Review: A female rock star & a British music journalist = a wonderful combination!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2013
ARC received by the author in exchange for an honest review.I must confess that this is my first Lauren Blakely book, but it is most definitely not my last!This is pure, smiling-like-an-idiot, feel-good romance. It is the type of book that you will pick up on a cold evening, curl up on the sofa with a glass of wine with, and be lost to the world in for hours.I feel that the blurb really says a lot about what the story is about so I will not go into more details as such as I am afraid of revealing too many spoilers.I very much enjoyed getting to know Jane, our heroine, and I feel that she was very realistic. Right from the beginning, I felt a connection with her, I liked her "voice" - and I was completely thrown when I learned the reason to her failed marriage. No wonder she has a hard time trusting men and believing in her own sensuality."That is the secret of my success, the bittersweet reminder that you can write a breakup album and it can be great and you can win an award and be thrilled beyond your wildest dreams, but you're only here because you are the biggest idiot in the world. Because you loved a man wildly, crazily, passionately. But oops! He was never really into you at all."I like that the book is about a female rock star for once, and the fact that Jane is also a mother and is determined - and succeed - to bring up her son, Ethan, in a "normal" environment is a character trait of hers that I really like. You are sucked into Jane's world of music instantly, and you almost start biting your fingernails when you find out about her deadline. Now, I have no connections with the American music industry (or any other music industry, for that matter), but I do know that musicians/singers get lost in the crowd if they take too long with writing an album. So that part of the story felt very believable to me. I could feel her anxiety, her lack of self-esteem, her frustration...yes, the author is extremely good at conveying Jane's emotions throughout the story.Now, about Matthew - our VERY sexy, British (or English, as he refers to himself), playful hero...Well, another book boyfriend has seen the light of day!  As a music critic, he can be somewhat harsh and, in theory, Jane's enemy. Luckily, he loved her last album, Crushed, so much that he wants to see her succeed but the fact that he also admits to finding her very attractive complicates matters a bit. They try, however, to refrain from becoming romantically involved - but when you read this part of the book, you kind of already know that this couple will not be able to resist each other.“You really don’t know how much I want you? Because there aren’t enough adverbs to describe how much. Insanely, immensely, ridiculously. I could go on.” (Matthew)Some people say that in order to heal a broken heart, you need to fall in love again. Which is exactly what happens when Jane lets herself trust Matthew more and more. I find their romance to be so sweet, yet scorching hot, and you cannot stop smiling while reading! One of the things I absolutely love is their email exchanges - they are witty, flirty and believable. When I think about it, much of the entire book is written that way, and I really like that in a romance novel.Let us not forget the sex scenes...wow! Very hot, but tastefully written - definitely not over the top. And some of these scenes were even very funny:"Breasts are literally one of the best inventions ever. Seriously. I can't even imagine a world without them. I would die," he says in mock sadness, and I laugh more, as he lays his head between my breasts. "Soft, like pillows. They're such divine creations. God bless breats."Now, imagine a scorching hot guy saying that with the British accent...Well, need I say more? And that is exactly what I love the most about Matthew: his humour and the way he can make Jane laugh but feel sexy and comfortable at the same time. You can really feel this couple's chemistry, and that, in my opinion, shows how talented this author is.As I started out by saying in my review: this book makes you smile A LOT, it makes you sigh happily, and it is a perfect book to read on a cold night. I had a VERY hard time putting the book down. The story is engaging, the writing is flawless, and all romance lovers will, in my opinion, be fools if they do not read it. Miss Blakely, looking forward to reading your other books!