Review: 5 bloody brilliant stars!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2014
Do you know what I love nearly as much as a story that includes the second chance at love theme? A man with a British accent. This book had both those things and so much more.Kat and her daughter, Abbey (like the road) have moved back home after losing her husband. It’s been four years and Kat has found a balance between staying lost in her past and moving forward. She’s had the support of her friends and family that broke alongside her and a little girl that lost her father, and desperately needed her mother. So Kat lived, not so much in the sense of grabbing life by the horns... but she got out of bed each day.Adrian Graves is the gravelly voice behind the theme song to the kids’ show that Abbey can’t get enough of. So when he gets a random email asking him to perform for a room full of kids he agrees. Kat wasn’t sure what to expect when Adrian walked through the doors of the library, guitar case in hand. But it certainly wasn’t the drunk mess of tattoos standing before her.“You are drunk.”“And you” – he popped two of the curiously strong mints into his mouth – “are beautiful.”“Jesus Christ.”“I’ll sober up soon... and hopefully, you will still be beautiful.”After he performs, fully engaging a room full of kids, their afternoon soon turns into dinner and one of the most awkward first kisses of all time.For the first time since her husband, Pete passed away, Kat is ready to let a man in. But both harbor secrets about their past. Adrian musical background is filled with mistakes that took away both a wife and daughter, friends that were like brothers and eventually he just faded into the background. But Kat is in for the shock of a lifetime when she spots the similarities between him and a certain rock star. Even as Adrian let’s her in enough to show to expose the scars of his past and the typical lifestyle of sex, drugs & rock n’ roll; she isn’t quite ready to expose him to the pain of loss.“What - did you go to prison and find Jesus?.”“No, I went to h*ll and back and found myself.”Throw in an adorable little girl named Abbey that wins Adrian and stole the show completely, and you have a beautiful story of two people who lost so much getting a chance at reclaiming a future. For Kat, she gets a new kind of love – something she thought she would never feel again. For Adrian, he gets Abbey and Kat. Two things, a woman to love and a child to cherish, which were casualties of his lifestyle.It was so refreshing to read a story that had two mature characters who experienced more realistic life experiences. Even with Adrian’s rock star past, it never seemed out of place or over the top. He was just simply a man with regrets, his history etched on his skin in both scars and ink. Jessica Topper did a fantastic job on this debut novel, creating not only main characters that drew you in to the story, but a whole cast of characters that you instantly loved.The story started off a little slow, but as the story went on the beginning seemed more fitting. It gives you the time to experience her time with Pete, leading up to her final goodbye and a clear understanding of her head space as she ventured forward in her life. It made me appreciate the leap she took with Adrian so much more.And that man, that man with that adorable little girl. I was completely melted with his ease with this little girl. It gave me such a sense as what he knew he missed out on in his own life, what his lifestyle really cost him in the end.Beyond just the great characters and flowing story line, there were great little things mixed into the story. Brilliant music references to some great bands & lyrics, some bits of mythology and even an obscure poem or two. All of these things just fit the story and the events playing out.This was just absolutely fantastic, Jessica Topper did an amazing job with this debut novel. I am not sure what she has planned for future books, I can only hope that we may see a character or two from this story get their own book, but whatever comes in the future – I’m going to read it.