Blogtour, Giveaway and Review: The Holdout – Laurel Osterkamp

Posted 14 October, 2013 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Blog Tour, Giveaways, Reviews / 0 Comments

Blogtour, Giveaway and Review: The Holdout - Laurel Osterkamp

Blogtour, Giveaway and Review: The Holdout – Laurel OsterkampThe Holdout by Laurel Osterkamp
Published by PMI Books on 12 September 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult
Pages: 233
Format: eARC
Source: IFB Blogtours
Buy on Amazon | |
3 Stars

Robin wanted to win The Holdout, a cutthroat reality TV show, so she gave it her all, challenge after challenge. Then she fell for Grant, with his irresistible eyes and heartbreaking life story.

But Grant was only using Robin as they competed for a million dollars. Once home, Robin wants to hide from the humiliation as episodes of The Holdout are aired, and she worries her family was right all along; she’s not a survivor.

Yet she could surprise everyone, and have the last laugh.

Besides, Robin now has jury duty. And as she forges ahead, confronting her demons about bravery, justice, and romance, Robin will come to decide which is more important: the courage to stand alone, or the strength to love again.

*I received a free ARC of The Holdout from IFB Blog Tours in exchange of an honest review*

Welcome to my stop on The Holdout Blogtour! I’m sharing a review and some of my favorite quotes, and let me just start by letting you know I really enjoyed this story, even if I’m not a huge fan of reality TV, it was nice to kind of see the other side of what happens and how people can get really caught up in things when they are far away from home, living with strangers and being filmed at all times. The readers meet and get to know Robin quite well, and the story switches from flash-backs from her time on the show and just before, and present time, where Robin is dealing with the show being aired. Not having the right to let anyone know what happened on and off screen is hard on her, and she does her best to blend in and not be recognized by fans of the show while she tries to get her life back together.

The Holdout is well written, and I found it interesting to get to know Robin through her experiences both before, during and after filming the show. Seeing as she has always felt the need to prove her worth, and using the show as a way to validate her choices made me see her as strong and weak at the same time. I had never thought of how hard it must be for people who do sign up for a reality show to actually come back to reality after they stop filming. Dealing with other people judging them, feeling lost and knowing that not everything that is shown on TV is the truth must be incredibly hard to deal with, and The Holdout showed this very well.

Betrayal and loneliness are both at the forefront both during Robin’s stint at The Holdout and in her normal life as well. The character development is well done, Robin did some growing up especially after the show aired and while she was on jury-duty. Mixing the reality show with an actual jury also was an apt way of showing the readers just how hard life on an island can truly be – drawing parallels that seemed unlikely at first, but that ended up making a lot of sense. While trying her best to keep her chin up, she also finally realizes that the only person she can change is herself, and that if she wants something in her life, she has to work to get it.

If you are looking for a book that’s a little different, with a likeable main character and some behind-the-scenes stories when it comes to reality TV, The Holdout should make its way to your TBR shelf.

I take a bite of turkey and mashed potatoes, glued together with buttery gravy, and wash it down with a sip of merlot. The food here is always tasty because my Aunt Natalie does most of the cooking, and she reads Martha Stewart Living the way middle-aged guys read porn.

But who am I to talk? I am after all, a reality television star. That’s about as attention whorish as you can get.

Here’s the Rafflecopter for the giveaway:
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Good luck 🙂

Laurel Osterkamp’s award winning novels have been hailed as funny, intelligent, snarky and poignant. She is the author of four novels and two novellas, including the November Surprise series, which, like The Holdout, features the Bricker family. Laurel was recently on a federal jury, and she loves watching Survivor.

About the author:

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Laurel Osterkamp is the Award Winning Author of several novels including Following My Toes, November Surprise, and Starring in the Movie of My Life. Along with writing, she teaches, and maintains relationships. Laurel also loves boots, chocolate, her family, and her liberal opinions.

You can find Laurel here : Twitter | Website | Blog

 

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Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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0 responses to “Blogtour, Giveaway and Review: The Holdout – Laurel Osterkamp

    • I would never want to be on a reality TV show, it must be hard both being filmed all the time, and then afterwards to come home to people judging you on snippets.
      Thanks for stopping by Robyn. Have a great week yourself!

    • Yeah I watch a little TV, but not shows like Survivor. The Holdout is really interesting, though, because it deals with how hard it is to suddenly be recognized everywhere.

      Thanks for stopping by Brandee! *hugs*

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