03 July 2013

Lick (Stage Dive #1) by Kylie Scott

Lick (Stage Dive, # 1)

4 Lick-tastic stars

“Am I now? They’re love songs, baby. Love isn’t always smooth or straightforward. It can be messy and painful,” he said. “Doesn’t mean it isn’t still the most incredible thing that can ever happen to you. Doesn’t mean I’m not crazy about you.”

This is another one of my "unplanned" read this year. I saw someone recommending it and being a sucker for a rocker (Wow, it rhymed!) girl that I am, I just had to read it.

Lick has some real shining/winning areas and some real not-so-shining, I-wish-this-could-be-better ones. Let me explain.


One of the things I liked about this book are the characters. They are really well-drawn, well-thought of characters. Evelyn, for one, was a delightful read, same goes with her best friend Lauren. They were both hilarious. I laughed out loud so many times during their interactions. And the inner monologue, as sparse as it was, was funny.


My phone pinged.
Lauren: You okay? Where r u???
Me: LA. Going to him ’til things calm down. You alright?
Lauren: I’m fine. LA? Living the dream.
Me: Private jet was amazing. Though his fans are crazy.
Lauren: Your brother is crazy.
Me: Sorry about that.
Lauren: I can handle him. Whatever happens, do not break up the band!!!
Me: Got it
Lauren: But break his heart. He wrote San Pedro after what’s-her-face cheated on him. That album was BRILLIANT!
Me: Promise to leave him a broken quivering mess.
Lauren: That’s the spirit.

David and his band, Stage Dive, were wonderful too. I loved how Ms. Scott wrote the relationship David has with the other members of the band. And knowing that this is a series about the band, I'm looking forward to reading the other guy's story. I mean, these guys have real problems, problems with each other and with addiction. Kind of difficult to write into a romance book but it really works here. It made for a more interesting read, for sure.

I also liked the premise here. The first few pages were hilarious and you can really feel Ev's bewilderment as she found herself in bed with a gorgeous man, a Cartier ring and a tattoo on her left butt cheek without a memory about what brought her there.


“I didn’t realize you’d had that much to drink. I mean, I knew you’d had a bit, but … shit. Seriously? You don’t remember us going on the gondolas at The Venetian?”
“We went on gondolas?”
“Fuck. Ah, how about when you bought me a burger? Do you remember that?”
“Sorry.”
“Wait a minute,” he said, watching me through narrowed eyes. “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?”
“I’m so sorry.”
He physically recoiled from me. “Let me get this straight, you don’t remember anything?”
“No,” I said, swallowing hard. “What did we do last night?”
“We got fucking married,” he growled

And if you are like me who religiously follows some of the lives of the rich and famous rockstars in the world, this scenario is entirely plausible.

Now onto the not-so-good aspects of this book.

Insta-love. I can understand attraction. That can be instant but love? Nah. The thing is, the whole book sorta just skimmed through that part. Meaning that both Ev and David's feelings for each other or how they got there, weren't fleshed out properly. I would have loved to know why Ev came to the conclusion that she was in love with her David, which leads to my next quibble.

There were portions of the book where all I got were dialogues and not enough inner monologues. This would have been fine but it happened during one of the critical part of the story. This is where I would have loved to know what went on Ev's head. Instead, I got this banter between her and David. They just talked a lot. A lot. This would have been awesome if not for a fact that as a reader, I wanted to find out what's going on in Ev's head to establish the context of their relationship. I didn't get that, which is probably why the whole "I love you" thing was a little shallow for me.

But other than that, this book was a wonderful read. The characters, as I said, were enjoyable and likable enough and the drama was great. Loved the second part of the book when David went out to woo Ev after almost ruining the whole thing between them.

This is definitely a highly recommended read for everyone who loves rockstar romances.




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