Blog Tour: You Before Anyone Else by Julie Cross & Mark Perini

Rating: 4 stars
Pub Date: August 2, 2016

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Genre: young adult contemporary romance

Format/Source: DRC, from the publisher

Status: companion to Halfway Perfect

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour, which was organized & hosted by Irish Banana Tours.

Summary:

Model Finley needs someone to help her shed her "good girl" persona, so she'll try Eddie on for size.

New York City model Finley is fed up with hearing the same feedback at castings: she needs to take some serious action to wipe the "good girl" stamp from her resume if she wants to launch to stardom.

Enter Eddie Wells. He's shallow, predictable…and just as lost as Finley feels. Deep down, Finley is drawn to Eddie's bravado, his intensity. Except Eddie is hiding something. A big something. And when it surfaces, both loving and leaving Finley will become so much harder.

Fancast:

Finley

For Finley I chose actress Britt Robertson. This may or may not have been influenced by my watching The Longest Ride while reading You Before Anyone Else. I love Britt's look for Finley—blonde, big blue eyes, sweet face—but I think Britt has the right attitude too. Her on-screen persona is often caring and kind so I could totally see Britt-as-Finley taking care of the people around her, especially adopting Eddie, who is a bit of a lost puppy, as Summer so often describes him.

Eddie

Speaking of lost puppies, there is no one on this earth who plays a better lost boy taking on more than he can handle than Kit Harrington. Also, with the emphasis on Eddie's long, dark, messy curls, absolutely no one else ever popped into my head while reading YBAE. Kit is a bit on the old side considering this is YA, but then, everyone always casts older actors. I think Kit would do great justice to good-buy-in-a-bad-spot Eddie. YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW EDDIE WELLS.

Sam

If I'm being honest, the person I really saw in my mind as Sam was Dan Stevens, but for a true fancast, I wanted someone who exudes both more humor and a more fatherly air. I think Simon Baker would be a remarkable Sam. He's very witty and clever in a way that would honor the humor Sam displays throughout the book, but he can also pull off the serious dad-side, the one that worries for Finley and gives Eddie all the fatherly advice Eddie has never received from his own father.

Connor & Braden

Tiny, blonde, and adorable? I went back and forth on this one between One Tree Hill favorite Jackson Brundage and Bridger and Brecken Palmer, the two blonde tornadoes from Yours, Mine & Ours, but my allegiance to Jackson won out. He did an amazing job as tiny tot Jamie on OTH, and I couldn't not pick him. Granted, at 15, Jackson is too old to play 6 year olds, but I'm pretending here. He absolutely could pull off double duty as bold Braden and contemplative Connor.

Summer

For Summer, no one would do but it-girl Gigi Hadid. Gigi has taken the model world by storm, and I think she'd be a perfect fit to pull off Summer's tough-but-friendly demeanor. Summer also has an in-the-biz family, and she's a consummate professional in front of the camera. I don't think she's ever explicitly described on the page, but I couldn't see anyone but Gigi as Summer.

Eve

You Before Anyone Else is a companion to Halfway Perfect, Julie and Mark's previous collaboration, and it features couple Eve and Alex. They also aren't described on-page so I just went with my gut. For model-turned-photographer, I picked Melissa Benoist. Melissa can pull of a girl with a bit of a past, but she has a sweet and charming countenance that I think fits Eve well. She's passionate and just a bit quirky but also classy and refined. It's a good mix for a character who used to be on top of the modeling world but has turned to life behind the camera.

Alex

Alex was a bit tougher for me to cast, but I got major All-America Boy vibes from him, and a huge sense of protectiveness toward Eve so I chose all-around good guy Lucas Till to be his face. Granted this particular picture makes him look like one of the Outsiders, but it's also giving me major Calvin Klein vibes, and that was Alex, Eve, and Elana's major job in Halfway Perfect.

Elana

For Elana, I wanted someone fresh-faced, young, and relatively unknown, although YA fans may recognize her. Mackenzie Foy, the girl formerly known as Renesmee, is all of these things. I think she has a very European face, which is something fashion designers and houses LOVE. She absolutely looks like she could be a French girl taking over the modeling world, but she also has a bit of a young, naive look that works for a character who has been duped and is working her way back to the top under the watchful eye of her maman. Speaking of...

French Mama

I couldn't include Elana and not her overbearing, protective, and kind mother. I love how French Mama constantly looks out for Finley. Summer may hate having someone step on her toes and smell up the apartment with fish and highly caloric food, but I think it's great that after an experiment with independence goes wrong with a teen character, the mom steps in to take responsibility and care not just of her child, but of the other girls in the apartment. Finley is so busy taking care of other people that she doesn't always do it for herself. J'adore French Mama! I think Marion Cotillard would be lovely as French Mama. She's lovely and gracious, but she can also pull off the stern mother hen chasing boy models out of the apartment.

Purchase Links:

   

Tour Schedule:

Week 1:

7/25: kimberlyfaye reads - Review

7/26: Lost In Lit - Bookish Inspirations

7/27: The Cover Contessa - Review

7/28: In Wonderland - Top 10

7/29: Lekeisha the Booknerd - Review

Week 2:

8/1: Mary Had A Little Book Blog - Fancast

8/2: Reed's Reads and Reviews - Review

8/3: Bookish Wanderlove - Gust Post

8/4: Dani Reviews Things - Review

8/5: A Book & A Latte - Q&A

About Julie Cross:

Julie Cross is a NYT and USA Today bestselling author of New Adult and Young Adult fiction, including the Tempest series, a young adult science fiction trilogy which includes Tempest, Vortex, Timestorm (St. Martin's Press). She's also the author of Letters to Nowhere series, Whatever Life Throws at You, Third Degree, Halfway Perfect, and many more to come!

Julie lives in Central Illinois with her husband and three children. She's a former gymnast, longtime gymnastics fan, coach, and former Gymnastics Program Director with the YMCA. She's a lover of books, devouring several novels a week, especially in the young adult and new adult genres.

Outside of her reading and writing credibility's, Julie Cross is a committed--but not talented--long distance runner, creator of imaginary beach vacations, Midwest bipolar weather survivor, expired CPR certification card holder, as well as a ponytail and gym shoe addict.

Julie's Links:

   

About Mark Perini:

Mark Perini, is a New York City based author debuting his first YA novel, Halfway Perfect. Additionally, Mark is a featured author in the upcoming anthology, 50 First Times.

Mark began his career as an international fashion model 8 years ago, while simultaneously obtaining a business degree from Seton Hall University. He has a passion for traveling the world, and he's made a blood pact with friends to see all seven ancient wonders of the world before he's thirty. Four down three to go.

Mark's Links:

   

Giveaway: 

3 winners will received a finished copy of You Before Anyone Else (US only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway