***The Starry-Eyed Revue***: noelle august

Title: Boomerang
Author: Noelle August
Series: Boomerang, book #1
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Source: from publisher via Edelweiss
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The first book in a sensational New Adult trilogy from Noelle August.

Welcome to Boomerang.com, the dating site for the millennial gen with its no-fuss, no-commitments matchups, and where work is steamier than any random hook-up.

Mia Galliano is an aspiring filmmaker. Ethan Vance has just played his last game as a collegiate soccer star. They’re sharp, hungry for success, and they share a secret.

Last night, Ethan and Mia met at a bar, and, well . . . one thing led to another, which led to them waking up the next morning—together. Things turned awkward in a hurry when they found themselves sharing a post hookup taxi . . . to the same place: Boomerang headquarters.

What began as a powerful connection between them is treated to a cold shower courtesy of two major complications. First, Boomerang has a strict policy against co-worker dating. And second, they’re now competitors for only one job at the end of summer.

As their internships come to an end, will they manage to keep their eyes on the future and their hands off each other, or will the pull of attraction put them right back where they started?

I wonder if Ethan feels like I do sometimes. Like I'm playing at adulthood. At being confident in totally strange situations.

So, I'm not the biggest fan of NA usually, but I keep giving it the benefit of the doubt and trying out new books in spite of myself because I want to love it. I've actually had semi-decent luck with the ones that I have read, too. The sad thing, though, is that when I like one of them, I'm usually under the impression that the book is a stand-alone, only to find out later that it's the first in a series of companion novels -- and I usually don't like the "sequels" nearly as much.

I kind of have a love-hate relationship with companion novels. I should probably write up a discussion post about the topic since I have a lot to say on the matter. Anyway, the reason I mention this is because going in to Boomerang, I knew that there would be follow-up books. Which is perfectly acceptable to me...knowing versus not knowing is the key. I just hope that the next novel in the series will prominently feature Ethan and Mia, rather than just giving them a small cameo to appease fans of the first book. That's probably what bothers me most about this type of series: that you're just getting to know the characters in the first book, and then the second book is like starting all over with completely new characters, even if you did meet them briefly in the previous installment. Like I said, though, that's a discussion for another day.

Now that that's out of the way...I was a tad skeptical when I picked up Boomerang, though I'm not really sure why because I loved Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky series, and I know that she can do the male point-of-view ~~fairly~~ shockingly well. Boomerang is told from both Mia and Ethan's perspectives, though I'm not sure which author -- Rossi or Oberweger -- is responsible for which character. But I think I can make an educated guess and say that Veronica wrote Ethan and Lorin wrote Mia. At this point, I don't suppose it really matters because both were spectacularly written. I fell in love with each character from the moment they hit the page, which is part of the reason I'll be upset not to see them more in the next book. They're just so genuine and read like people I'd want to meet outside of a book. If I knew more people like the characters in this story, I might get out a little more, lol.

I brush her lips with mine. This isn’t our first kiss, but it sure as hell feels that way, and it seems important, somehow, to be tender with her.

And their chemistry! Damn, I needed popcorn or a glass of wine or something in my hand to keep from reaching into my Kindle and throttling them or smashing their faces together. They were just so good together, and even the characters themselves alluded to how right they felt together, despite the complications a relationship might lead to. They're both interns at Boomerang, both vying for the same permanent position at the company at the end of their internships. And Boomerang has a strict "no fraternization with colleagues" policy, which makes their attraction to each other all the more difficult, especially with their work stations facing each other all day.

I loved that the Boomerang offices were the backdrop for much of the story. It lent an air of authenticity to the novel, plus it was useful in introducing scores of interesting characters -- and I do mean characters -- to the storyline. And those fake-dates as part of the internship as "research" were too funny. For the most part, just like it's too-cute cover, Boomerang remains pretty light-hearted, but the story does take a turn for the serious later in the novel, and I found myself in tears. Maybe I was projecting and that's why a certain aspect of the story touched me so profoundly, but I honestly don't think another new adult novel has actually brought me to tears before, no matter what's happened to the characters.

"Mia," she said to me the other day. "It all goes so fast, but you never feel different inside." She'd put her hand on my heart and said, "We're the same age. In here."

Gawd, have truer words ever been spoken? But don't let the fact that this novel has a serious side scare you away. There's plenty of drama and humor to be had, though it's not heavy-handed in either facet. Usually, I'm suffering a bit of ennui when reading a new adult novel because they are usually incredibly predictable, which makes a story anything but interesting to me. And while I won't pretend that I didn't have most of the plot of Boomerang figured out early on, it was still such a fun story, tender and sexy in equal parts, that I had serious trouble putting the book down to focus on anything else. This is one of those impossible-to-put-down books once you start it. I found myself reading it at every possible opportunity. And I was reading another book when I started it, but that one was soon forgotten in favor of the awesomeness of this story. Whether you're new to the genre, a huge fan of it, or you've given up on new adult altogether, I highly recommend giving Boomerang a try!

GIF it to me straight:

Oh, yeah! New adult done right!

About the author:

NOELLE AUGUST is an anagram for Veronica Rossi and Lorin Oberweger. Just kidding, it's a pen name!

VERONICA ROSSI is the author of the New York Times Best-selling UNDER THE NEVER SKY trilogy for young adults. The books are available in more than thirty countries and the film rights have been optioned by Warner Bros.

Veronica completed undergraduate studies at UCLA and lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons. She is fond of dresses with pockets, fluffy dogs, and cheese and chocolate -- but not together.

LORIN OBERWEGER began her storytelling career by captivating her first-grade class with tales of her summers on a kibbutz in Israel.

Lorin had never been to Israel.

While teacher/parent night put an end to her first experiments in fiction, she’d already caught the bug and eventually made a career of all things story.

As a long-time independent editor and story development guru, Lorin's client successes range from small press publications to major bestselling novels. She's an award-winning author and has also worked behind the scenes as a ghostwriter on a variety of projects. Her work has received starred Kirkus reviews and glowing mentions in The New York Times.

Oh, she did get to see a kibbutz, eventually, and found out she had it pretty much right all along.

Veronica and Lorin met at a writing workshop and just knew they were destined to create awesome things together.

Find Noelle:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads