Faith, Fiction, & FairytalesBlog Tour: The Ultimate Blindside by Leslea Wahl
Welcome to the Blog Tour for The Ultimate Blindside by Leslea Wahl, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: The Ultimate Blindside
Series: Blindside series #3
Author: Leslea Wahl
Publisher: Perpetual Light Publishing
Release Date: February 3, 2026
Genre: YA Adventure/Mystery
Jake’s silver-medal life is movie-worthy.
Sophie’s role is about to be sabotaged.
Their sleepy Colorado town is overrun by a Hollywood film crew as the two teens, now high school seniors, find their private lives laid open for the world to see. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman and her daughter seek the couple’s help running from a powerful, dangerous man. In this tale of twists, whom can Sophie and Jake truly trust?
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon
More in This Series
About the Author
Leslea Wahl is an award-winning author of adventurous teen mysteries. She not only writes for teens but is an avid reviewer of Christian fiction and a founding member of Catholic Teen Books. Her journey to become an author came through a search for value-based fiction for her own children. Leslea now strives to be an advocate for other families battling against society’s secular messages through her faith-based writing and reviews.
Connect with Leslea by visiting lesleawahl.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email updates.
My Review
There was a lot that I loved about this book–the setting, the filming elements, the healthy dating relationship between Sophie and Jake. I also liked the parental involvement (and disappointment and consequences) because I feel YA fiction sometimes likes to ignore that parents exist. The opening hooked me pretty quickly, and the end was WILD. But a few aspects made this book harder to enjoy.
I liked Sophie and Jake and the naturalness of their relationship… the way that they’re mostly friends doing life together with an occasional kiss that honestly didn’t feel sensual at all. I liked the discussion throughout the book about setting boundaries and following them, and the care that Sophie and Jake put into ensuring their relationship remains pure. I also liked how they both had their own interesting pursuits going on outside of their relationship.
I think the delicate balance of realistic teen angst vs. annoying teen angst can be difficult to navigate, and while most of Sophie and Jake’s decisions felt reasonable (despite being foolish at times), there was a lot of relational drama in their friendships. Jon and Rick showing up during filming just to anger Jake felt weird, and I didn’t like Jake’s responses to them for much of the book. For him being such a chill and kind guy, there seemed like such a lack of understanding. And then there was a blowup between best friends about keeping secrets, with your typical “I ALWAYS tell you EVERYTHING. Are we even friends?”, which felt very overly dramatic.
Without having read the prior books in the series, I definitely missed out on some of the buildup and couldn’t fully appreciate the villain reveal, but I did enjoy the mystery elements and the intense scenes at the end. The final reveal, however, felt completely out of left field and honestly disappointing. I feel the author could have either planted clues or picked someone more reasonable.
I did enjoy this book–three stars on Goodreads means I liked it. I just didn’t appreciate some of the elements included.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will receive print copies of the first two books of the series and book-themed items including socks, a mug, a bookmark, and a bible-verse magnet!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight March 31, 2026 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on April 7, 2026. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
Go check out The Ultimate Blindside!
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