**Blog Tour Review & Giveaway ~ Drowning ~ Rachel Firasek**

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Rachel Firasek's Drowning. My stop includes all the details for the book, my review, and a giveaway.

To check out all the stops on the tour, click here.

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Drowning by Rachel Firasek

Tears of Sin Series #1

Release Date: October 19, 2013

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Source: I purchased my own copy of Drowning prior 

to agreeing to participate on this tour.

Rating: 3.5 Bookworms

Synopsis

"I dare you." Those words would change adrenaline junkie, Alice Harrison's life forever. She's a party girl that doesn't believe in love until she meets a man that only writes about it. Seth James escaped his overbearing father and moved into one of the James family's vacant condos, hoping to create the music he loves in peace. But the fragile calm he's envisioned shatters when a tiny woman with a world full of energy bounces out of the elevator and nearly takes him out. With the patience of a saint, Seth seeks the dark that keeps Alice from enjoying life. He challenges her to exorcise the demons in her past in order to discover the true meaning of love. But when the walls fall down, the hidden deceptions will bare the ugly truth about a woman drowning in sorrow and a man who may not know how to be her hero.

Drowning was a gripping read, overall. It's familiar in that it uses the NA trope of broken girl meets broken boy but it also incorporated some grittiness and suspense. 

Alice Harrison is a young woman coping ina life where she's been tortured and made to believe she'll destroy anything good in life. She gave up school and her art to take care of her half-sister due to her belief that it's her due penance. When she literally runs into Seth James, her whole life is turned on its head.

Seth James is a young man haunted by the loss of his mother and his father's subsequent absentee parenting. He pours all his passion into his music. He's trying to make a go of it with his band and the last thing he wants or needs is the distraction that one Alice Harrison presents. When Alice's dad comes calling, both Alice and Seth learn a lot about themselves and what those things mean for the other.

Drowning is a compelling story. It introduced likeable characters, such as Gabe, Seth's brother, and Deacon and Evan, their bandmates. I look forward to learning more about them in the forthcoming books in this series. I also liked Molly, Alice's half-sister, despite her character flaws. I would have liked to have learned more about Molly though, particularly because of the roll she has in Alice's life. I'm going to assume I'll get more in the future installments.

I admired Alice's strength and spirit. The things she's endured - unspeakable acts, would have sucked the life out of most people. Alice didn't let it. In fact, she sought out adrenaline-pumping activities in order to prove to herself she was alive. Until that fateful day, when things went horribly wrong. 

I liked Seth a lot. But he made me angry several times. Drowning is told through dual POV, so I got to read what was going on in his mind. He was flip-flopping on where he stood with Alice and it frustrated me.

The writing and pacing in Drowning were done well. There were places where transitions were rather abrupt though. And I felt as though Seth's life maybe wasn't bad enough to warrant the 'broken' boy label. The story though was good. I'm anxious for more from these characters.

**FAVORITE QUOTES**

"Don't cry over him. Those tears give him power." -Seth, Loc 323

"Because...I think you are just as f#cked up as I am. Two wrongs do not make a right." -Alice, Loc 1026

"No. Alice, I most definitely do not want to date you. I want to own you, desire you, possess you and all your dark secrets, but no date. Date is something normal people do and the two of us are definitely not normal." -Seth, Loc 1074

"In darkness, there is hope. In light, there is truth. You've captured me somewhere in between and made it safe." -Alice, Loc 2586

"You're our lead, baby. Where you go, we all follow. You've won our hearts and our loyalty." -Gabe, Loc 4371

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Rachel Firasek spends her days daydreaming of stories and her nights putting those ideas to ink. She has spent a dull life following the rules, meeting deadlines, and toeing the line, but in her made up worlds, she can let the wild side loose. Her wonderful husband and three children support her love of the written word and only ask for the occasional American Idol or Swamp People quality hour. She has a philosophy about love. It must devastate or it isn't truly worth loving. She hopes you all find your devastating love and cling to it with all your heart.

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