This
final chapter in the fun and steamy New Adult trilogy by Noelle August
(authors Veronica Rossi and Lorin Oberweger) features two aspiring
musicians who must choose between their careers…and their sizzling
attraction for each other.
Playing
the occasional club gig just isn’t cutting it for twenty-two-year-old
cellist Skyler Canby, who’s trying to support herself and her mother
back home in Kentucky. Persuaded by her best friend Beth to accompany
her on an audition for the first feature film launched by Blackwood
Entertainment, she figures why not? Beth’s a shoe-in for the lead, but
maybe Skyler’s newly dyed pink hair will help her stand out enough to
score a small speaking part.
Never
in her wildest dreams does Skyler imagine she’ll land the lead role or
that she’ll have her shoes knocked off her feet by the kiss her audition
partner, Grey Blackwood, plants on her—a kiss that feels very real and not at all “acted. ”
After
throwing a party that causes thousands of dollars of damage to his
older brother’s home, reckless musician Grey Blackwood gets roped into
working off his debt on the set of his CEO brother’s newest project.
Grey spends his days fetching coffee and doing odd jobs around the
studio, but he lives for nights when he performs with his band. He knows
if he can stay focused, success as a singer is just around the corner.
But that’s tough with a distracting pink-haired girl occupying his every
waking thought.
Skyler
and Grey have every reason to resist each other. But, like a song
neither of them can get out of their minds, they have no choice but to
go where the music takes them.
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BOUNCE
By Noelle August
Two aspiring musicians must choose between
their careers…and their sizzling attraction for each other in the final
Boomerang novel.
Chapter 20
Good lord in a basket, it’s him all right.
Grey. Illuminated by the golden lights coming on along Venice Boulevard. With
suds and water sluicing off his ridiculously ripped body, cascading from his
massive tattooed biceps, running down his taut muscled abdomen. His swimsuit
sags dangerously low, clinging to his sturdy thighs, making, um, everything, pretty evident.
And evidently pretty impressive.
Probably, this would be a good time to
actually speak some words, but even in a town full of hot, hot people, this is
kind of stratospheric.
“Yep, it’s me.” Grey reaches back to turn off
the shower, which breaks the spell, so I can at least avert my gaze like a
decent person. Then he rubs a towel vigorously over his gleaming body and tucks
it around his waist.
He has a strange look on his face—peevish,
embarrassed, and it feels suddenly like we’re intruding on something. Or maybe
it’s just me. I think about that moment in my trailer. His fingers on my skin.
My wanting and not knowing what to want.
“Uh, so, what are you up to?” I ask in an
effort to win the prize for most obvious question ever. “I mean, I can see what
you were up to.” Seriously, Sky? “But, uh, were you just in the water? What
brings you out here?”
“I’m crashing nearby. At the garage where my
band rehearses.”
“Really?” asks Mia. “Why?”
Grey looks from me to Mia and then back to
me, weighing something. Maybe whether or not he can trust us. He’s got this
hot, coiled energy all the time, like he’s always holding back. Like he’s an
animal caged inside a human body.
“Just staying there for a few weeks.”
“Because of your mom?” I ask. It was obvious
from their interaction on set that there’s some bad blood there, though
compared to my mom, she seems kind and thoughtful, whip-smart and curious
without being overbearing. Which makes sense, given her offspring.
Then I remember that Grey’s not really her
offspring. He said “stepmother,” and the way he said it really answers my
question.
Which is good, because he doesn’t actually answer it. Instead, he gathers
up his stuff—surfboard, wetsuit—and gives us a grin. “I gotta head out,” he
says, as though nothing’s hanging there between us. He looks away for a second,
following the path of a guy in an Obama mask as he weaves his way up the
boardwalk on a ribbon-festooned unicycle. “Told some friends I’d hook up with
them tonight.”
“Wait,” says Mia. “So, you’re just sleeping
in a garage? Like on an air-mattress or something?”
Grey shrugs. “A couch. It’s okay.”
“And taking freezing cold showers out on the
beach? That doesn’t sound great, does it, Sky?”
“No, it doesn’t,” I say, but I’m afraid of
where she’s going with this.
“Can’t you stay at a hotel or something?”
He shakes his head. “Money’s a little tight
right now. I’m giving Adam almost every penny to pay him back for the house,
and I don’t really have…” Again, he goes silent, and I can feel, literally, the tension of him wanting to talk, wanting to say
more to someone. Needing it.
“Why don’t you come stay at our place?” Mia
blurts. We have that in common. The blurting thing. “I mean, I’m just about all
moved out, so there’s room.”
Ay, dios. No. No.
But I can’t say anything. I can’t tell my
best friend, who knows I’m talking to Brooks, starting to maybe, sort of, think
about where that could go, that having Grey in my apartment, so close all the time, is a very dangerous, very
bad idea.
Grey shakes his head. “Nah, I appreciate it,
but I’m cool here. I promise. Thanks, though.” He takes a few steps toward a
squat gray building with weather-beaten shutters and a tiny, shed-like garage
in the back. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
“Hang on,” says Mia, pulling me along. She
gives me a look, tipping her head in his direction, like she’s tapping me in
for the debate. “You’re cool with it, right, Sky?”
“Of course.” Not. In no way. “But it seems
like he’s got it under control here. So, if—”
My words disappear, though, because Grey’s
pulled up the garage door, the muscles of his broad back and shoulders shifting
smoothly as he thrusts the door up along its rusting track.
“See?” he says, pointing to a lumpy white
couch sporting what looks like a half-century’s worth of mystery stains—a
perfect complement to the funk of beer and weed and sweat potent enough to make
my eyes water. “Perfectly fine, right?”
But, like me, he’s lousy at hiding his
feelings. Even turned away to shove some empty beer cans into a garbage bag,
his body language tells me everything.
