When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.
And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable.
To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.
To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.
The Review:
*wipes eyes, sniffs, and takes a deep breath*
I want to write a review that is worthy of this amazing novel. So, where to start?
When I first saw this book, I've expected a light, feel-good kind of YA romance novel. The title suggests a bit of a cheesy love story, which I have no idea I would flat-out devour.
I would start of by introducing the MC. Julie Siggle is a college freshman who had an unfortunate situation of getting scammed into paying for a non-existent apartment. Luckily, her mother has been good friends with someone whose house is in that same area, which leads to her meeting with the Watkin's family. Enter Matt, a Geek (the exact term for him, and he prefers it that way), who is a double major of Physics and Math from MIT (see? absolute geek!) and the second son of her mother's friend---is the one who picked Julie up. Inside the Watkin's residence, she met Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, Celeste, the youngest of the siblings, and.....Flat Finn. Flat Finn is a cardboard cutout representation of their older brother, Finn. Finn is away...he's always traveling, that's why Celeste has Flat Finn as a substitute.
*wipes eyes, sniffs, and takes a deep breath*
I want to write a review that is worthy of this amazing novel. So, where to start?
When I first saw this book, I've expected a light, feel-good kind of YA romance novel. The title suggests a bit of a cheesy love story, which I have no idea I would flat-out devour.
I would start of by introducing the MC. Julie Siggle is a college freshman who had an unfortunate situation of getting scammed into paying for a non-existent apartment. Luckily, her mother has been good friends with someone whose house is in that same area, which leads to her meeting with the Watkin's family. Enter Matt, a Geek (the exact term for him, and he prefers it that way), who is a double major of Physics and Math from MIT (see? absolute geek!) and the second son of her mother's friend---is the one who picked Julie up. Inside the Watkin's residence, she met Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, Celeste, the youngest of the siblings, and.....Flat Finn. Flat Finn is a cardboard cutout representation of their older brother, Finn. Finn is away...he's always traveling, that's why Celeste has Flat Finn as a substitute.
Julie, of course, found it strange that Celeste wants to keep a cardboard cutout of Finn. So, when she found the funny, gorgeous and hot Finn on Facebook (yes, facebook. the author is quite funky), she asked him why. But, neither Finn nor Matt answers any of her questions regarding Celeste. After a bunch of exchanged message and chats, Julie found herself falling in love with Finn, albeit he's far away and she's never met him personally. Julie was almost sure that Finn is "the one", until she found out all the answers to her every question about the Watkins family.
Let's just end it up at that. I don't wanna mess up the twist. ;)
I flat-out love how the story ends in this novel. I am moved on how the characters struggle for their feelings towards the other, and how they exert effort for someone they love. I am glad that Julie has learned something during her stay at the Watkins residence---that Love is not always recognizable; Sometimes, love catches you off guard.
It takes an absolutely creative imagination to write an amazing, epic story such as this one. I just hope Jessica Park will write another epic love story like this. It is quite amazing how the story left me feeling heartbroken and flat-out in love at the same time in the end. Hands down, Flat-out Love is the most touching contemporary love story I have ever read. :')
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