Sunday, February 19, 2017

Blog Tour: There's Something About Nik by Sara Hantz


There’s Something About Nik 
by Sara Hantz
Genre: Standalone YA Contemporary
Published by Entangled Teen
Published on February 13th, 2017
Nik Gustafsson has a secret: He’s not really Nik Gustafsson.
He’s not a spy. He’s not crazy.
He’s just the son and heir to one of the most important families in Europe—one where duty always comes first. And his posh, too-public life is suffocating him. So when he gets the chance to attend boarding school in America, pretending to be an average exchange student is too big of a temptation to pass up.
Then he literally runs into Amber on campus. And she hates him at first sight.
It’s kind of exhilarating to be hated for who he is, not for his family name or his wealth. Maybe if he turns up the charm and turns down the aloof mask he habitually wears, he can win her over. Even though a bad past experience has made her swear off dating this year.
But the more he gets to know her, the more uncomfortable he is keeping things from her.
Because Nik Gustafsson has a secret. And it’s a big one.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains a hot boy who’s the strong and silent type, a studious girl who refuses to believe in fairy-tale romance, and one epic secret that could be disastrous if it comes to light.

Review:
This was a super cute and super adorable quick read about a fantasy I’m sure many girls/women have had all their lives, after all who doesn’t want a prince charming?  Sara Hantz did a wonderful job transporting us to this private school where it seems even royalty attends. 

We meet Nik who is under cover trying to be a regular guy.  Its hard being second in line for the throne, even if it’s not something he really wants there is still too much attention on him.  Normalcy is a rarity in his life and he’s just seeking a little bit with a year away in America.  Of course he wasn’t planning on meeting someone, let alone someone as special and as strong willed as Amber.  The two of them are like ying and yang until you put them together and they fit just right.

Amber also has had a tough life, although not because of media and duties, there are things she has overcome in her past and has always had a hard time trusting people because of those actions.  Trust is a major part of any relationship, break that just a little and sometimes it’s just too hard to gain back.  Even though she adamantly doesn’t want a relationship this school year only wanting to focus on her photography and application, she couldn’t help but feel that attraction with Nik.  Again two peas in a pod these two.


There was a very sweet innocence to the entire book that you don’t see very often.  Oh to be that young and naïve, what a treasure these young people have today that they take for granted.  Overall the book was a great quick read.  The characters were just adorable and even though there wasn’t too much depth to the book it still kept you rooting for the couple to get together in the end.  The setting was very typical of a boarding school, not that I’ve experienced one in the past but it’s definitely what I can imagine it to be.  New Hampshire as a whole is also just a beautiful state and very remote in some places so perfect place to set this book in.  Loved it!

Excerpt:
Nik drew in a long breath. He was in uncharted territory and didn’t know how to proceed. He’d never met anyone quite like Amber before—specifically, anyone who showed such disinterest in him. Was this what being normal felt like? To be ignored or dismissed like he wasn’t important? Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure if he liked it. He surreptitiously studied her, while she did everything she could to avoid eye contact. She certainly wasn’t his type, if indeed he had a type. His previous girlfriends had all been tall with blonde hair, which would imply that he did. Then again, in his country, most girls he met looked like that.

Amber was small, at least a head shorter than he was. Her dark brown hair seemed ridiculously short as it framed her face. A pretty face with freckles. And what was it with that camera she hugged close to her, like it was something so precious? He’d hoped that in America he’d finally be away from people constantly trying to get a shot of him. Yet, the first day here, he’d met a girl who seemed obsessed with taking photos. No wonder he’d frozen up around her.

“What are you staring at?” Amber’s question brought him back to the present with a start.

 “Nothing,” he replied abruptly, feeling like a small child being caught doing something wrong.

She reminded him of his old nanny, who’d always said that he shouldn’t stare at people because it made them feel uncomfortable. Most of the time, he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

 “It didn’t seem like nothing to me. You were looking at my hair, weren’t you?” she accused.

“Yes. It’s much shorter than I’m used to seeing.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. He should’ve known better than that. He’d been trained since a child to be circumspect, and here he was, not two days in America, and he was forgetting how to behave.

“Girls don’t have short hair in your country?” Amber challenged, as if daring him to say even more about how she looked.

Which was another thing. All the girls he knew were masters of polite conversation. He had no clue why she was being so unfriendly. He hadn’t been rude to her. Admittedly, he’d been looking at her hair. Well, her hair and also her camera. But surely that wasn’t enough to make her so antagonistic.

Maybe it was a cultural thing. He would check with Josh later whether it was something he’d done by mistake. In the meantime, he couldn’t just stand there in such awkward silence.

“It’s different from girls at home, yes. But it’s very striking,” he added, hoping that would appease her.


She remained silent for a moment, with an expression on her face like he was a bug who had landed on her shoe. “Thank goodness for that,” she finally said, “or I might have had to spend the next several months sitting in my room willing it to grow.”

About the Author:

Sara Hantz has been a prolific reader all her life, but it wasn’t until she was an adult that she got the writing bug. She writes contemporary adult and young adult fiction and her debut book The Second Virginity of Suzy Green made the prestigious list ‘New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age’. Sara lectured for many years before deciding to devote more time to her writing and working in the family hospitality business. She has two grown-up children and when not writing, working, or online with her friends, she spends more time than most people she knows watching TV – in fact if TV watching was an Olympic sport she’d win gold.  She has presented many writing workshops with her partner-in-crime Amanda Ashby.


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