After reading Missing From Me and Lost For You I was literally salivating for Logan's story. In the previous books he was volatile, showing violent tendencies, rough-housing with his band mates and I started wondering what had happened to him. In this book you get all the answers.
I was lucky to listen to the audio book with one of my favorite male narrators ever. Jacob Morgan has this way of slipping into a role that makes it seem effortless and absolutely natural. He becomes the person he narrates. It was my first time listening to Ava Erickson but she also did a fantastic job with Tori.
There’s a place between asleep and awake when your brain is still lost in a dream, but yet, you know you’re conscious. That’s where Rhenn lived. He owned that space in my head. That little sliver when the day was new— it belonged to him.
Tori's story has accompanied us throughout all the books in this series. The day the tour bus crashed with her and her band mates on board changed her life and took away the man she loved. Gravely injured, in a coma the chance to say goodbye to her husband was robbed from her. You know how the dead spouse trope is hard to tackle, especially when they were good people and Rhenn definitely was a good man. So to make you believe that Tori met her future in Logan without tainting Rhenn's memory is like walking a tightrope. I can report that Jayne Frost mastered this challenge brilliantly.
Logan is the kind of man you just can't help and fall in love with and feel for. His childhood was a train wreck, the multitude of tragedies and violent memories shaped him into a seemingly volatile, unreliable man. Hidden behind the front of the unfeeling, womanizing bad boy lies a character who often cares too deeply. His inability to read which only two other people know about, is a source of great frustration to him.
She was everywhere. In every face and every sound. Even the breeze held a hint of sugar and cinnamon. Sweet, like her. And so fucking bitter I could barely stand it.
This is where Jayne Frost excels - she writes unusual, multi-layered, complex characters you want to get to know, care about and fall in love with. Where Logan is TNT, Tori is the flame that lights his fuse. They just can't get along for a minute, always bickering, getting the next jab in but there is also kinship, something they see in each other that feels familiar and soon their animosities turn into understanding which turns into friendship and finally a love so big it will make your heart expand. The explosive chemistry they've had from the start translates into their sex life and let me tell you, those are some hot scenes and placed strategically without giving the impression that they serve the purpose of being fillers.
I just loved this slow burning love story. Their connection is so undeniable and while there are many moments that will give your heart a little pinch there are also lighter moments which will make you smile. At no point you will feel that Logan is Tori's consolation prize after losing Rhenn.
The man was gorgeous. He shone like the moon. A light in all the darkness that swirled around him. And there was darkness. But it didn’t consume him. Just danced along the edges, framing him in shadow.
Jayne Frost knows how to write. Her style is expressive, engaging, polished and descriptive. In every chapter you will find a line or two that will tug at your heart. Her rock star romance is some of the finest out there, it's deep and meaningful and you can see why it's her jam to write about them. With Down to You she has cemented her status on my list of all-time favorite auto-buy authors. This deeply emotional love story is my favorite in this series so far and when I think about whose book will be up next I just can't wait to get my hands on it.
Our confessions hung in the air, an overcast sky filled with tears, shattered dreams, and bittersweet memories. And a rainbow. I saw it in Tori’s eyes, every color under the sun.
While Down To You can be read as a standalone I highly recommend to start at least at Missing From Me and continue with Lost for You. It will give you a deeper understanding of the dynamics between the band members and also of Tori and Logan.
Now. I heard that L.J. Shen's heroes are always an acquired taste. I love them multi-layered, complicated and broken, bordering on asshole just as much as the good guys. But Miss Shen's are supposed to be about ten steps up from those so finally getting a shot at reading one of her books had me thrilled.
Indie's need for money makes her interview and take a job as a sobriety companion of one of the most famous contemporary rockstars. Alex is a hot mess and very unhappy about his new babysitter. All the others he bullied away. So it's a safe bet that he will succeed with this new girl too.
Uh. Uh! Not so fast!
“When I look at you, I see something broken that isn’t worth fixing. And you look at me like I’m a cheap thing to replace the expensive one that’s been stolen from you. See, we’re all vases. And you’re the one scattered on the floor, shattered beyond repair. So I’ll let someone else pick you up. It’s really that simple. Have fun with your temporary glue.”
