REVIEW: Iron to Iron by Ryan Graudin

 In order to understand Luka Lowe.

TITLE: Iron to Iron
AUTHOR: Ryan Graudin

PLOT:
Sixteen-year-old Luka Löwe has one goal in mind: Win the 1955 Axis Tour and become the first Double Cross victor. If he can accomplish that, maybe his father will finally see him as a worthy son. He's completed the grueling trek from Germania to Tokyo before, but this time is different. Luka never expected to meet Adele Wolfe, another racer posing as her twin brother and with a singular dream--to live life on her own terms.
When Luka and Adele form an alliance, an unlikely bond forms, and even possibly love. But only one person can win the Axis Tour....Can everything Luka and Adele built together survive the race?

REVIEW:

I loved Wolf By Wolf very much, so when I heard there would be a Luka Löwe ebook I was very excited.
Iron to Iron is short but also amazing, it helps us to understand the figure of Luka and his relationship with Adele Wolfe. 

Luka is fascinating, handsome and charming, he can get anything he wants, but the only thing he really desires is to win the 1955 Axis Tour, so as to become the first Double Cross Victor and show his worth to his father.
Every girl is in love with him, but he isn't really interested in anyone... at least until he meets Adele Wolfe. She's different from the other girls, she's strong, stubborn and determined. Since she loves racing with motorbikes she pretends to be her twin brother Felix to enter the Axis Tour. When Luka discovers her secret, they decide to form an alliance. Soon their alliance turns into something more: love. Luka falls in love with Adele, he's completely into her. They understand each other, they want to live life on their own terms, they don't like following rules, they break them. Luka tells Adele his secrets, he reveals his weakness to her and for the first time in his life he gives his heart to someone. 

“No.” Adele shook her head. “That’s not why you wear the jacket. It’s not because of mosquitoes, and it’s not because you look better in brown. You swagger around in your unofficial jacket and smoke for the same reason I try to pass as a boy.”

The logic was bendy. Luka couldn’t follow it. “To enter the Axis Tour?”

“To show you’re untouchable. Nothing can get to you. Not even the official rulebook. Cigarettes and leather are just pieces of the armor.” Adele’s cigarette wasn’t even half finished, but she stubbed it out in the dirt anyway. “If you take them off, if you seem vulnerable, then people will try their best to own you. Devour what’s not theirs.”

Winning the race is no longer Luka's priority, he would like to continue the race indefinitely to spend more time with Adele. Unfortunately Luka has fallen in love with the wrong girl: Adele wants to win the race more than anything else, winning the Axis Tour is her only chance to prove her worth to the world and begin to live the life she really desires. It was heartbreaking to read about Luka falling in love with her and Adele betraying him. The end of this book is really sad and painful. Luka is broken, Adele has taken and destroyed his heart. But he's also full of anger, Luka builds a impenetrable wall around himself and promises that he will win the next Tour and destroy Adele.

There wasn’t much time for smelling when Adele’s lips were pressing into his as if she were a drowning girl and Luka was oxygen. Hungry, hungry. They’d both been so hungry for something…. 

 Turns out it was each other. When Adele pulled away, she shoved her short hair from her eyes and smiled. “Not bad.” 

“Not bad?” Luka’s eyebrows flew up. “I’ll admit, it wasn’t a peak performance. You caught me off guard.” 

“Kissing’s not a sport,” she told him. “It’s an art. It’s all in the spontaneity, going where the inspiration takes you.”

This story is really exciting and reading it from Luka's point of view was amazing. Luka is an incredible character, he's enigmatic, mischievous and ironic. It's impossible not to fall in love with him!

RATING:

Leave me a comment :)

Marta

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RECENSIONE IN ITALIANO: QUI.

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