Jessica Park

Flat-Out Love

To college freshman Julie Seagle the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family of Boston add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Only the funny, gorgeous, smart oldest brother Finn is emotionally available--but only online? Not until Julie 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.

Flat-out love

I had this book on my TBR for like ten years, so entirely too long.

Julia irritated me. I tried not to be irritated, but she was giving Senorita Awesome. She hated Twitter and thought she was lowkey better for not using it.

Which, I also don't vibe with twitter and never got the hype, but tweet to your hearts content, you aren't bothering me. She was a little weird for that.

I also hated how she was such a meddler. She meddled in everything, and thought she knew best, getting involved in things that weren't at all her business and then getting upset when she was told off. And then the characters would apologize to her for getting mad, which annoyed me. Like stand behind telling her off!

I really liked the family's tragic backstory and the use of the cardboard cutout. It gave a twist at the end, which I really liked. If the story focused more on that aspect and less on Senorita Awesome, it would be a five star for me. That part of the story was so gripping and made me change the rating to something higher at the end. The writer had things that appeared small in the story count for something at the end, and I loved that.

Lowkey, Matt was weird for what he did; but I can relate a little to what he was going through, so without spoiling things, he gets a break for it. Even if it was weird for someone his age to do that.

Sarah Campbell

I had this book on my TBR for like ten years, so entirely too long.
Julia irritated me. I tried not to be irritated, but she was giving Senorita Awesome. She hated Twitter and thought she was lowkey better for not using it.
Which, I also don't vibe with twitter and never got the hype, but tweet to your hearts content, you aren't bothering me. She was a little weird for that.
I also hated how she was such a meddler. She meddled in everything, and thought she knew best, getting involved in things that weren't at all her business and then getting upset when she was told off. And then the characters would apologize to her for getting mad, which annoyed me. Like stand behind telling her off!
I really liked the family's tragic backstory and the use of the cardboard cutout. It gave a twist at the end, which I really liked. If the story focused more on that aspect and less on Senorita Awesome, it would be a five star for me. That part of the story was so gripping and made me change the rating to something higher at the end. The writer had things that appeared small in the story count for something at the end, and I loved that.
Lowkey, Matt was weird for what he did; but I can relate a little to what he was going through, so without spoiling things, he gets a break for it. Even if it was weird for someone his age to do that.

★★★★ // i’ve decided to let go my problems against the writing style because this one was honestly entertaining and fun to read throughout its run. celeste is definitely one of my all-time favorite characters out there.

Anna Ureta

So I made the stupid mistake of taking this book to work and not bringing the sequel Flat-Out Matt with me. I didn’t know I’d finish it on the train ride in. So I was without reading material for the whole day which was majorly depressing.
 
There’s been a lot of hype floating around about how AMAZING this book is. I go by recommendation only so when one of my friends, Britt, told me to read this book I said, “Sure. Why not.” after all we have similar tastes.
 
I CANNOT believe how much I love this book. Like I do, I love it, TO PIECES. The writing is so simple and easy to follow, the story is beautiful if not a bit strange – haha, and all the characters stand out immensely and are just so fun to read about you can’t help but just WHIZZ right through this book.
 
New college freshmen Julie Seagle gets stranded on her first day in Boston after getting ripped off of an apartment listing off Craigslist. Fortune smiles on her as she is saved by her mother’s olf college friend Erin and her son Matt who come to the rescue by picking her up and offering her a place to stay. The Watkinses’ aren’t your typical family. The lawyer Erin, the researcher Roger, who are both workaholics, the excentric teenage daughter Celeste, nerdy over-achieving son Matt, and Flat-Finn, a life-sized cardboard cut out their older brother (and possibly normal Finn if you count the fact he’s been traveling all around the world).
 
Julie ends up staying with the Watkins; living with them instead of finding her own apartment and ends up becoming a very important member of their family. She plays a major part in being a role-model to Celeste, and ends up falling for the far away brother Finn, a person she’s never met and only talks to through facebook. She doesn’t care that she’s never met the guy and practically stalked his facebook, they have a connection, they get each other, and that’s not something you want to take for granted. The closer she becomes to the Watkinses the more complicated her life becomes, and the thing about getting attached to people and falling in love is it’s innevitable people will get hurt. It’s how you deal with the hurt that makes you a better person.I think I’ve got a little bit of a bias to loving this book because I find it’s just EXTREMELY NERDY/GEEKY and just downright ADORABLE. I’ve never connected with a book on such a level; and this coming from the girl who’ll squeal at any Doctor Who or Star Wars reference in any form of media. I guess it’s my inner nerd…geeking out at all the scientific references and how intelligent Matt and Julie are. I’m no where near as smart as them but at least I understood what they were talking about.
 

