Review: Girl With Guitar by Caisey Quinn

Release date: May 21st 2013
Self-Published
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

*This is a New Adult Romance and contains MA 17+ Content.

After Kylie’s dad dies in a freak accident, he leaves her with nothing other than her crazy stepmother, Darla, and the ability to play guitar. When Darla kicks Kylie out and she loses her job all in the same day, she hops a bus to Nashville determined to make her late father’s dreams come true. 

Waitressing and saving her pennies to record a demo, her big break comes when she’s asked to join a tour going down the tubes with once platinum album-selling country music superstar Trace Corbin. But touring with Trace is hardly a dream come true since he’s pretty much drinking his career down the drain. If Kylie can’t pull Trace out of his rut, he’ll pull her and her dreams down with him.

*Purchased ebook via Amazon

It was an enjoyable story filled with wit, humor, and lots of drama. To say this was an emotional roller-coaster is an understatement. It's beyond that. Girl With Guitar has been on my TBR for what feels like ages and after glimpsing it a few days ago, I decided to purchase the book and give it a read. Glad I did. 

My interest was kept from start to finish. Here we have this young girl who's had a rough ride and finally her dreams are coming true after one very coincidental performance. 

Kylie is a likable, relatable character. She's strong, her talent is felt throughout the pages, and you can definitely see how much of an emotional person she is. Her journey to finally making music is one hell of battlefield between her and Trace. And one that you'll never get tired of. 

I liked the tension between the main characters from start. It wasn't insta-love, but you can sense the attraction Kylie felt for this appealing country singer with troubles of his own. It was quite admirable, the way she'd stand up to him and try to get him to straighten himself out. Unlike some of the people around him, Kylie wasn't afraid to tell him like it is or get rid of the crap that's fueling his problem. She's a headstrong girl. I felt her character was perfect for someone like him.

Trace was quite a handful. At times rude, but then once you get to know him you start to see why he why he was self-sabotaging like that. Beyond the rude remarks and unnecessary trouble he got himself in, was a really nice guy who deserved some love and affection from a girl who was real and honest with him. Thankfully, Kylie was that girl and I'm glad not only he did, but that she realized how much they wanted to be together towards the end. 

Overall, it was a great story with a sweet, convincing romance, captivating song lyrics that I could imagine myself singing, and really fast-paced and intriguing writing. The one thing that bugged me was how they kept misunderstanding each other and were too stubborn to just say how they feel, especially Kylie. I get it, that's the kind of person she was. But it felt like a particular issue was drawn out when it could have just wrapped a few pages sooner. Regardless, it was an enjoyable story and I do recommend if you're a country music fan, as well as a lover of coming of age books about characters chasing after their dreams and having them come true in spite of the bumps along the road.

Review: Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Released: July 16th 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…

*I received a physical ARC in exchange of an honest review.

A story drenched in the country music scene, outlining one girl's inner issues as well as her personal growth in starting a new. Dirty Little Secret is musically captivating but consists of mildly intriguing characters. 

I started reading this book a few days before its release and would've finished had it not been for the opening chapters. I don't know why-scratch that, I do. Bailey just came off as a miserable teenager overly bitter about her sister getting a recording contract and her family (mother in particular) throwing her under the bus. I get why she's upset, her family is despicable for coming up with such terms and blocking Bailey from pursuing music. But come on, I feel like if she really was passionate about it and wasn't so busy feeling self-pity, Bailey would've chased after her dreams, shitting on what her parents said. 

Her character didn't pull me in that much. Meaning, I felt no connection, but that doesn't mean I disliked her. And truth be told, I developed no connection with any of the characters in the book but I still read on being that the story was interesting. 

Sam turned me off completely. His comments at time were amusing, but I just couldn't feel the attraction between him and Bailey when he was such a prick and she seemed too naive with him. However, the one thing I liked was that he got her into playing with the band and actually made her open up about her problems. Though, he was far too ambitious (like her mother, maybe that justifies the attraction on her part, like a cycle), and he wanted badly for his band to make it in music no matter what, not a bad thing but he should fall back a bit and breathe. 

In terms of all that happened between Sam and Bailey, I felt it a bit rushed but its a novel and things move along faster, which is fine. Their ending was pleasant however predictable, and I was happy when Bailey and Charlotte warmed up to each other. Though, their situation was a bit hmm...

I also would've loved to have Bailey's parents more in the story as well her sister, Julie. I know they were pretty much busy touring and such but it would have been interesting with the mother especially because I'd like to hear some of the things she'd say about Bailey pursuing music against her threats. Towards the end, they warmed up about the whole thing and that to me was kind of fast as well. But I guess Jennifer wanted to give us a nice ending with everyone getting along.

The biggest highlight for me was the element the plot surrounded. I absolutely love music so it's always great to read stories where music is infused in the story and the author did just that. From the musical notes to ranges described, it sounded like everybody knew what they were talking about and I was impressed with that aspect in particular. 

Overall, