RECAP

Leo Scott is your average poster boy athlete. He has the look, the drive, the brain and the girl. But at home Leo's life is far from perfect. Dealing with a hard ass Navy Commander is just the beginning of his very complicated life. Leo must deal with the constant abuse, his new addiction and the twists and turns his life takes.

Audrey also has the picture perfect life. Except that her Navy father is in prison for murder. A murder that he doesn't remember committing.

Together Leo and Audrey must deal with the hurdles thrown their way, staying on top of their swimming careers, and the horror of their home life.

Will they both rise above the current or sink and drown?

MY TAKE

When I heard about the Streamline Birthday Book Bash I signed up and was given an ARC by the wonderful author! Now, I've read another Jennifer Lane book so I didn't mind picking this one up and joining the celebration. All in all Streamline was a good read.

Going into this book you expect for Leo to be this teenage guy with a teenage guy life and...he is. But then he goes home and all hell breaks loose. His father is TERRIBLE. He treats his family like he treats any one below his league. There isn't one redeeming quality about that man. And although Leo is sweet at times I felt like he had a long way to go to get away from his fathers influence. Leo struggles with a slew of things during the book and I felt bad most times but other times I thought he was irrational and hotheaded. Which okay maybe its realistic for a teenage boy now and days but I just expected more from him. This was the first male character that I just didn't swoon for. Don't get me wrong he was nice and he loved his family and Audrey but at the end of the day I thought that he had a long way to go to "grow" up.

Then there is his relationship with Audrey. I think they made the perfect couple because they balanced each other. She was sweet and levelheaded and kept him grounded. She was his anchor throughout the book. I felt bad for her circumstances and also teared up a little when she had to go through one particular event by herself.There wasn't anything I didn't like about her but unfortunately I felt no real connection with her character. It would be interesting to see where this couple is five/ten years later and see if they make it.

Now, I did enjoy the secondary characters in this book, I think much more than the primary. Each one had an impact in Leo and Audrey's lives and in the unfolding of the events at the end. I adored Jase, Leo's brother, the most and was happy to see the change in him throughout the book. When the events at the end unfolded and caused him to lose his sanity I was so sad but was then happy things worked out.

The twist and turns in this book were what made this an enjoyable read. It was interesting to have the view of the abuser as well as the abused and everyone involved in helping the victim(s) heal. Some of the swimming aspects were good but throughout the first half of the book I was kind of bored with it. Which is why I think I liked the last 40% of the book the most.

All in all Streamline was a good book. A really slow and detailed beginning but an action packed ending. Don't let the 3.5 stars deter you from reading it because the suspense was really good and the author does a wonderful job immersing you in the story. I enjoy the way she keeps you guessing throughout her storytelling and then shocks the hell out of you.

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it.


HAPPY READING!

I'm not even sure where to begin with this one. Streamline is such a heart tugging, sweet story with a bit of mystery.

Leo is a great kid but he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He's constantly worried about his family and his girlfriend. There's this great need in him to fix things for everyone. It's hard to see him go through some of the stuff he does. Especially with his father.

Audrey is a sweet and supportive girlfriend. She definitely has way more stress in her life than a teenager should. Between worrying about Leo and her own family, plus her swimming career, phew it's a lot.

Even though the story is about Leo and Audrey both, I feel like he is really the 'star' and that's ok with me. I don't normally connect with a teenage boy when I'm reading but I did with Leo.

Streamline is not an easy read. When I say that the reason is because there is physical, mental, and drug abuse, teen pregnancy, suicide. It's a lot to take in and I had to read it in starts and stops until I made it to the middle of the book. At that point things started moving so fast I didn't want to stop. I had to know what would happen next.

If I had to say there was one thing I didn't like about Streamline it would that at the end of the book I'd have liked a look at everyone in the future. But really, that is such a small thing in the grand scheme of things. Streamline hit all of my 'feels' and I loved every word of it.

Review also posted here.

*review to be posted as part of blog tour*

26/3/13

Okay, I know some people have a big issue of the current P2P (pull to publish) trend. I want to make it known that if someone wrote a story as a fanfiction (twilight, Harry Potter... whatever) and then decides to pull it from whichever website it was posted on so that they can publish it, more power to them. They wrote that story, even using the basis of someone else's characters and settings, they OWN the storyline and if they rework it, change the names and locations, I wish them all the best.

Did you see the magic word in that little rant above? "Rework". If an author wants to P2P, then this is a must for me. there is nothing worse, than picking up a book and realising you've read it somewhere before because all that has happened is a find/replace of character names. No, that's lazy and cheapens the fans.

