LEAD by Kylie Scott — Jenn’s Review

 LEAD by Kylie Scott

Throughout the first two Stage Dive books, Jimmy Ferris has remained a bit of a mystery. We know he is David’s brother and the lead singer of Stage Dive. We also know he has an addiction problem that has been splashed all over the news. He is out of rehab and the band wants him to have a “sober companion.” Someone to be with him 24/7 to make sure he never slips again, because, if he does, he is out of the band permanently. Problem is, Jimmy doesn’t seem to be meshing with anyone of the people working for him. When the band spots Lena giving Adrian hell in his offices, they know she is the perfect fit to keep Jimmy in line.  Jimmy doesn’t make it easy on Lena. He is still his surly self, but she is slowly breaking down his walls. Another problem…. She’s also falling for him while doing it. When Lena tells Jimmy she wants to quit and it’s because she is starting to have feelings for him, he launches a plan to get her over him. The only purpose it serves is to confuse Jimmy about his feelings. When Lena gets tight with one of the bands roadies, Jimmy sees red. He doesn’t want Lena, but doesn’t want anyone else to have her either.

This book was very different from the first two. David and Mal were both very likeable characters. Jimmy is not. He spends most of the time grunting, being angry and giving Lena a hard time. It’s hard to see how she can be interested in him. Sure he’s good looking, but his personality leaves a lot to be desired. He needs Lena and is dependent on her, but he refuses to break down the walls he uses to protect himself. I really liked that there was no instant love in this book. None whatsoever. There isn’t even any sex until deep in the story. There is a touch here or a glance there and it all builds up until it explodes… but it’s not pretty. Nothing about their “relationship” is. Lena is a fantastic character. She is strong and steady. She gives back all the crap that Jimmy dishes out at her. She is not some flighty girl obsessed with a rock star. Her snarky comebacks balanced out the comfort she provided to Jimmy when he needed it. In the end, I really liked it, just not as much as Lick or Play, and I think the reason for that was there was no POV from Jimmy and the book really needed it. I think it would have given us a bit more insight into why he is so angry and maybe we would sympathize with him. I would love to have more from Jimmy and Lena but I can’t wait for Deep!!

4 STARS

*********************************************************************************

The Stage Dive Series

 

LEAD by Kylie Scott is LIVE! Review and Excerpt!

 

Stay up all night with the sexy rockers in Stage Dive, the epic New Adult series from New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott, author of Lick and Play.

 

**READ JENN’S REVIEW OF LEAD HERE!!**

About Lead (Stage Drive #3):

As the lead singer of Stage Dive, Jimmy is used to getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, whether it’s booze, drugs, or women. However, when a PR disaster serves as a wake-up call about his life and lands him in rehab, he finds himself with Lena, a new assistant to keep him out of trouble.

Lena’s not willing to take any crap from the sexy rocker and is determined to keep their relationship completely professional, despite their sizzling chemistry. But when Jimmy pushes her too far and Lena leaves, he realizes that he may just have lost the best thing that ever happened to him.

Amazon // B&N // iTunes

 

 

The Stage Dive series by Kylie Scott:

 

Lick (Stage Dive #1): Amazon / B&N / Goodreads

Play (Stage Dive #2): Amazon / B&N / Goodreads

Deep (Stage Dive #4) available on January 6th, 2015: Amazon / B&N /Goodreads

 

Check out more of Kylie’s work:

The Flesh series

Colonist’s Wife

Heart’s A Mess

 

Excerpt:

“Lena, you seen my old black Led Zep shirt?”

“Nope.”

“You sure?” His brows became one dark cranky line. The scratches on his face were healing well, thank goodness. Though it didn’t reduce my desire to throttle his mother on a daily basis.

“Yes. I haven’t seen it.”

Can’t find it anywhere…”

“And this is a surprise, how?” I slipped my hands into my back jean’s pockets. “Jimmy, you own more clothing than Cher, Brittney, and Elvis, put together. Things are bound to go missing.”

“Sure you haven’t seen it?”

“For goodness sake, what do you think, Jimmy? That I stole it to sleep in or something?” I laughed bitterly. Sure as hell, the truth deserved a good mocking. I’d sunk so despicably low.

I hadn’t even meant to steal the stupid thing, but the shirt had been mixed up with my laundry a few days ago. It’d been the first top I laid my hand on after stepping out of the shower, ready to go to bed. Without thought, I’d put it on and it’d been so soft, the scent of him lingering beneath the laundry detergent. Every night since, I’d found myself in it come bedtime. My shame knew no limits. And no, I still hadn’t quit. The words still hadn’t come even close to leaving my mouth.

