BLOG TOUR STOP~MANDATORY RELEASE by Jess Riley
Title:
Mandatory
Release
Author: Jess
Riley
Release
date: July
16, 2013
Age
Group: Adult
Genre:
Dude
Lit / Edgy Women’s Fiction
Tour
organized by:
AToMR Tours
Book
Description:
With appeal for fans of
Jonathan Tropper, Tom Perrotta, and Laurie Notaro, this snarky mashup of Girls
and Oz is so painfully honest you might think you’re reading a memoir—except
the author isn’t a smart-ass guy in a wheelchair who works in a prison.
Recently paralyzed in a car accident, thirty-year-old Graham
Finch spends his days trying to rehabilitate a caseload of unruly inmates and
his nights on one bad date after another, attempting to rehabilitate his heart—
—until his high school crush Drew Daniels walks through the
prison gates one hot summer morning. On the run from a painful past that’s
nearly crushed her faith in love, Drew is a new teacher at Lakeside
Correctional. Graham, smitten all over again, tries to redirect his unrequited
feelings. But when your heart keeps looking back, it's not easy to turn it
forward.
Amidst escalating violence at work, Drew is forced to
confront her secrets, find a way to forgive old sins, and learn how to listen
to her heart and her head when it
comes to men. Graham must also learn to make peace with his own past. Together
they realize that if you’re going to save yourself, sometimes the best way to
do it is by saving someone else first. If only finding their way to one another
was easier than working with convicted felons.
Loaded with twisted humor and pathos, Mandatory
Release is a darkly comic, unexpectedly sexy love story about broken
people putting themselves back together. People who learn that no matter what
you lock up—a person, a secret, or your heart—sooner or later, everything must
be released.
OR, in 25 words:
Lad lit meets chick lit in
this dark comedy about broken people who work in a dangerous place, finding hope
where they least expect it.
REVIEW
Graham is a social worker at Lakeside prison. He was married, but after a drunk driving accident caused by his wife he found himself stuck in a wheelchair. Unfortunately, walking was not the only thing Graham lost, he also lost his marraige.
Drew is the new Special Ed, or Exceptional Educational Needs, teacher at Lakeside. She thinks this will be best for her after what happened at her last school...
Graham has been using the internet for dating, but he has been leaving out one important part, he is paralized. Most people get pissed at this, one woman is amused, but there is one that decides it does not matter. She is like the whole package, except she is not Drew, the girl he has loved since high school.
Drew likes another coworker, Joe. She knows anything with him would be strictly sexual, but maybe that is just what she needs. Although, this entire time she is realizing more and more how much she likes Graham, but can she really be with a man in a wheelchair?
Let me clarify, this book is not just about these two fighting their connection. It goes so much deeper. Working at the prison, Drew forms bonds with her students. She helps one student begin to pass his high school graduation equivalent test, while another she helps him learn how to read. Neither student expected much of themselves, but she allows them to dream.
"While I watch her pull away, I say, to no one in particular, "I think I've figured out why we work at Lakeside. It's not because we love to be paid little for verbal abuse. It's because we're broken. And maybe broken people work there to remember that there's always a rung beneath them on the ladder to hell." ~ Graham
Mandatory Release can be a lot to take in. It is written alternating both Graham's and Drew's point of view. There are parts that are written really well, as well as, some that seem to drag on. This is a deep story though, at times with too much back ground. If you are looking for something deep, this is surely a good read.
4 stars
Graham is a social worker at Lakeside prison. He was married, but after a drunk driving accident caused by his wife he found himself stuck in a wheelchair. Unfortunately, walking was not the only thing Graham lost, he also lost his marraige.
Drew is the new Special Ed, or Exceptional Educational Needs, teacher at Lakeside. She thinks this will be best for her after what happened at her last school...
Graham has been using the internet for dating, but he has been leaving out one important part, he is paralized. Most people get pissed at this, one woman is amused, but there is one that decides it does not matter. She is like the whole package, except she is not Drew, the girl he has loved since high school.
Drew likes another coworker, Joe. She knows anything with him would be strictly sexual, but maybe that is just what she needs. Although, this entire time she is realizing more and more how much she likes Graham, but can she really be with a man in a wheelchair?
Let me clarify, this book is not just about these two fighting their connection. It goes so much deeper. Working at the prison, Drew forms bonds with her students. She helps one student begin to pass his high school graduation equivalent test, while another she helps him learn how to read. Neither student expected much of themselves, but she allows them to dream.
"While I watch her pull away, I say, to no one in particular, "I think I've figured out why we work at Lakeside. It's not because we love to be paid little for verbal abuse. It's because we're broken. And maybe broken people work there to remember that there's always a rung beneath them on the ladder to hell." ~ Graham
Mandatory Release can be a lot to take in. It is written alternating both Graham's and Drew's point of view. There are parts that are written really well, as well as, some that seem to drag on. This is a deep story though, at times with too much back ground. If you are looking for something deep, this is surely a good read.
4 stars
BUY LINKS
About
the Author
Jess Riley’s experiences teaching in a
medium-security prison inspired the novel Mandatory Release. Her debut novel (Driving
Sideways, now in its fourth printing) was published by Random House in
2008. She lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin with her husband and nutty Cairn Terrier
in a 130-year-old money pit farmhouse. When she’s not writing novels,
she’s a Grant Writer for school districts nationwide.
Twitter: @jessrileywrites
Tour Giveaway:
(2) Print Copies of Mandatory Release –
US/Canada
(5) eBook Copies of Mandatory Release -
International
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