He doesn’t want to be here in this musty
space, crowded with furniture and audio equipment, the only natural light
coming in from the tiny half-moon windows set into the garage door, which faces
a dim alleyway.
“You should come stay with us,” I say,
surprising the hell out of us both. “I mean, this is…”
“It’s fine,” Grey insists. “I don’t need
much, and I’m hardly ever here.”
I think how different he is from Brooks, who
says what he means, tells you—without hesitation—what he wants.
“Come on,” says Mia.
“Seriously,” he tells us. “It’s really nice
of you to ask, but I’m fine. I can’t afford—”
“I paid up on the place through the end of
the lease,” Mia says. “You can just chip in on food and utilities. I’m sure you
can manage that, right? It’s only for a few weeks. And you’d be rooming with two awesome, super hot girls. How can you
say no to that?”
He looks at me, and I can see he’s worried
about the same things I am. Rooming together. Being too close, constantly one
second away from making a really dumb choice. He’s young and too reckless for
me. And a musician, on top of it all. He’s everything I don’t need sharing my
space.
But something tugs at me, makes me put all of
those concerns aside. I see it in his smoke-gray eyes, which are so alive, so
deep and full of thoughts. Some pain or fear lives there. Something that makes
it so hard for him to accept. To take a simple kindness. It’s not just about me
but about trusting. Anything.
Seeing that, I can’t let him spend another
night in this crappy place. Just…alone.
“You should come home with us,” I say. “It
will be…a lot better than this, I promise.”
About the Authors:
Question: What do you get when friends pen a story with heart, plenty of laughs, and toe-curling kissing scenes? Answer: Noelle August, the pseudonym for renowned editor and award-winning writer Lorin Oberweger and New York Times bestselling YA author Veronica Rossi, the masterminds behind the Boomerang series. You can visit them at NoelleAugust.com, @Noelle_August, and facebook.com/NoelleAugustBooks
Don't miss the first two in the series! Boomerang and Rebound.
Source: eARC for Honest Review Courtesy from William Morrow via Edelweiss
Genre: NA Contemporary
Part 3 of 3, but could be read as a standalone
My Bounce Review . . .
The book was a good and not good for me. I liked the idea of it and I adored Grey, but Skylar and some elements of the story didn't do it for me.
We meet young Grey in Rebound, where his cocky attitude made him not loveable at times but in Bounce we get to the heart of Grey and understand him so much more. I never read Boomerang so we might have already met Skylar there, which could have given me more enjoyable traits to love her with, but since I didn't read it, this is the first time I meet Skylar.
Skylar's the yes girl who tries to please everyone but herself. Needing to make quick money she decided to audition for film hoping to get a small part. Lo and behold she gets the lead and it is where she meets young sweet Grey.
Instantly there is an attraction between the two, but Sky pushes him away because of her own insecurities but tries to pass it off to his youngness . Grey may be young and yes he's made some bad choices but after meeting Skylar, he realizes he has to make some changes if he wants to move forward in life.
Normally I don't mind love triangles but for some reason this one irked me. I think it was because she was trying to date someone else because he was safer. Which was not fair to anyone involved in this triangle.
To be with someone who just, plainly, wants me. Someone straightforward, stable and easy.
Or that I feel stuck between two guys that I wish I could combine into one perfect person. Even though I'm not a perfect person myself.
With Sky's back and forth emotions, it's Grey who has to put his foot down to protect himself.
I couldn't use you, and I couldn't let you use me, . . .
I know I'm dating someone else-starting to, anyway-but I can't resist hugging the pillow he used, breathing in his scent, which is like smoke and surf all in one.
Since Skylar takes on way to much, her new role and choices in life are now weighing on her too much.
"I know you want to make everyone happy, sweetness, but you have to take care of yourself, too."
I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Skylar. There were many things I did like about her but there were also many things I didn't like.
"I will. I just don't want to be a problem." (Like this, where I just want her to stand up for herself)
I just can't have that in my life. Can't sign up for the path my mom took, even though I know I'm not her. Even though I know Grey's not my dad. (Argh! Or this if she feels this way she should just be with Brooks and leave Grey alone. Or buck up and pull her big girl panties up and realize Grey may be young but he's not her dad)
Thankfully for sweet Grey, whom we get to see blossom into the potential that was always him. Has enough of a head on his shoulders to carry the weight of his own issues and also Sky's.
"Whatever happens, I've got you. More importantly, you've got you. Believe me."
Even though there were elements that I didn't like, I still liked the book and couldn't put it down. I wanted to know if Skylar was going to get her head out of her ass and see the beauty and love in Grey. After reading this book and finding out that it is the end of this trilogy I was left with two story lines that I felt incomplete, hopefully there may be a spin off series that we can some clarity on things.
1) I wish there was more about consequences or reprimands to Kaitlin's pushing of the diet pills. I know for some in that fictional or true industry they may feel they need for extra help in this area but I didn't like how Kaitlin was pushing so hard with no one saying anything about it.
and
2) Brooks. He was an integral part of the story but when Sky finally makes her choice and has a discussion with him, it felt completely anti-climatic and left opened. I wish we got to read what happened or at least his response to their conversation. Anything really would have been better then what we were left with. Yes, I know this book is about Grey and Sky but I don't like unfinished story lines, and this felt unfinished to me.
Was this one of my favorite NA books? No, but it was still cute. Favorite part? Grey. Least favorite part? Sky's unnecessary love triangle. Do I like this series? Yes, and one day I will read Boomerang so I have the complete picture of the series as a whole. Do I hope we get a spin off series? Yes, I want to find out more about Brooks, Beth and Grey's band members.
3 I'm sweet on Grey Thumbs up!
Lauren
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