loved Nan despite her faults. How some of his assholery moves were both self preservation and to protect Blaire(or at times Nan). He had a lot of guilt and self blame for how the girls lives turned out and for some of the things he subjected Blaire too. And he definitely had a a savior and protector complex. 

We see his anger, guilt  confusion and denial. And how how much Blaire gets under his skin and how much he tries to keep his distance since he knows he is bad for her and the secrets he keeps will make her hate him. She makes him vulnerable and confused. He wages a war within himself, but eventually loses the battle then just hopes they can live with the fall out. 

And we get to see his thoughts move from hate to protection to need to love. We see all of Fallen Too Far through his eyes. We see how special and angelic a white-blonde haired girl with a shotgun can be and how she rocked the world of the unattainable, bad boy Rush Finlay. 

I am not always a big fan of male point of view companion novels, but I enjoyed getting more Rush. And since it had been a while since I read the first one, this did not feel like a rehash to me. I was anticipating some of the big scenes I remembered like the meeting, peanut butter, the first kiss, honky tonk, big ending etc, but they did feel different  his perspective. He had pieces of information that Blaire did not know that caused distress, and there were things that he did not know about her so their awareness of certain topics was different. There were some new scenes we were not privy to in Blaire's book especially with Grant and Woods. Their interactions added comic relief and some testerone release as they squared off. And we got to hear some heated conversations between Rush and Blaire's Dad that made me appreciate Rush even more. 

This made me want to go re-read parts of Fallen Too Far  to see the differences. And where Blaire's POV is sweet and sassy, Rush's is rough, guilt ridden, and almost frantic at times with his anxiety and fear. Reading them side by side you can see how skewed their thoughts were in the same situations. The dramatic ending just broke my heart even more in his point of view. It just made me want to hug him and  succeeded in making me love him more. 

Thanks to Abbi Glines and Atria Publishing for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. 

First and foremost, this is NOT a standalone. Do not proceed with this book if you have not read Blaire's point of view in Fallen Too Far. In my opinion, these two books should be read together. Rush Too Far fills in those moments where you just wished you had the capability to lounge around inside Rush’s mind. This book gives you that and more, providing a slightly different feel from Rush’s point of view; however, it does not give a new reader enough background and story development to properly follow along. Rush Too Far lacks those small intricate details Fallen Too Far contains.

It is safe to say I am part of the Rush Crush crowd. Even with all that crushing though, I was a little hesitant and skeptical about opening up this one. To be honest, I was wicked nervous Rush would not live up to his original self or to the hype surrounding his book. Part of that is the fact that I tend to struggle a lot with male point of views written outside of the original book. Books told in this manner always feel so repetitive to me. I have to give Abbi Glines some major props. She nailed Rush’s story for me. Rush had me entertained and turning the pages through the entire book; no skimming for me (which is huge plus since I tend to do that a lot in male point of view books)! High fives to Abbi for writing Rush in a more prominent voice without it feeling so redundant to Blaire’s.

Rush Too Far was a fun and engaging companion novel to Fallen Too Far. This is one bad boy who left me smiling huge even if I was a little exasperated with him at times. However, taking a looksee through that wild ride called Rush's (and in turn Abbi's) mind totally made up for any exasperation I may have felt. It was wicked experiencing the push and pull of our hero and heroine through his perspective. Just as no two readers read the same book, no two people experience conflict or issue the same, especially when those two people are male and female. In Blaire’s book, we only see her part of the story and Rush totally comes off as that jackass with commitment issues. In his book, we experience a more intimate view of his struggle with his inner conflict: the need to take what he desires vs. the need to stay true to those he has already pledged his loyalty to.

As I have mentioned, I am a huge Rush fan. I have always found his character intriguing and hot; I mean come on, he is tatted and pierced—what’s not to love about that. I didn’t think he could get much hotter. I stand corrected; watching Rush go all caveman on Blaire’s father and laying the verbal smack down was smoking HAWT! Call it Rush Crush Fever or not, who knows. All I know is that I fell in love with Rush all over again and that much harder.

On a quick note, for all you Grant fans, don’t fret Abbi gives us A LOT more of Grant. If you are a Grant lover, such as myself, you will find yourself eating up all of his behind the scenes moments. I am talking about those moments in Fallen where you wished (or at least I did) Abbi had delved just a bit more. Grant’s character becomes more descriptive, giving his relationship throughout the series with Rush, Nan, and Blaire a completely new perspective. This Grant is the one I missed while reading the first half of his book; the Grant that had me chomping at the bit to run out and buy his book.

Thanks to Abbi Glines and Atria Publishing for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.


Rush Too Far shadows the events of Fallen Too Far in the alternate perspective. Instead of knowing everything about Blaire’s side of the story, Rush has his turn to show readers what was happening when Blaire walked into his mansion that first night and everything after. This is a great companion, but because of the scope of Rush's narrow view, some parts of the story wouldn't hold up without background knowledge from Blaire's POV. 

There are a few new scenes but a lot of retelling of scenes we saw originally from Blaire’s perspective. Knowing his thoughts in the overlapping scenes was very different from what Blaire was thinking through many of those scenes. Because he is hiding things from Blaire, his perception of what is going on is, in some cases, 180 degrees from Blaire’s viewpoint. 

I’m not sure this made me more sympathetic towards Rush than I was when I read Fallen Too Far. Maybe that’s just part of this series. The men seem to lose their heads and act stupid in the first book, and then do a whole lot of backpedaling in the second. What it did do is clear up the motivation behind some of his ambiguous moves while they were happening rather than as backpedaling apologies to Blaire. 

This really was Rush’s story. There is not as much from Grant, Woods, or Bethy here, but as Rush was kind of a loner even within the group, it makes sense. And I still hate Nan...maybe more so now seeing things from Rush’s POV too. She really hasn’t done any favors for herself. At all. 

It’s been a long while since I read Fallen Too Far. Part of me was expecting both Fallen and Never combined in one, so I was rather shocked at where Rush ended. But referring back to my copies of Fallen and Never, Rush ends exactly where Fallen ends. Then again, Never already has Rush’s voice included, so it should not have surprised me...but like I said, it’s been a while. I think I enjoyed this more because it’s been so long since I read Fallen Too Far. While it was a retelling, it was also a great refresher of Blaire and Rush’s beginning.

Thanks to Abbi Glines and Atria Publishing for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. 
See the Series on Goodreads

Abbi Glines is the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series. A devoted booklover, Abbi lives with her family in Alabama.

She maintains a Twitter addiction at www.twitter.com/abbiglines and can also be found at facebook.com/AbbiGlinesAuthor and AbbiGlines.com.
(1) Paperback copy of Rush Too Far: Abbi Glines  (US ONLY)

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