New Girl talks back, something he didn't expect and that intrigues him. Soon they find each other in a dance of push-and-pull across four continents and the promise of an unhappy end. Because how else COULD it end for an unlovable dick who gets off on his obsession, a rockstar who's addicted to addiction?
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If you have a 8 billion pieces jigsaw puzzle and pick out two random pieces and they fit...that's Indie and Alex. Indie was perfect for him. She was what he needed every step of the way, even when they went through the roughest of times. She was resilient, smart-mouthed, sassy, and what broke her, utterly selfless. She loved her family and wanted nothing more than for them to be whole again. I have a huge girl crush on Indie, without her this story wouldn't have worked (and I'm aware that I'm talking about her as if she was real).
There are these people who feel too much, too deeply, too colorfully and brightly. Alex Winslow is one of those you really need to have patience with. His only way to express pain when he's sober is being an asshole that has nothing on the assholes you've read about so far. Alex isn't perfect for Indie but with her vibrant and warm personality she shapes him into the man he never thought he could be.
From afar, Alex Winslow looked like nothing could penetrate his armor. But he was an artist— and an artist’s armor is full of bullets and cracks. That’s how the lyrics and notes seep through.
If you decide to pick this up, have patience. Have patience with Alex. He isn't mellow, sweet, endearing and balanced. He is selfish, volatile, rude and often times hurtful and callous. His rockstar status may seem dazzling, scintillating but underneath that shield of cockiness and douchebaggery is a tender heart with a bucket full of insecurities. But Alex is also charming, funny, charismatic and larger than life and it's what makes people flock him.
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“God, you’re beautiful.” And oh, was she ever. Like a painfully short, brilliant song that keeps you thirsty for more."
Midnight Blue isn't an easy or light-hearted story. If you expect and want that this is definitely the wrong place to look for it. It has a lot of heavy themes and deals with addiction and the death of family members. Cheerful, it is not, but it is raw, emotional, gritty, often times infuriating...God I was so mad at Alex at times. But above all it's heartbreaking. Seeing Alex fall apart, hurting, struggling, flailing his arms as to not to drown, watching Indie getting hurt by him time and time again. I keep rubbing my chest. There is a spot that hurts where my heart is. The end made up for all the heartbreak - thankfully we get a super sweet Epilogue that soothes our raw emotions.
Her eyes— her fucking eyes— a dark spell enveloped in a sweet girl who brought so much light into my miserable life.
Dear L.J. Shen, I'm in awe of your talent. The writing is edgy, with an acute eye for detail. I loved the sass and humor, how it made me feel the whole range of my emotional scale and I'm definitely going to read your back list. Because I am an addict, too.
Gahd. I've been waiting for this book for a loooong time. So when this landed on my Kindle...
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So let's talk about FALL, shall we?
Jax/John Blackwood's story has intrigued me from the first time we met him. He's one of those tragic characters you don't undestand why they would do something drastic as trying to kill himself. He has it all: the good looks, immeasurable talent, charm, charisma. You will get all the answers and as easy as the answer seems as complicated it really is. Depression is such an insidious illness.
When a little impish ice-cream thief also steals a kiss, he isn't outraged. Nope, famous rockstar of one of the hottest bands John is charmed, the only regret he has is that he let her go.
Stella has never had a proper home. She lives in an apartment in New York City that belonged to her father until he up and left when she turned eighteen. Now thirty, she hasn't seen him since. She doesn't have any close friends although there's nothing she wants more. When she runs into larger than life lead singer and guitarist of one of the hottest bands repeatedly, ending up being neighbors, they become friends. Friends who bicker, friends who talk and friends who laugh. I can't even begin to say how much I loved their connection. Both of them snarky, goofy and broken in a way that it made perfect sense for them to become close.
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John doesn't want to be treated like the resident elephant in the room, he doesn't want people to tiptoe around him but it's hard to tell people when you think you screwed up. Especially when you still give into the dark when it comes over you. The depiction of John's depression was done in taste and credible. He displayed the ups and downs of somebody who feels too much and that abundance of emotion can turn against him from one second to the other and it was positively heartbreaking at times.
I feel sick down to my brittle bones and terrified heart. Everything ends. Love dies. In the end, I’ll be alone, and there isn’t a thing I can do to stop it.