He frowned. “No.”

“That I have some deep secret longing to feel close to you resulting in my stealing your shirt like
some creepy perv?”

“Course I don’t fucking think that,” he replied crankily, reaching up to grip the top of the doorframe. All of his bulging muscles stretched the arms of his white T-shirt in the nicest way. It was all I could do not to start drooling, my heart beat taking up residence somewhere down between my thighs. And who could blame it? Not me. Maybe if I got laid, this would go away and things would return to normal. It’d seemed safer to avoid rubbing up against any men just in case I got carried away and started dating again. This new situation, however, changed everything.

“Well, of course not! That would be crazy.” And wasn’t that the god’s honest truth? Cray-zeee. Lock me up and throw away the key because it wasn’t like I didn’t know better.

“Just can’t figure out where the hell it could be.”

Angels couldn’t have smiled as innocently. They might have tried, but they would have failed, the dirty-mouthed, winged, little liars. “Jimmy, I don’t know where it is. But I’ll look around for it later, okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, and then added as an afterthought, “and stop looking at me weird.”

“I’m not!”

 

About Kylie Scott:

Kylie is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and one delightful husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet.

Twitter | Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Goodreads | Website

 

 

 

Play by Kylie Scott — Jenn’s Review

Play by Kylie Scott

“Life’s a song Anne. Let’s play.”

Why oh why did I let this book sit on my kindle for as long as I did?? I LOVED Lick and devoured the entire book in one sitting and was thrilled to see Mal getting his own book… so why did I wait so long to read him? Who knows! But I am more than pleased that I rectified that. Malcolm Ericson was worth the wait.

Anne Rollins devotes her life to helping others, and by that I do not mean charity work. To put it bluntly, Anne is a bit of a doormat. She lets people take and take from her and she basically gets nothing in return. The final straw? Anne lends her roommate, Skye money and right before Anne is about to demand it back, Skye runs away, taking Anne’s money (and all the furniture) with her. To cheer her up, Anne’s neighbor, Lauren invites her to a part at David and Ev’s house. Reluctantly, Anne agrees.

Malcolm Ericson, the drummer for Stage Dive has been acting different lately and his friends and band mates have noticed. He’s tired of them constantly asking him if he’s okay. So he’s hiding a secret, so what? When he’s ready to talk about it he will.

Mal first encounters Anne when she steps outside to take a phone call from her best friend, and who she considers her future husband, Reece. Mal can’t help but over hear Anne’s conversation and wants to help. To do that, Mal moves in with Anne, and she agrees to play his pretend girlfriend. However, there can be NO SEX! No way can that go wrong!

Mal is so many things… sexy, charming, at times intense and seriously funny. They have yet to invent a proper word to describe how funny he is. It is almost impossible to find anything he says serious. I laughed out loud at him so many times and highlighted so many pages of his dialogue; almost my entire book is yellow. Anne, even if she is a bit of a pushover, has some fantastic moments of inner dialogue. I loved that even though she had a huge crush on him before she knew him, she didn’t fall at his feet. She gave him as much grief as he gave her, but she never gave up on him. They were a perfect match for each other, even if they didn’t want to be.

“His hand smacked into my ass, making me jump. Then, fingers lazily scratching at stubble, he sauntered into the bathroom. My butt cheek stung. I made a mental note to kill him later, once we were alone. Kill him or screw him, whatevs.  My hormones were so confused.”

Mal can make light of any situation. He brings out the playful side of Anne. In pretending to one up their neighbors, Anne and Mal bust her bed while jumping on it. I laughed so hard at this scene I cried.

“We’ve broken my bed,” I said, stating the obvious.

“In battle, sacrifices must be made, pumpkin.”

Kylie Scott really has a gift for writing group scenes. I love when the whole band was together. Their banter and how they feed off each other feels very real. I want to be friends with them! The dialogue between Mal and Anne was equal parts serious and hilarious. They played off of each other so well, and even with only knowing each other for a short time, has a real connection. Mal is definitely the life of the party and useful when things get too heavy and a light moment is needed, but behind the scenes he is falling apart. Is Anne the only one who can pull him out of the darkness closing in on him?

5 +++ STARS!

**********************************************

The Stage Dive Series