*disclaimer*

The above is my own opinion and is not in anyway endorsed by anyone else.

*end disclaimer*

The reason for the above 'rant' is that I first came across Streamline and Jennifer Lane in the world of Twilight fanfiction. The story was called "Swimming Against the Tide" and her penname was pbswimmer. I ADORED the story and very often stopped what I was doing when an update was posted.

The update schedule was as regular as clockwork as the story was already complete. as I got to know Jen (as well as you can via PMs on a fanfic site), I found out that she had written the story as an original, but had decided to adapt it and post as a fanfic using Edward and Bella as the main characters. Apart from their descriptions, these characters were as far removed from Meyer's characters as you could get.

Then, I discovered that Jen had reworked it again and had published the story as an original novel. I never got round to reading it as I just never seemed to find the time, then this birthday blog tour came up and I grabbed the chance.

Why the hell did I wait so damn long???

Yes, I did have that feeling of "i recognise this", but not as much as I had expected having read it before. It's like that feeling you get when you find the dogeared copy of your favourite book that you thought you'd lost 12-18 months previously. There was enough new material in the book, I never felt cheated or bored.

Now, I'm an army brat, so all the Naval Lingo was lost on me, but it didn't matter. While the navy is almost a character of it's own, I never felt bogged down by the terminology, the same with the swimming. I may not have understood it all, but it didn't cause the book to become unreadable.

Also, the story is told from multiple points of views, the main being Leo, which gives the reader a wider view of what is happening throughout the world she has created. In some books, this could be seen as confusing, but in Streamline, it simply enhances the story.

The research that Jen has put into this story (and the personal experiences) make it very real, and the subject matter add the edge of "OMG, what the hell is he doing" moments when I found myself chewing my knuckles so I wouldn't cry.

It's a ridiculously well written book, with many twists and turns that will keep you guessing right up until the very end, and the romance side of it will make you wish you were a teenager experiencing first love all over again.

I HIGHLY recommend that you buy this book, even if you have heard of and read the fanfiction. You will not be disappointed!!! Just beware that although you may fall for Leo or Jason, Benito may sneak up on you. He did me! Me Gusta!!

posted on my blog, with other reviews: http://michbookreviews.wordpress.com

Leo Scott is in his senior year of high school. he is the best swimmer and the captain of his swim team, gets perfect grades, and is so in love with his girlfriend, Audrey. But all of that perfection comes a a price: his father, a Navy Commander, is so intent on making his son succeed, he thinks the only way to do it is to beat him. As Leo and his father's problems escalate, Leo finds his life falling apart. He must turn his life around after he hits the bottom...and struggle with the scars his father left.

I know this is a YA novel, but I would have to recommend for older YA--maybe 16 and up. This book contains such content as drinking, sex, drug abuse, and violence.

First off, I have to commend the author for putting a black (mixed) male as the main focus in a YA novel. I don't think I've seen that, ever. I am not sure in the grand scheme of things his race was ever an issue in Streamline, but I appreciate the literary world getting injected with a little color.

Secondly, I kind of feel this novel should have been broken up into two books. To me, there was a clear jumping off point for where the second book could have started. This book was quite long at 430 pages. Maybe I am just so used to reading books in series...but I can understand how the author would want to have everything wrapped up in the course of one book.

The first half was kind of slow for me. I am not the biggest swim fan...like everyone else, my knowledge of swimming is kind of limited to Michael Phelps and of course I watch when the Olympics are going on. There was lots of technical swimming talk in the first part of the book, and while I could definitely tell that the author has an intense love and knowledge of swimming, my eyes kind of skimmed over those parts. Perhaps someone who's a bigger swim fan than me will be pleased, though.

I know that Streamline marked Ms. Lane's first foray into the world of YA writing, and I could kind of tell there was a bit of a struggle to bridge the gap between writing adult novels and writing YA. There were plenty of cliches and moments I saw coming. Lots of characters too, and in my opinion, just a few too many points of view.

For the most part, I liked Leo as a character, until the end where he started making stupid decisions. I cannot imagine going through what he did and NOT being affected the way he was. Though the novel showed hints that he may have inherited some of his father's temper at times...I hope the future holds a lot of happiness for he and Audrey.

Speaking of Audrey, one of my favorite things about this book was Leo and Audrey's relationship. Unfortunately, both kids were forced to grow up way before they should have had to, but I felt their love was sincere and I am so glad they had each other to confide in.

