Blog Tour - Upside Down by Lia Riley

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying goodbye to painful memories-and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she'll pretend to be a carefree exchange student. Everything is going to plan until she meets a surly surfer with hypnotic green eyes, and the troubling ability to see straight through her act. Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he slunk back to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. A single semester abroad won't cover something this serious. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart. Praise for Upside Down: 'Upside Down gave me all the feels. Romantic and poignant, the journey of love and acceptance lingers long after the book is closed' Jennifer L. Armentrout/J. Lynn, # 1 New York Times bestselling author

When I started this  book I was really excited. I was interested from page one and thought that I was in for a great read. There was real emotion and I found Bran and Talia's relationship really interesting. It appeared to be a really intense relationship and I thought I was going to love following this relationship. However as I continued through the book I found myself loosing interest and wanting more.

I really liked the author's, Lia Riley, writing style. She cleverly wrote it in dual narrative, swapping between Bran and Talia, enabling the reader to really understand what the characters were thinking and how they worked. This also enabled Riley to delve deeper into Talia's thought processes. Talia has both OCD and anxiety disorder. I suffer with anxiety disorder and I think I was hoping that this would play a bigger part within the story but it seemed to be something which was dropped into the story now and then but didn't play such a big part as I think it could of. This is just one of the attributes that makes Talia such a complex character and Bran also has his own demons which I think could play a bigger part in the future.

This is the first book in the Off the map trilogy and although I found myself disappointed with the ending of this first book I will be looking forward to following the trilogy to the end.

Thank you to the publishers, Piaktus, for sending me the book to review in return for an honest review.