Review: Be still my beating heart!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 6, 2014
This is the second book in the Stage Dive series by Kylie Scott, and what a fabulous series it is. Play is the Mal’s story, the drummer with the band Stage Dive.I was so looking forward to reading this as I fell for Mal in Lick, the first book, when he rescued Ev from the bunch of vultures (aka known as the band’s lawyers!) Can I just say it did not disappoint, it was amazing and just exceeded all my expectations!Mal Ericson has always been the pacifier of the band, keeping things cool when things got heated, especially with the brothers David and Jimmy. He always deferred arguments with his humour and ‘happy go lucky’ attitude.We pick up the story just after David and Ev have got back together and sorted themselves out but both note a difference in Mal. However they throw a party in their condo and Ev’s old flatmate invites along Ann.Ann Rollins is at a stalemate in her life due to her ex flatmate running off with the contents of the flat plus money she owed her. She goes to the party to take her mind off things and when she finds out where the party is to be she holds out hope she might get to meet her idol, Mal.When they both met at the party things got a little confusing, as you didn’t know if Mal was joking or being serious but then reading between the lines you knew something was occurring underneath the cavalier joking. I just got what Mal was doing by pushing Ann to explode as Ann has always been the ‘doormat’ and letting people take her for granted. Her reaction to Mal just showed what she was holding back. Then when Mal decided they should be a couple had me scratching my head going WTF? But the next day it was explained it would be as a fake relationship but then things just got more complicated and intense for the pair.What can I say? I freaking love Mal! I love it when a character has hidden depths and I just knew Mal was hiding his inner sensitive self from us. When it was revealed what he was going through it just melted my heart and I wanted to have that man in my arms to squeeze! What was even more amazing of this man was how he was secretly helping Ann overcome her inabilities and to start putting herself first and give her the support and guidance she didn’t think she needed.The interactions of Mal and Ann was so fabulous to read – they were steam-a-licious! The humour was still there and some of the funniest scenes I have ever read just had me laughing my beam end off!Mal- "Hello, Anne's clitoris. It's me, Malcom, your lord and master."Anne - "Oh, god, no." I covered my face with my hands. "Please don't."Mal- "Shh. This is a private conversation..."Anne – “If you don’t stop talking to my vagina I’m going to kill you”Mal – “You're beautiful, Anne's pussy. Just beautiful. And I'm not mean like her. I'm on your side and I love you very much because you feel F-ing amazing wrapped around my d*ck."*****Mal -“Whatever you’re imagining, it’s bigger.”Anne -“I’m not imagining anything.”Mal - “I’m serious. It’s basically a monster. I cannot control it.”Anne - “Malcolm -”Mal - “You’re pretty much going to need a whip and a chair to tame it, Anne.”Anne - “Stop it.”*****Mal – “You can be confused later. But come on my face now, please?”*****Throughout the book the other members of the band and other secondary characters are included to give a great ‘family’ feel to the read. It just made the reader (me!) want to be a part of it all.I really didn’t think Ms Scott could top Lick but I think Play just tipped the scales for me. Absolutely loved it, LOVED IT! Five ‘head banging’ stars from me!