One of the main things that made me take away from my star rating, was that I felt at times the author was trying a bit to hard to inject something into the story--either a lesson (teen pregnancy, anyone?), or some knowledge about psychology. This may go unnoticed for readers younger than I, but for me it felt kind of forced and detracted from the story.

Another thing is that I thought there were way too many story arcs going on at once--so much so that I don't even think a couple of them got finished. I'm still trying to figure out the role of Roland Drake and his whole faking graduation storyline...at first I thought maybe he was planted as a red herring in the murder case, but I'm just not sure.

To wrap up this long review, I'd like to say that Ms. Lane is a talented author--although this book was long, I finished it the day after I started it. There were times where I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. For her first YA novel, Streamline is an intense journey. I would be happy to read her next YA offering.

Streamline was an emotional and powerful read. I was pulled in from the start and the writing is excellent. Streamline deals with a lot of different subjects, from abuse, murder, teen pregnancy, addiction and Jennifer Lane did a fantastic job combining the subjects. I would recommend reading this in a quiet room with little interuptions because there is a lot going on in the book and you miss out on something important!


Streamline is a beautiful read that I highly recommend to mature YA and adults.

Leo Scott is a student athlete under a lot of pressure. Most of that pressure comes from his over-bearing abusive father, and he's pretty much on his own in dealing with that. His mother is disabled and incapable of proctecting him, his brother moved away, and his girlfriend has her own problems to deal with (namely her father being in jail for murder!). After a particularly brutal beating lands Leo in the hospital, it pretty much blows things wide open and sends this family and everyone in their circle on a different path. A path to finding out about love, family, and the truth.

This book was about A LOT of issues... abuse, pregnancy, infidelity, murder, addiction, the military... it's a lot. I enjoyed the book and the murder mystery. I appreciated the way the author the author showed the human side to abusive people. At one point I actually felt bad for the abuser.
I wasn't wild about the girlfriend, Audrey, I'm not sure why. Maybe it was just the way they interacted with each other seemed forced or something. I truly enjoyed the ending and how everything was wrapped up, sometimes it's nice to have a clear ending!
PS- Love the COVER!!

http://pinkpolkadotbookblog.blogspot.com/

Streamline was an emotional and powerful read. I was pulled in from the start and the writing is excellent. Streamline deals with a lot of different subjects, from abuse, murder, teen pregnancy, addiction and Jennifer Lane did a fantastic job combining the subjects. I would recommend reading this in a quiet room with little interuptions because there is a lot going on in the book and you miss out on something important!


Streamline is a beautiful read that I highly recommend to mature YA and adults.

This was an huge emotional rollercoaster. By the end, I couldn't blink back my tears faster than they were forming.

I also loved the many different meanings of "CS" that Jason and Leo came up with.

Spoiler

"Coldhearted Stalin" and "Cheap Spender" are among the favourites. ;)

Also, I love all the characters, despite how flawed they are.

Spoiler

Yes, even CS because somehow, Jennifer Lane managed to make me feel for all these characters.

Originally posted on Cozy Up With A Good Read

In the beginning it took me some time to get into this story because it is told from so many different perspectives, but as I got further along it became more interesting and I was excited to see how another one of the characters would think of certain situations. I found this book a quick read because each of the chapters were short and I found myself flying through to see what would happen next with each character.

This is a great story that delves deep into the many different relationships of the characters. Jennifer Lane also really shows how abuse affects everyone differently. I found myself drawn more and more into the story as things progressed and I wanted to see what would happen when everything finally blew up.

I really enjoyed how Jennifer added in a little bit of a mystery to the story as well. Audrey's father is in prison for a murder, but some people don't believe he actually committed the crime. It was really interesting to find out what really happened, I did kind of see it coming but at the same time was still a little taken back.

I felt that I could connect with the characters in this story (which for me makes a great novel). I felt that Jennifer really connected with the emotional side of Leo, which is great because you don't see that a lot in books, a male character showing off their emotions. That was another thing that was enjoyable about the book, the main character was a male (though there were some points where you get Amy's perspective). It was nice to see all the characters connected to one another in different ways.

Jennifer adds a lot of different ideas to her book. It was interesting to see how she added in swimming and the army to the lives of the characters. These were large parts of the book as well and added a lot to the personalities of the characters.

This was an interesting book and very quick to read, but it definitely deals with a difficult theme, Jennifer really hits the emotional aspect in her writing.