*Follow the Tour*
Jet can’t resist the Southern Belle with mile-long legs in cowboy boots who defies his every expectation. Yet the closer he feels to Ayden, the less he seems to know her. While he’s tempted to get under her skin and undo her in every way, he knows firsthand what happens to two people with very different ideas about relationships.
Will the blaze burn into an enduring love. . . or will it consume their dreams and turn them to ashes?
Jet (A Marked Men Novel #2) by: Jay Crownover
Genre: New Adult
Publication Date: May 28, 2013
Event organized by: Literati Literature Lovers
eGalley received from HarperCollins for honest review
eGalley received from HarperCollins for honest review
Where to Find Jet:
Note: UK and Australia: Jet’s release date has been moved to June 20th.
***4 Stars***
Normally when Courtney and I read a book things start out really good and smoothly with the plot and characters and then somewhere in the last 20-30% the bottom falls out and things go bad quickly and then the ending comes and we can breathe a big sigh of relief. I'd say that Jet does not fit that mold which makes for an interesting turn of reading events.
1) Jet. Jet is this heavy metal screamer. He's a rocker. He's a musician. He's all of that but he's so much more than that. He's not in the music business for the thrill he may get for the roar of the crowd, the attention from his fans, or the money he makes from it--he's in it because he loves music. He loves making good music and creating good music with good musicians. I loved that he was all about music and not being an attention seeking limelight type of guy but rather one who wants good music to be made, no matter who is doing the making. He seeks out good musicians and has a genuine interest in helping them live up to their potential and I think that's refreshing to see in a rocker book guy. He's a really solid guy with a completely messed up mom and dad, relationships with random girls that begin and end almost always horizontally, and while he has lots of great friends he doesn't necessarily feel like he has a BEST friend. He's managed to deal with his parents (or avoid them), work on his music, but the girl stuff is not good for one particular reason. Ayden Cross. He feels drawn to her but compelled to avoid her because she is part of the inner friend circle--and who wants to mess that up, right? Well, we all know that resistance is futile...and that's exactly what we come to learn.
2) Ayden. This girl likes to live in the land of denial and pretend. I don't blame her. She came from a really crappy childhood and has come to Denver to reclaim her life. She is seeking a secure and solid future that is predictable and calm and pretty and she's willing to forsake many things to have just that. She works really hard at her studies, at her job, and at dating the blandest guy out there. She has a moment of weakness where she throws herself at Jet and when that turns out poorly, she takes that as a sign to run from Jet and all things Jet-like. Ayden thinks he's too much like the past she's trying to escape and so she fights every urge she has to give in to her desire for Jet.
3) The angst. There was a lot of angst...a lot of miscommunication or noncommunication between Ayden and Jet. I wanted to shake them and put words in their mouths and then make them say those words to each other. I wanted to jump in the book and smash their faces together. At one point I think I even texted Courtney that I wanted to handcuff them together in a locked room until they just sorted it all out. GAH! Just when I thought I couldn't take one more second of angsty torture, Jay Crownover gave me some relief and I honestly felt I could breathe again. Once we got a break in the angst, it was all downhill and I relaxed in to the rest of the story...until I couldn't because another ginormous self-inflicted wound happens and we jump back on the rollercoaster ride that is the Jet and Ayden love story. This is all to the writing credit of Jay Crownover--if she couldn't write, I wouldn't be feeling all of these emotions...and boy did I feel a lot of mixed up crazy emotions.
4) The voices of reason and the crazy ones. Cora and Shaw. Thank goodness for these two ladies. They made so much sense and were able to say, with exasperation I might add, exactly what need to be said to our knuckleheads, Jet and Ayden. Cora and Shaw were good friends in that they refused to allow Jet and Ayden to live in the land of denial and pretend for too long. They constantly confronted Jet and Ayden with their dumb moves and demanded that the pair think about the choices they were making. Of course with the good, we also had the bad. Jet and Ayden's immediate family members were crazy. They were messed up, dysfunctional, out of control potential life ruiners..and trust me, they did a lot to try to ruin Ayden and Jet on many occasions. I'd imagine that it would take an inordinate amount of strength and control to overcome the dysfunction of their families and move forward into happy and healthy lives and yet Jet and Ayden make a concerted effort to try rather than succumb to repeating an unhealthy family cycle.
Jet was a great follow up in this series of characters and I'm looking forward to what Jay Crownover has in store for Cora and Rome. I loved the way Jet ended and the taste of things to come with our next duo.
*5 Stars*
Jay Crownover is another of the authors that Shelley and I bonded over, as we realized we both had read and loved Rule, further solidifying our book soulmate status! And we just really love those badboys with tattoos. And musicians. And apparently angst. A lot of it. So when we saw the Literari Lit Lovers announcement for this blog tour we couldn't sign up fast enough to help promote Jay and The Marked Men series because we're crazy obsessed!
