Book Review: Upside Down by Lia Riley

Upside Down
Author:  Lia Riley
Publisher: Hatchette Australia

In this new adult debut by Lia Riley, a college student embarks on a trip to Australia and learns if you never get lostm you'll never be found.

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying goodbye to painful memories and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she'll pretend to be a carefree exchange student. Everything is going to plan until she meets a surely surfer with hypnotic green eyes, and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.
Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he slunk back to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defences.
He's never wanted anyone the way he want Talia. A single semester abroad won't cover something this serious. But when Bran gets a start reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime... or if they were meant to live a world apart.

My Review

Thoughts on the book: Upside Down  tells the story of Natalia (Talia) who comes to Australia as an exchange student after tragically loosing her sister. While studying down under Talia meets the unpredictable Bran and so begins the roller-coaster ride known as their relationship. The story is told from both Bran and Talia's Points of View but it is more Talia's story than Bran's. Throughout the book we get little pieces of the puzzle that makes up our main characters and a lot of the time it isn't what you would be expecting. The ending was a little predictable but also left room so there could be additional books and also left you wanting to know where Talia and Bran are headed. I for one can't wait to see where their relationship goes next. I mean their relationship is so dysfunctional yet is also so engaging that it will have your head spinning around.

The major thing that I liked about the book however is that the author wrote about something close to her heart, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). At the start of the book she has written an author's note about how the book came to be and how she didn't want everyone to think that just because she OCD and the way she explained it doesn't mean that everyone who has it suffers the same like what she has written. I myself seem to have a little OCD in me. My book and dvds always have to be in alphabetical order, I also triple check to make sure that my car is locked and sometimes have to go back to my car just to make sure that it is infact locked. I think everyone has a little bit of OCD in them and it was nice to read someone's perspective on it.

Favourite quote/part:

“I remember something Bran said when we were hiking in Tasmania, about how people believe they see the same river but the water is always different. I am that river.”

“The world’s divided into two kinds of people.” I pause to clear my throat. “Those who love Star Wars and idiots.” 

Rating: 4/5