Summary
Nicole Parsons had the perfect life, made complete with the suburban home and the proverbial white picket fence. When tragedy struck and she lost the most important people in her life, she turned away from everything she loved before; shutting out every reminder of the perfect life she lost.
It has been one year, three months, one week and six days since the accident, and Nicole is ready to stop counting the days she’s survived, and begin living again.
On a dare from her best friend, Nicole encounters Zack Walters – the popular alternative rock star and man who signifies so much of her past – and suddenly everything in Nicole’s safe and quiet life changes.
When she’s forced to face the pain she’s carried for so long, will she truly be able to heal from her past and begin to live again?
Or will her new adventure ruin her completely?
Excerpt
I stare at the girl with the dark blue eyes in the mirror and frown. My eyes used to sparkle with vibrancy, but they now look dull – almost lifeless. It doesn’t matter what I’ve done physically over the last fifteen months to grieve and begin building a life, I know that everything has been done without any heart behind it. I’ve looked at my face for the last year and noticed the change but for some reason, tonight I’m saddened by the dark circles just barely covered by make-up and the tiredness which surrounds me.
I tilt my head to one side and then the other, slowly, and narrow my eyes as if a change in the view will change what I see, but I know I’m fooling myself. I still look just as sad and tired. I pick up my mascara and hope a few coats of ultra-lengthening black will help and re-examine. It changes nothing.
I set my tube of mascara down a little too forcefully and exhale loudly at myself in the mirror.
“I’m so tired of this,” I say with a sigh to no one else besides the stranger in the mirror.
The girl in front of me with the pouty red lips and chocolate brown hair is a blurred image of the girl I used to be and I’m so tired of seeing her every day. I hate this girl – an outer shell of who I was who wears her despair all over her face. It’s written all over the sunken cheekbones and sad smile I’ve been wearing like a badge of honor and I’m sick of it. I don’t even know how it all started, but I’ve counted every day since the accident, checking off the days on a calendar mentally reminding myself that I’ve survived one more day in hell.
Twenty-eight days ago I decided to stop counting, and actually try living. Or doing something different, but I’ve only managed to make a few pathetic attempts at actually moving forward. But as I stand here getting ready for my weekly dinner with my best friend Mia, I realize I’ve had enough. It’s time to move forward…to live again.
Review
(audiobook+ebook) The story itself was okay.
Nothing exceptional, and nothing I haven’t read a dozen times, but some of the situations and scenes were pleasant enough. Of course it was really convenient that Nicole was a musician when her love interest was a rockstar. It was also convenient that the guy who plays her intrument in the band had a drug problem, leading to her stepping up for Zack. But that’s what fiction, especially romance, is all about–suspension of disbelief, hello.
It really was Nicole’s story of learning to live again after a life altering event. A young widow, she lost her husband and her son in a terrible car accident. A string of more dramas followed, and she retired from life altogether. Until she decides to try again, encouraged by her best friend who dares her to flirt with a stranger. And she meets Zack, a famous rockstar she doesn’t recognize.
Zack enjoys having a genuine connection with someone, and they begin a flirtatious friendship. He quickly states that he wants more, so really a whole chunck of the book is when, not if, Nicole is going to surrender to their desire. Mixed with some behind the scene of a rock band on tour and some angsty introspection from Nicole. And when she does surrender, it’s a little sexy and a lot sweet. Maybe Nicole and Zack’s relationship was a little too perfect, even with the other woman drama. From instalove to the end of time, it was almost too good to be true.
As the story, the writing was just okay.
But the narration almost ruined the book for me. Zack only has a couple chapters, so the male narrator, who’s good, didn’t do a lot. As for the female narrators, she bored me to tears, and I didn’t enjoy her work. And to top it all, the audio edition was disastrous. A lot of mistakes and retakes were kept in the final product. I probably would have enjoyed this book more as an ebook.
All of this was disappointing, because I wanted to feel deep and cry to Nicole’s grief and guilt. In the end, I was kept outside of the story.
Quickie
- Series: Just one #1 (can be read as a standalone)
- Hashtags: #rockstar romance #instalove #widow #other woman
- Triggers: past death and grief, car accident, drug abuse
- Main couple: Nicole Parsons & Zack Walters
- Hotness: 3/5
- Romance: 4/5
- + I liked the creative process
- – the audiobook was hard to finish
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