Evie Jamieson, a former wild child, is not only a headstrong, smart-mouthed trouble magnet, she is also a lead singer with a plan. That plan involves relocating her band, including her two best friends guitarist Henry and band manager Mac, to Sydney to kick off their dreams of hitting the big time.
Jared Valentine is the older brother of Evie's best friend Mac and also the man determined to make Evie his. They strike up a long distance friendship which suits Evie because she's determined to avoid the distraction of love, not only because it doesn't fit in with her plan but because twice in the past it has left her for dead. Moving to Sydney however, has put her directly in Jared's path and he has decided it's the perfect opportunity to make his play.
Unfortunately Jared, co-owner in a business that 'consults' in dangerous hostage and kidnapping situations, makes an enemy who's determined to enact revenge. When this enemy puts Evie in his sights, Jared not only has a fight on his hands to make her his own, but also to keep her alive.
Is accepting the love he's so desperate to give worth the risk to both her heart...and her life?
328 pages - Published March 15th 2013
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**Courtney**5 Stars**
I loved:
1) The dialogue. The story is set in Australia and heavily uses Australian slang. I like to think I'm smarter than I probably am so I think I understood it pretty well.
Copper (cop) Cuppa (coffee) <== see why I love these. I would like to incorporate into my own vocabulary, but I'm flakey and probably won't remember. Sigh.
2) The camaraderie. Having a novel with a lot of characters can sometimes be difficult to follow. Here we have Evie, Henry, Mac, Cooper, Jake, Frog, Jared, Coby, Mitch, Casey, Travis, and Tim. Then there are secondary characters of Steve and Jenna (Mac, Jared, Mitch, and Travis's parents), Tate (asshole), and Peter (puppy). They are all very important to the story, and I felt like this one done very well. Usually only a few are present in the dialogue at a time so it kept things from getting jumbled. The relationships were able to be meaningful, especially between Mac, Henry, Evie, and Jared.
3) The band. I am the biggest fan girl I know. If anyone looked in my kindle library they would find a lot of books about rock stars in every capacity I can find. If it says band in the blurb, I will probably buy it. Evie is the lead singer. Not only do we have a book about a band, but a FEMALE led band. Must read right? Right.
4) The romance. Whew, Jared and Evie were on quite the emotional roller coaster. They both have been hurt in the past so it was touch and go with their communication skills. And by touch and go I obviously mean almost non-existent. Assumptions on both of their parts caused more than enough tests on their fledgling relationship and I didn't know which way it was going to go right up until the very end.
5) The twists. Secondary to the love story is when Evie and Jared's worlds collide. It was fast paced and fun and sometimes straight out of an action movie!
I disliked:
1) There was one chapter at about 80% that was a from a different point of view. I was at first a little bit irritated and thinking WHAT was she thinking. There had been zero POV changes and I was almost confused. But in the end I am glad that it was that way because it might have been more confusing without it. It is just the one time, and it didn't end up hurting the story.
**Shelley** 5 Stars
The Love:
1) Courtney, I wholeheartedly agree with the dialogue! I like exploring new slang and I find it interesting to try to decipher what the characters are talking about. I don't find it distracting at all. Sometimes I even try it out at work--usually to confused looks or giggles but, whatever, it makes me feel worldly. :)
2) Ahh...the camaraderie: it's really why I mentioned this book to you in the first place. I was literally laughing out loud, in public, while reading this on my kindle. These characters are written with such humor and honesty. I didn't feel that their reactions were far- fetched or outside of the range of normal--and they were such good friends to each other; I really liked that about them. I wanted them all to be my friends.
3) Hot Badass Rocker Girl--what??!!! How awesome is that? I've been waiting for a story like this. She seemed so normal and yet so capable and I wanted to be her. End. Of. Story.
4) I love a good romance and especially loved the text banter between Evie and Jared. It was fun and hot and frustrating (in a good way). They were both so bossy and strong and funny.I enjoyed seeing them learn how to navigate their personalities and insecurities and hearts. The sex scenes were steamy but written tastefully so if you're looking to see your kindle melt from the sex, and only sex, you might want to delegate this read for another time.
5) I also enjoyed the twists and turns the plot took as Jared's job collided with Evie's life. While it may be outside of our range of normal, that's what fiction is all about, right? Suspend beliefs and enjoy what the author is giving us. I couldn't imagine those things happening to most, if any, people but so what? I enjoyed it.
The dislike:
1) I vaguely remember the POV shift as being a little jarring and agree that in hindsight, it was not a huge distraction and helped explain something that might not have been clear otherwise.
Overall--a great read! I'd recommend it highly and am looking forward to her other novels!
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