Review: Reality Check by Karen Tuft + a giveaway!

After college graduation, Lucy Kendrick heads home with big plans for work, travel, and relishing her freedom—which means no romantic entanglements. But her two best friends have other ideas. Lucy is seriously steamed when she realizes they’ve signed her up to be a contestant on the reality dating show Soulmates, but she decides not to renege and soon finds herself in Los Angeles—a small-town Mormon girl vying for the love of millionaire bachelor, Ethan Glass. At first this cute, smart, fun young woman, who would rather pray than party, bewilders Ethan. But his interest and admiration grow with every encounter. However, the conniving associate producer is determined to stir up some made-for-TV drama and takes strides to make this reality television show anything but real. When the show finally airs, Lucy has been recast as someone she unquestionably is not. Lucy is left humiliated in front of the world, and Ethan is left wondering who the Lucy is that he was falling in love with. Will the duplicities that have created this humiliation ever come to light? And will the truth emerge too late for the would-be soulmates?

I love to be a part of blog tours for books.  My thanks to Lexi over at The Book Bug for putting this tour together and allowing me to be a part of it.

As you might guess from the blurb above, this is an LDS fiction book as the main character is a Mormon.  :)  A Mormon girl on a reality dating show?  Just the idea of it is amusing to me.  

Okay, so this reality dating stuff is big right now.  This is the third book in the last year that I've read based on a kind of reality dating kind of idea.  I will admit that I do watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette.  I'm really not sure exactly why I do that.  My husband thinks I'm crazy.  He might be on to something there.  In conjunction with this review, I will be doing a Bachelorette post on Thursday so look for that.  I will be giving you MY pick for the season finale.  ;)

Reality Check was a fun, easy reading kind of book.  I enjoyed Lucy.  Her friends (if you can really call them that) were something else all together.  I think Lucy needs new friends.  Just wait until you read the book.  I think you will agree.

Ethan is awesome.  I love the whole charm bracelet idea instead of roses at the ceremony. The whole charm thing was completely sweet and romantic.  I want one of those.  I think it was Ethan who stole the show for me.  I loved his flirty banter and his desire to please and defend Lucy.  

Was this book a bit unrealistic?  Yes.  But so is every princess fairy tale you read.  I happen to like dreaming and I especially like happily ever after endings.  

Here are the places you can find Reality Check because you really should check it out for yourself:
Amazon
Deseret Book:
Seagull Book
Barnes & Noble

Karen is generously donating a paperback copy of Reality Check plus a starfish charm bracelet to one lucky reader. All you have to do to gain entries is to leave a comment on any of the tour stops. Each comment will gain you an entry. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

For those readers who prefer a non-LDS read, I am also giving away an ARC copy of The Selection by Kiera Cass. It is such a cute book with a reality based dating show as well.

Make sure you leave your email address and which book you are entering for in your comments (i.e. Reality Check, The Selection, or Both).

Click here for a full list of the tour stops.

Check out the contest going on Karen's blog this summer at http://kktuft.blogspot.com/2012/06/where-did-you-have-reality-check.html

Karen Tuft was born with a healthy dose of curiosity about pretty much everything, so as a child she taught herself to read and play the piano. She studied composition at BYU then graduated from the University of Utah in music theory as a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda honor societies. In addition to being an author, Karen is a wife, mother, pianist, composer, and arranger. She as spent countless hours backstage and in orchestra pits for theater productions. She also has a 75 percent success rate when it comes to matchmaking and is a big believer in happy endings. Among her varied interests, she likes to figure out what makes people tick, wander through museums, and travel, whether by car, plane, or paperback.
Blogs: "A Tuft Act to Follow": http://karentuft.blogspot.com/, "Lyrics Without the Chord Changes": http://kktuft.blogspot.com/  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKarenTuft