Review: A-MA-ZING.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
Complimentary copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.Lila is a writer, struggling to find her voice after her last book was a smashing success. If writer's block wasn't bad enough, she's planning on moving back home to get her head on straight, a move she sees as a failure. After being ambushed by her publisher, pushing Lila for a story she's not yet ready to tell, she resigns and is left trying to figure out where to go from there.Now, about that story...In packing up her apartment, her publisher comes across a box of mementos Lila has kept from her past life as the girlfriend of international DJ sensation Arial Assault, or Hunter Michaels, as he's known to Lila. Her agent is sure that there is a best seller just waiting to be sold and even goes so far as to arrange for Hunter to meet with Lila, unbeknownst to her. What happens then sets off a whirlwind journey for Lila as she struggles to come to terms with who she was and who she wants to be.Hunter Michaels is the DJ bad boy that moves from town to town with little but a satchel on his back containing his laptop and a change of clothes. He's not one to be tied down by commitment, especially since the only one he's ever wanted is the one that got away. When he is given the opportunity to reinsert himself into Lila's life he takes full advantage, but can he ever truly prove to her that she has been the only one? That he would walk away from everything if she just said the word?I don't do spoilers so I won't go into full details about how he ended up in the equation, but enter Grant. Lila meets Grant when she decides to take a road trip and meets him as he is on a retreat with some of his friends. The two end up, with his friends, at a Burning Man type of festival in the desert and the two find themselves with an unusual attraction towards one another. But the day that they were supposed to leave, Grant up and disappears, unable to say goodbye Lila. Is Lila ready to move on with a virtual stranger, especially if he is harboring some pretty deep secrets?I absolutely loved Lila's history and her involvement in electronica. It had me reminiscing of a different time and place where I didn't have the cares or responsibilities that I do now and it certainly made me connect with the book on a different level. There are certain elements that Ms. Brooks included that were very sensory, such as putting the needle on the record, that first hiss and pop, and the sound through those headphones as the first bass line is dropped. For me, it put me in exactly a time and place and engaged my senses. It is this element that demonstrated the difference between showing vs. telling.Falling Stars is an AMAZING book. I ate it up from the very first page and couldn't put it down. At first I was caught up in the romance of the second chance love story between Lila and Hunter, then I was completely swept off my feet by the mysterious stranger Grant that seems to connect with Lila on nearly every single level. Add some secrets, intrigue and a little blackmail and you have the makings of an incredibly sensual, riveting, and seductive tale. It is well written with characters that are so well crafted that we feel all of the emotions they feel; the heartbreak, desire, longing, and confusion. It does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, which normally ticks me off a bit, but this has left me absolutely salivating for the next volume in the story. The storyline has so many twists and turns that you won't see coming and it will certainly keep you engaged and guessing. Hands down five stars and one of my favorites of 2014.