Stella doesn't trust easily. She had my heart from the very beginning. She was independent, sweet and a bright light in every life she touched. I thought she was the perfect girl for John. The woman with the big heart that held compassion and love for all the people in her life who was so scared of needing somebody that she couldn't let anyone close. And John was the perfect man for her - he bolstered Stella's self confidence, broke her defenses and showed her the beauty he saw in her.
She’s my new favorite song; I want to play her over and over.
John and Stella's love is a slow burn but oh so delicious. Their banter definitely sparks up their chemistry and when it was time for them to connect on another level I was just as eager for them to get there as they were. It was a thing of beauty, their hunger for each other, their emotional and physical connection. And can I say that John had the cutest nickname for Stella? It was breathtaking to watch them fall in love.
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Stella giggles. That sound. It bubbles over my skin, trips my heart. I love that sound.
This was a very long book but it never felt boring. At no point did I have the urge to skim, I absorbed the words on my kindle. I laughed a lot, I had a little watery eyes now and then and I enjoyed the hell out of the story. But most of all I felt. So so much. Jax's bandmates and Scottie are the bomb - they stand behind their man no questions asked. Their loyalty and friendship was everything. And if you need different colloquialisms for masturbating apparently Kristen Callihan is a good source to go to...
“Beating the meat.” John snickers into his beer.
“Got a better one,” Whip counters with a brow waggle.
“Wanking the willy?” “Charming the snake,” Sophie offers.
“Polishing the pearl,” Jules says.
“Tickling my treat,” Brenna adds.
“I’m becoming uncomfortably aroused,” Rye grumbles, which makes Brenna flush bright pink and hide her face behind the rim of her martini glass.
And Scottie with his son? Gird your ovaries, people!
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OK that's not a baby but you get the picture.
I hope Kristen Callihan doesn't keep as waiting as long for the next book as she did with this one. I am absolutely addicted to her stories and her writing style which is so crisp, beautiful and polished. She catapulted FALL up into my top favorites and is now competing for the top spot for this year. Can I say I loved it? Yeah. That epilogue was the sweetest thing. I need the next one. Like NOW!
“Stella Button, the moment you ripped that ice cream out of my hand, you knocked me off-balance. All I could do was fall.”
Love doesn’t die, even when you stop feeding it. There is no expiration date on the ache of missing someone you shared your heart, life, and body with
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Kate Stewart's star is rising. She is one of the most versatile writers I've had the pleasure to read so far and she always, ALWAYS delivers.
I have read a couple of love triangles in the past and I'm extremely picky about them because I usually don't like them - one of the parties always has their heart broken. But since this is Kate Stewart, how can I refuse? And lordy, thank gaaaaahd I didn't. So let's have a look at the book, shall we?
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We all have these songs, the ones that catapult us back into the past and let us re-live it. We remember the people we were with when we listened to them, the places we connect with them, the feelings that were prominent at that time. We remember details like smells and tastes. Some of them are so bittersweet that we feel regret - regret that it's in the past, regret how we handled a situation, regret that things happened as they did or that we did let them happen.
After a phone call that throws her off her game and makes her missing her flight Stella decides to rent a car and hit the road the soundtrack of her life playing on the drive, consciously letting herself slip back into the life she has moved on from. That road was stony, full of obstacles and pain but also love, so much true, unfettered love and passion.
Torn. In love with two worthy kings, and I was queen of the damned. - Stella
Stella is a firecracker with so much spunk I gave her mental high-fives all the time. Her personality is scintillating, sparkly, beautiful yet flawed. She wants to do right by the people she loves but more often than not her emotions rule her and that leads to decisions that, although not necessarily wrong, hurt people and mostly herself.
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I loved that looking back at the men in her life she didn't feel regret, she isn't bitter from the sweet. She realizes that they had their time and place in her life and shaped her into the strong woman she is today. Her capacity to feel deeply is never toned down but re-directed. The passion she feels as a young woman is still there when you close the book but so much more mature and refined.