“I’m sure Literature 101 can’t compete with what? Adoration of Differential Equations?” Matt laughed. ”Close. That was last year. This year it’s Obsessive Devotion to Fourier Analysis Theory and Applications. And my personal favorite, Quantum Physics II: Romantic Entanglements of Energy and Matter.”
 Julie turned her head to Matt. “You’re a double major Physics and math Jesus…”
 “I know. Nerdy.” He shrugged.
 
Seriously, total nerdgasm right there…
 
Everyone in the Watkins family is just so EXCEPTIONALLY INTELLIGENT it almost scares me. Even the thirteen year old daughter is exceptionally smart too. Even if she does speak a little odd. Matt has his geeky shirts which I ADORE!~ Celeste has Flat-Finn and her regressive tendancies, and the parents Erin and Roger are never home. A dysfunctional family if I ever saw one, though you wouldn’t have known it at first glance.
 
One thing I envy about Jessica and about a lot of authors is their abuility to banter. I don’t think I’ve met any one person in real life or online who’s been smooth when they banter, or as I like to call it, ‘unconsciously flirting’. I feel like banter is just another way to say unconsciously flirting because that’s really what they’re doing and I think it’s adorable.
 

Finn Is God
 What are you wearing?
 
Oh. My. God. This had now gone beyond colossal mistake to violently alarming. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
 
Finn Is God
 Julie? Relax. I’m kidding.
 
Julie laughed. Not only was he funny, but he wrote using actual whole words.
 
Julie Seagle
 [Delete] [Delete] [Delete] Was just about to give you a full description of enticing bedroom attire.
 
Finn Is God
 Oh. NOT KIDDING! NOT KIDDING!
 
Maybe I was a bit blind towards the end, but I TOTALLY didn’t see the major turn-point of the story. Maybe because I was so focused that like Julie I was analyzing too much and didn’t see what was right in front of me.
 

“But think about this,” he offered, “maybe you’re missing something obvious. Don’t overanalyze what you see. I have a feeling that you’re overthinking things. Give it some time, and the pieces of this puzzle might come together.” He laughed. “Of course, they might not. This may be a family that you never fully understand.”
 
I loved reading Flat-Out Love and would definitely read it over and over to see if I could catch anything that I might have missed the first time I read it. I look forward to reading and reviewing the sequel Flat-Out Matt which I should be done soon. And remember guys LOVE GEEKS AND NERDS because they will someday rule the world! 

5/5 Hearts of Love

Barbara Kovács

i want to give this book 6 stars. 
why?
because I loved it.
I fell in love with Matt, and I never really loved Finn, in the way I loved Matty. 
Matt is not ordinary. Not a tipical boy. 
But he is perfect, in his own way.
So thank you Jessica Park for writing this book, for creating Matt, and for taking my Dream-boyfriend-expectations to a New level. Now I'm sure, I'm gonna die alone.
But I don't care. I will have this book, I can hug it, smell it, and think of Matt, all day, all night.

Nicole Dykeman

Wowowowowowow this was AMAZING! I ADORED this book! This is coming from someone who usually prefers fantasy stories, too.

Elaine

such a great read! Although the ending was predictable, at least for me (I knew what was going one about 30 % into the book) I fell in love with the characters and really enjoyed the adventures of this quirky family :)

Cassandra Paliwoda

I really enjoyed this book, I knew the secret what felt like 2 pages in so I felt that kind of took away from it and it seemed kind of overly familiar and typical (if that makes sense). Still would recommend it, I laughed at a lot of parts and over all it was really entertaining it came off as if I was re reading a much loved book.

Chelsea Bates

This book was wonderful. The ending was crazy, I did not see it coming at all. At the same time the ending was completely appropriate. I loved everything about this book!