1) Jet. So I will be honest and say I didn't think I was going to like him as much as I liked Rule and that logic is totally jacked up, if you've met Rule. Lead singer of a metal group (when I am a huge metal fangirl) and I started checking off the list. Tattoos, piercings, rocker...what is there not to like about this guy. And he turned out to be an entirely good and loyal person and the swooning went on hardcore, and basically the opposite of Rule in every single way imaginable. He loves his band, his friends even though letting them really know him better is something he has to work on a lot here, and his loyalty to his mother even when she probably doesn't deserve it were greater than my love of his physical attibutes. He too (thanks Jay!) has a few *ahem* interesting piercings, so that was fun. He keeps Ayden at an arms length, like Shelley said, to protect the relationships of their core group, and mostly so Rule wouldn't beat his ass if he hurt Shaw's best friend (which could totally be a possibility). His logic was sound, but dang, cue angst.
2) Ayden. Has a lot of crazy ideas for how she wants her life to go. As a sacrificer of her own happiness, she tries to be the perfect Ayden instead of the apparent wild child that she used to be. Who can sustain that sort of facade for long, I ask you? Nobody. So when we start to see little glimpes of the real Ayden come out, I was really, really happy. While neither she or Jet have a spectacular upbringing, I think Ayden's family takes the cake on dysfunction. She had a lot of growth to do throughout the story to get over her past and let people in to help her, because she is one of those who always takes care of everyone else. She doesn't really have someone to support her and she doesn't know how to deal with people caring at all! So Ayden wins in the battle of overall character growth in my opinion by the end of the story. It is a wonderful, crazy, and frustratingly challenging ride to get to the end of this story.
3) The angst. Oh. My. Gosh. The. Angst. A typical new adult novel goes through the getting to know each other beginning, a fairly happy "Oh isn't life great" middle, and then an absolutely insane heart stopping "event" at 65-70% before we find out if the end is a HEA. I find that this is a normal formula, maybe we're wrong, but I digress. Normal...Jay Crownover is anything but normal, and this is why we freaking love her! Jet doesn't follow our typical formula at all...meaning that there is so much damn angst and Holy crap, these people want to make me throw my iPad across the room (in the best way possible of course) moments all of the way through . There were a ton of internal and external factors both fighting against their relationship, I appreciated the lack of cliche scenes that drive me insane (we all have those, right?)
4) The crew. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Shaw and Rule again. Rule is obviously a firecracker so it made me all gushy inside to see him being so nice and protective over Ayden. Cora, though, is my new favorite girl. I told Shelley that I will freak out if Cora and Rome don't get a book (like my opinion matters! Hah!) and guess what?! They are!! She is all badass with her tattoos and the conversation about how she has pierced every one of her guy friend's junk was seriously hilarious. She was an awesome friend for Ayden, and while maybe she doesn't follow her own advice she sure can give it. She is a force through this book helping all of her friends, but especially Jet and Ayden. Loved, loved, loved her.
Maybe this didn't outdo Rule for me, but it came epically close. Companion series are my absolute kryptonite and Jay Crownover has created an amazing group of loyal, strong, mostly confident people that can teach us a lot of things about self esteem and not changing who you are for other people on the inside or the outside.
2) Ayden. Has a lot of crazy ideas for how she wants her life to go. As a sacrificer of her own happiness, she tries to be the perfect Ayden instead of the apparent wild child that she used to be. Who can sustain that sort of facade for long, I ask you? Nobody. So when we start to see little glimpes of the real Ayden come out, I was really, really happy. While neither she or Jet have a spectacular upbringing, I think Ayden's family takes the cake on dysfunction. She had a lot of growth to do throughout the story to get over her past and let people in to help her, because she is one of those who always takes care of everyone else. She doesn't really have someone to support her and she doesn't know how to deal with people caring at all! So Ayden wins in the battle of overall character growth in my opinion by the end of the story. It is a wonderful, crazy, and frustratingly challenging ride to get to the end of this story.
3) The angst. Oh. My. Gosh. The. Angst. A typical new adult novel goes through the getting to know each other beginning, a fairly happy "Oh isn't life great" middle, and then an absolutely insane heart stopping "event" at 65-70% before we find out if the end is a HEA. I find that this is a normal formula, maybe we're wrong, but I digress. Normal...Jay Crownover is anything but normal, and this is why we freaking love her! Jet doesn't follow our typical formula at all...meaning that there is so much damn angst and Holy crap, these people want to make me throw my iPad across the room (in the best way possible of course) moments all of the way through . There were a ton of internal and external factors both fighting against their relationship, I appreciated the lack of cliche scenes that drive me insane (we all have those, right?)
4) The crew. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Shaw and Rule again. Rule is obviously a firecracker so it made me all gushy inside to see him being so nice and protective over Ayden. Cora, though, is my new favorite girl. I told Shelley that I will freak out if Cora and Rome don't get a book (like my opinion matters! Hah!) and guess what?! They are!! She is all badass with her tattoos and the conversation about how she has pierced every one of her guy friend's junk was seriously hilarious. She was an awesome friend for Ayden, and while maybe she doesn't follow her own advice she sure can give it. She is a force through this book helping all of her friends, but especially Jet and Ayden. Loved, loved, loved her.
Maybe this didn't outdo Rule for me, but it came epically close. Companion series are my absolute kryptonite and Jay Crownover has created an amazing group of loyal, strong, mostly confident people that can teach us a lot of things about self esteem and not changing who you are for other people on the inside or the outside.
About the Author
Jay Crownover is the bestselling author of Rule. Like the characters in her Marked Men series, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters and that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.
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