“Because I want to talk to you every day. I want to look at you every day. Because I can’t fucking wait to see what completely inappropriate T-shirt you wear to work next.” “You like me a lot.” I grinned. “Enough to risk a nut,” he mused as he poured cheap shampoo into his hand. - Reid
Both men in Stella's life are beautiful in their own way. Reid is the broken guy, the quiet one and loner who suffers alone and is immensely private. Yet in his love for Stella he is so transparent, it is so obvious that his love for her knows no bounds. I loved Reid. LOVED.
...and that last second . . . that last second when his lips devoured mine was the second I lost a piece of myself I could never get back. - Stella
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Nate is the guy who lights up a room when he enters. He's as gorgeous outside as he is inside. His love for Stella feels different but is just as strong. It's lighter, brighter, not as desperate and this is the way her love for him feels too. He gives her the freedom to explore, never pushes. I loved Nate. LOVED.
“Because I’ll be goddamned if I let you forget that I’m waiting. I want you to get used to these hands, these arms, this lap. We’ll be around a while. If it happens, it will happen naturally, and we’ll make our own story. If it doesn’t, I’ve got you with me now, and I’m good with that.” - Nate
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Yet there comes a point when Stella has to decide which road she takes because sometimes love just isn't enough. For me it would have been impossible to make a choice - Nate and Reid were perfect. Ultimately she chooses herself though and it's everything you can hope for.
I love music, like Stella my taste covers a lot of variety and having links to the songs for every chapter and being able to listen to them right away is awesome and unique. It makes the reading experience interactive and will pull you right into Stella's head and heart. The story is told solely from Stella's point of view - in many cases that's a problem for me. I need the hero's thoughts, his feelings. Leave it to Kate Stewart to make Nate's and Reid's love shine through Stella. I had no issues at all to believe the depth of their feelings and connection with her.
This story gutted me, wrecked me. My heart is bruised and I hope Kate covers my therapy sessions, it's her fault after all. I have the worst book hangover - how am I supposed to just move on from this epic love story? Seriously, how evil is Kate Stewart to give us two perfect men while she watches our hearts getting punched and battered? I cried. I ugly-cried and I don't do that very often nowadays. I thought I'd given away the book of the year award 2017 prematurely but Drive tied A Charm of Finches. Guess I'll have to give away two books with my end-of-year giveaway.
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I know many of us are ambivalent about love triangles. Ultimately this is a story about growth and deciding who you want to be, that love comes in all shapes and forms. That you can give a piece of your heart to more than one man but they will never own the same piece. Give this story a chance - you will drown in the emotions and it will make you hurt for the characters but at the end of the day the road is more important than the destination and the road not taken will always leave you wondering. This story will stay with me for a long time and I'll definitely re-read. Thinking about these extraordinary characters still takes my breath away.
Note to the author: We need Lexi and Ben, Kate, and we need a third story and you know which one I mean - I need to know that he is happy.
I am a huge fan of this author's writing and I would like to start this review by saying that you please take it with a grain of salt. The things that didn't work for me might totally be your thing.
Adam is mastermind and head of FMK, a rising star in the world of Rock bands. He is pretty much everything you can expect from a rocker, minus the drugs. At a gig in a bar he sees his future, a beautiful redhead who turns out to be his new frontman's sister. When he sees the bruises and cuts in her face and on her body he can barely tame his anger.
Landry feels the instant connection with Adam as well. She has come to the bar because she didn't feel safe at home. She is a walking disaster and a catastrophe to happen. Her stalker came to her house and scared her. Unfortunately her brother is soon leaving for a tour, her parents are on a second honeymoon. Neither Adam nor Davis want to leave her behind. To take her out of the danger zone the band takes Landry with them on tour. While Adam loves having her close for the next two months she is his singer's sister and he and his bandmates have been warned to not touch Landry. How are Adam and Landry supposed to ignore their growing attraction when they are going to be locked up together in a tour bus for the next weeks?
I loved Landry and Adam separately. They were lovely and sweet. Adam is super protective and possessive of the girl he has fallen in love with.
There are men sniffing around her, though. She’s drawing them, like hungry wolves circling a rare piece of meat. I growl into the mic that she’s mine, all mine, that her kissing, her loving, her touching is mine, all mine.
He is also a bit arrogant and follows his gut feeling. Landry is the funny and nerdy heroine you can relate to. There was actually one situation she had experienced in her past that happened to me too and I had a deja vu and I giggled for a couple of minutes at the memory.
