Flutter of Luv Blog Tour: Guest Post on Harsh Realities

DRUGS? TEENS? And YA BOOKS by L.M. Preston, author of Flutter of Luv Believe it or not, even though, FLUTTER OF LUV, isn’t about drugs, there are hints within my short story that show it as a real reality for teens.Drugs and teens are a typical satire for many movies, shows and books. As a teen I dealt with the issues of drugs, sex, race issues, crime, gangs, teen pregnancy and diet issues. Those were real and difficult issues for me. Truth is, I really didn’t need a book to tell me about gangs – I lived where gangs were. I didn’t need a book to tell me about drugs, I lived around tons of drug addicts and alcohol.  But you know what I needed books for? To show me that I wasn’t alone, that there were other kids that handled these same issues differently. Some kids did it better, some kids suffered and failed, others succeeded. Books gave me that resource, and a safe haven to experience the things I’d seen an to process them.
YEAH, BUT REAL LIFE IS DIFFERENTReal life is different. No book yet that I have read can really depict the things I experienced and have seen firsthand growing up. Truthfully, living it hurts. But reading it gives us insight without the pain.I’m talking about this now since I have a young family member going through the effects of drug experimentation. The effects are being placed in a controlled environment in hopes of rehabilitation. The kid didn’t grow up seeing firsthand the effects of drugs. Bypassing crack heads as he walked to the corner store like I did. Maybe, just maybe if he’d seen that reality, he would have thought twice before he opened pandora’s box.Writing Flutter Of Luv allowed me to  express a bit of my experiences from growing up around all of those challenges and show sho many  of us get desensitized  to those instances.
by: LM Preston, www.lmpreston.com
MY REVIEW:
My thanks to L.M., who provided me with a copy of Flutter of Luv in exchange for my honest review.  But first, the book summary:
Dawn, the neighborhood tomboy, is happy to be her best friend’s shadow. Acceptance comes from playing football after school with the guys on the block while hiding safely behind her glasses, braces, and boyish ways. But Tony moves in, becomes the star Running Back on her school’s football team, and changes her world and her view of herself forever.

This is a short story told in ten episodes similar to an anthology of short stories over the course of Dawn’s and Tony’s realization of how much they mean to one another.
  This was a really nice short story. 

As someone who lacked both money and a chest growing up, I could really relate to Dawn. Her insecurities felt very real and some of the crap she had to endure really hit home. I applaud LM Preston for giving us a realistic view into Dawn's life, both the good sides and the bad.

And I also really enjoyed how the story was told in episodes, so we didn't have to read about the times in Dawn's life where nothing much different was happening and she was just left to pine over Tony. 

I wish I had seen a little more of the love story developing in the sense of seeing a deeper connection between Dawn and Tony though. Don't get me wrong, Tony did some cute things along the way to show us he was falling for Dawn, but being a hopeless romantic, I needed more to give this story a full 5 stars. [I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.] If you aren't a fanatic about romanticism, then you probably won't have the same issue as I did at all. ;)
So now that you want to read the book and join LM on her launch party festivities, here's how:
Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/Flutter-Of-Luv-ebook/dp/B0088ELXE2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340973462&sr=8-1&keywords=flutter+of+luv#_Twitter Party:Friday, July 27th, 5pm - 6pm, use hashtag #FlutterOfLuv and follow @Lm_PrestonFacebook Party:Saturday, July 28th,  12pm-9pm ESThttp://www.facebook.com/events/340720479326022/?context=create
Blog Tour Stops:
LM Preston’s Ramblings - 7/13/2012http://lmpreston.blogspot.comIndies Unlimited - 7/13/2012http://www.indiesunlimited.com/A Little Bit Of R&R - 7/13/2012http://www.alittlebitofrnrreviews.comDoreen McGettigan - 7/17/2012http://doreenmcgettigan.com/Writer’s Alley - 7/17/2012http://writersally.blogspot.com/I Want To Read That - 7/18/2012http://www.iwanttoreadthat.com/Cheryl Rainfield - 7/18/2012http://cherylrainfield.com/blog/
The Daily Harrell - 7/19/2012http://jessie-harrell.blogspot.com/Word Forge Books - 7/20/2012http://wordforgebooks.com/blog/Searching For An Escape - 7/21/2012http://www.officialmhafh.blogspot.comhttp://www.facebook.com/MHAFHThe Write Game - 7/23/2012http://writegame.blogspot.com/Stephen Penner - 7/24/2012http://stephenpenner.blogspot.com/Black Words White Pages - 7/26/2012http://www.blackwords-whitepages.blogspot.comCuriosity Key - 7/27/2012http://www.curiositykey.blogspot.com/
SomeoneWhoActuallyCares - 7/27/2012http://someonewhoactuallycares.blogspot.com/LM Preston’s Ramblings - 7/28/2012http://lmpreston.blogspot.comTribute Books Reviews & Giveaways - 7/23/2012http://tributebooksreviews.blogspot.com/Tribute Books Mama - 7/24/2012http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/The Character Connection - 7/25/2012http://thecharacterconnection.blogspot.com/The Plot Thickens - 7/26/2012http://theplotthickensbookblog.blogspot.com/City Girl Who Loved To Read - 7/27/2012http://citygirlwholovestoread.blogspot.com/