Reading Write Now: No Turning Back by Casey Peeler with Giveaway

Synopsis

After getting involved with Dylan, the bad boy of the Dixon High Swim team, Charley decides to stay close to home for college. It’s just safer that way. Later, she realizes it’s a mistake, just like dating Dylan. She decides to put the past behind her and leave the small hick town of Grassy Pond. There is only one problem; she makes this decision three weeks before the fall semester begins.

Charley packs up her Honda and heads to Southern College. On the morning she’s about to leave, Cash walks back into her life. He has been her best friend since they were four and is the only one who knows the REAL Charley. She leaves her farm in Grassy Pond with all kinds of “what if” questions.

Charley decides to live her college career to the fullest. She finds a great group of friends, joins the swim team, and meets a guy named Joe. He’s got eyes that make ya wanna melt!

At college, she encounters a new problem. Charley has been away from home for only forty-eight hours before she breaks the two promises she made to herself. Will she be able to overcome her past? Find new love? What will happen with Cash now that he is back in her life? Will she find what she is wanting in Jackalope Joe? How will her first semester of college end? Joe, Cash, or alone?

Book Trailer Video

Excerpt

Hey, Char, while Cash ain’t in here. Where the hell am I staying tonight? I mean, I don’t want to intrude on y’all.”

“Piper, you can stay in there because you know as well as I do nothing is going to happen.” She looks at me like whatever.

About that time Cash opens the truck door and climbs in. We make our way to campus, up the stoop, and into Kluft. I am exhausted and need a shower to recoup before Hank’s tonight. As we reach the top step, I can hear Caroline, Tori, Georgia, Jenny, Anna, and Cassie in hall. They are singing to “Thrift Shop”blaring over the radio and dancing like fools in the hallway.

Cash glances at me, “Oh lawd, what have I got myself into?” I just shrug my shoulders and pull him down the hall. All the girls take their turn putting moves on him, and of course, Anna has something to say. “Hey, Cowboy, I ain’t ever rode a cowboy before.”

With a wink Cash answers back, “Sorry, Sweetheart, but I ain’t a cowboy. I’m a homegrown country boy that only has eyes for one little lady,” as he stares into my blue eyes.

Iva's Review

A night he won't let her forget.

Charley has dreams of finishing high school and going Division 1 in swimming. It's a dream made even more possible by the fact that her boyfriend, Dylan, has the same goal.

But all of that is shattered by one night.

Charley loses her boyfriend, but regains her very best friend Cash. Cash has been Charley's neighbour since forever and her bestest buddy for just as long. Charley's relationship with Cash faltered while she was dating Dylan, but he has always been there for her and now she needs Cash to keep her from falling further apart.

After graduating high school, Charley knows she needs to regain a little trust and independance in herself before she can settle down and become a country boys girlfriend and changes her college preference to be a little further away from the small country town and farm she grew up on.

It's at college that she meets Joe, and can't help but be attracted to his surfer boy good looks and nice boy charm. A charm made even more possible to avoid when they are assigned to do a project together. Everything seems to be working out just as Charley wanted it to. Cash is still her rock, but Joe is also a comfort. She has made new friends, and kept her old. She has even started swimming again. But a pink envelope turns up in the mail and Charley realises he isn't going to let her forget that easily.

Casey Peeler's No Turning Back starts off with a bombshell and has you riveted to the page from there. It's written in first person, present tense and follows Charley as she tries to find herself again. The powerful beginning of the book has you continuing to read, all the way to the cliffhanger ending that will have you absolutely gobsmacked!

As for the story, very little actually happens as Charley's inner rehabilitation is a very subtle undercurrent to what is being told. Instead you focus on the love triangle being created between Charley, Cash and Joe. Then there is that letter, and wow! Hooks firmly implanted!

If I had any issues with the book it would be with a few episodes of dialogue where it comes across as detached rather than with the emotion it was meant to convey. There were also some (appropriately) shortened scenerios in the book that I found unintentionally comical because of how quickly it was told, though this just made me enjoy the book more. I really liked the characters.

Charley seems like an honest country girl, who tries to give her best everyday. She knows that she needs to find herself again before she can find peace in love and she really gives herself the best chance to do that. I loved the little bit of vunerability she had and her determination to put the ghost of her past behind her.

Cash..(sigh!) Every girl should have a best friend like Cash. He allows Charley her freedom, but maintains his protective stance even from a distance. He is desirable, but also a comfort. He loves Charley, and understands her enough to not put his pain before her needs. Nor his desires. Despite this, I wasn't convinced of Cash being passionately in love with Charley. I felt he was a little bit "older brother" with some benefits of the kissing and hugging kind. He is lovely though. Joe is Charley's security blanket at college. They very quickly form a strong aquaintance drizzled with lust, that blossoms into friendship and maybe something more. Joe is very similar to Cash in that he is caring and appears to want Charley to go at her own pace with their relationship.

My main concern with the characters relationships was there was a little too much acceptance of the other guy's presence in Charley's life from both Cash and Joe. There didn't seem to be enough passion from the boys to claim what was theirs. I know that Charley would have run a mile if either Cash or Joe did come over all he-man, but a little bit more angst would have given the characters more authenticity.

Minor characters are well developed and are an important part in keeping the story going. In fact they are possibly the reason the book doesn't stagnate as Charley's quest to find herself and decide what she feels for each boy is fun, but slow.

Casey Peeler's No Turning Back is an enjoyable read. It has a little bit of mystery, a little bit of lust and a whole lot of friendship and love. The book starts off with a bang, then finishes with an even greater one. I am truly itching to read the next book in the series!

3 and a half hearts.

Author Bio

Casey Peeler grew up and still lives in North Carolina with her husband and daughter.

Her first passion is teaching students with special needs. Over the years, she found her

way to relax was in a good book.

After reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston her senior year

of high school and multiple Nicholas Sparks’ novels, she found a hidden love and

appreciation for reading.

Casey is an avid reader, blogger (Hardcover Therapy,) and now author. No Turning Back (Full Circle #1) is her debut novel releasing September 30th, Finding Charley (Full Circle #2) will release spring 2014.

Her goal is to one day be an author who is recognized nationwide like Jamie McGuire,

Colleen Hoover, Tiffany King, and Amanda Bennett.

When Casey isn’t reading, you can find her listening to country music, spending the day

at the lake, being a wife and dance mom, and spending time with friends and family.

Her perfect day consists of water, sand between her toes, a cold beverage, and a great

book!