When I was fifteen, I went for an entire period with my skirt tucked into the back of my tights until a teacher, not even one of my damned friends, pulled it out for me.
Yup. that right there is me. She is also innocent and naive when it comes to men and her attraction to Adam is a little bit inconvenient since she has been warned that he isn't the relationship kind of guy. It was so sweet to see Adam pine for her. And right there was the problem - you don't get much interaction between the hero and the heroine until you reach the 40% mark. While I can totally get on board with insta-love here it didn't work for me because there was no relationship build-up. There was a lot of band drama and talk about Landry's stalker but not much one-on-one between the main characters which took away a lot of the plausibility of their growing feelings. All this distracted from the romance aspect.
Landry is still traumatized from her experience with her stalker and and this setup in the storyline had so much potential.
Marrow’s stalking did a number on me, scarring me mentally and making me wary of all penis owners.
The execution was, unfortunately, a little bit lame in the conclusion. I expected more tension and action but that didn't happen. It was over so fast that I had to blink twice and wonder if that was it.
In the chemistry department these two definitely worked. Once they give in to their mutual feelings and attraction it is explosive. Adam is quite the dirty talker! Whew!
This book can be read as a standalone, in case you were wondering. I am definitely going to read the other stories in this series!
Overall I did enjoy this story, as mentioned I loved the main characters, I just didn't feel the love between them. Still, Jen Frederick has a fan in me - she knows how to write likable and relatable characters. I am looking forward to her next book and I would love to get a story about Davis!
Love is a crazy little thing, but I get to share it with the best man in the world. I caught feelings for Adam Rees. He caught them back.
This is as real and as awful and as wonderful as it gets. I’d hold her forever if she’d let me.
Oakley Ford used to be a teenage superstar. At 19 his stardom has taken a nosedive and to jump-start his career his manager suggests dating a normal girl instead of a co-star. Oak agrees after some hesitation. When a girl has been found that fulfills the requirements a strategy of "attack" is being planned and carried out.
When Vaughn's parents died in a car crash they left her and her siblings without a proper financial security. Ever since Vaughn and her sister have been raising their twin brothers. Money is tight so when her sister tells her that Vaughn could earn a lot of money by fake-dating someone famous she doesn't need to think about it for long. While she isn't cut out for being in the spotlight her family comes first...and her boyfriend? Well, hopefully he will understand that this serves to improve the little family's financial situation significantly. Too bad Oakley Ford turns out to be a major jerk.
Heads up, Oak isn't a likable character when you start reading this book, but there is something, an underlying vulnerability and a loneliness, despite all the people he surrounds himself with. It must be hard to follow orders because other people know what's best for you. Then there is the aspect that everyone who profits from him uses Oak for their own gain without a second thought who they hurt.
Oak is something else. At his most vulnerable, he’s the strongest.
Modest he is not but the more you advance in the story the more thoughtful Oak becomes. He has endless patience with Vaughn and at some point I thought he was a little bit too relenting and acquiescent with her. Oak grew on me though and I ended up adoring him.
I don’t know when that happened, but somewhere along the line Vaughn went from the girl I was forced to have on my arm to the girl I want to have in my life.
Now Vaughn was a girl after my taste until she decided to make one bad choice and that choice caused this book to drop down a star a for me. For much of the book she holds her own and stands up to cocky Oakley Ford. She isn't impressed that he is a superstar. I appreciated that Vaughn was ready to do things she didn't want to do in order to secure her family's future. Until around the 70% she was a perfectly likable heroine.
I kissed her because she was funny and sweet. She didn’t mock me when I confessed I was blocked. She tried to comfort me with silly stories about her family even when it was obvious those same memories caused her pain. She doesn’t expect anything from me beyond what we’d agreed upon. She’s different and I wanted a taste of that.
The problem was not what she did, it was the explanation why she did it that totally threw me off and I have to admit I was thinking about dropping my rating to 3 stars but the overall enjoyment of the story had me reconsider.
As is evident by the success of The Royals this author duo definitely knows how to write an engrossing story. The books they write are unputdownable and even though this one had its weaknesses I was totally immersed in the story. I'm pretty sure that most people will feel that way about When It's Real.
Astrid - The Bookish Sweet Tooth
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