Dani Pesayco

This book was AMAZING. Especially the characters :) but i dunno if it's just me or am i the only one who didn't figure out the "plot twist" earlier on in the book? Now i feel like a bad reader lol. But anyway, this book is definitely worth people's time. I dunno but it lacks one star because i felt like "something" was missing. I dunno what that thing is tho haha. I recommend for people looking for an interesting story to bury themselves in :)

Hey there! While I wasn’t successful in the Re-Read Challenge in 2016, I did find that I loved the recommended format of the reviews so I’ve decided to keep it for my re-read reviews going forward. It looks a little different than my typical reviews, and I’m ok with that.

WHEN I First Read
September 2013 (Audiobook)
First Re-Read: May 2014 (Audiobook)
Second Re-Read: February 2018 (Audiobook)

WHAT I Remember

Honestly, I remembered pretty much everything about this book, even though it'd been nearly four years since I read it last. It is one of my all-time favorites so I suppose that's not exactly surprising though, right?

WHY I Wanted to Re-Read

The main reason I decided to read it again was because I knew it would make me cry and I needed such a book for a challenge I'm doing this year. And, I was right. But more than that, I'd just taken a photo of the book a few days before and it reminded me how much I loved it. I didn't realize it'd been so long since I re-read, so I was totally overdue. I just needed some Julie, Matt and Celeste in my life again.

HOW I Felt After Re-Reading

My love for Flat-Out Love knows no bounds and I can't even properly put it in words. As was true the first two times I read, I was completely and utterly charmed by Julie, Matt, Finn and Celeste. I spent the first 80(ish)% of the book cheesy grinning while I listened. It just made my heart happy. Then, the truth is revealed and I was as devastated this time around as I was the first, when it took me totally by surprise. It wasn't surprising this time, of course, but it was still painful. My feels had feels. And I loved it.

WOULD You Re-Read Again?

I'm pretty sure I will. As much as I love this book, it's not one I can listen to TOO often, you know? I don't want to numb the feelings that come with it. All that said, I need to make time to read Flat-Out Matt and Flat-Out Celeste again soon. Now that I've started, I need the full story.

FAVORITE QUOTES

"I'd just have to meet the guy right. Someone who isn't ordinary. Someone who gets me. Someone I fit perfectly with. I want heat, chemistry, an undeniable connection. You know what I mean? I want it all. I'm done with ordinary and mediocre."

"Julie, tell me that you fell in love with me, too. I know you did. I can feel it."

But that's what love does to you. Gut-wrenching, overpowering, crushing, fulfilling, complex, bring-you-to-your-knees love.

"It was always you. I thought it was somebody else, but it was you. You were the person I felt."

Dana Safadi

I enjoyed the story but found it to be a bit confusing sometimes, it is an easy read and light hearted romance. 

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

Audiobook Review:

Julie shows up in Boston, totally pumped about going off to college on her own. But as she arrives at the address for the apartment she rented on Craig's List, she quickly realizes it was all a scam. Here she is, stuck in Boston, alone with no idea what to do. Luckily her mother's old college roommate happens to live in Boston and offers Julie a room in her home. She moves in the Watkins' house and soon realizes that this may be more than she signed up for.

Can I just start by saying how I'm totally in love with Flat Finn? And who is Flat Finn, you may be wondering? Well, besides being the cardboard cutout of Matt's older brother Finn, he's also their sister Celeste's right-hand man. She never goes anywhere without him. She carries around this life-size cardboard cutout everywhere, and seems to ignore the horribly judging glares of others. It doesn't matter to little Celeste what people think... Flat Finn comes along.

Jessica Park is an amazing storyteller. She writes in such a way that things you may otherwise find strange (such as Flat Finn) become normal and acceptable. Almost second nature. This book has so much - You have romance, drama, love and loss... and oh, the humor! I was literally laughing out loud A LOT throughout this book. And yes, I'm sure the incredible narrator had a lot to do with that. She was able to successfully portray Julie as the spunky, go-getter that she was, while showing Matt's genius and often awkward moments, along with Finn's lovable reactions and stories, on top of Celeste's adorable 13-year old totally immature yet brilliant self. Park's incredible writing just made this into the wonderful story it was. I couldn't put it down.

Each chapter began with the Facebook update of all three characters. This was hilarious to me. My favorite was this one:

Julie Seagle: If you can't stop thinking about someone's update, that's called "status cling".

Baaaahahahaha!! Come on... cute, right?! This story was just so fun, I can't even explain it. It's safe to say this is one of my favorite audiobooks to date. Most anyone that likes contemporary stories will adore this one too. And I would definitely recommend the audio. It's flat-out lovable! ;)

Flat-Out Love

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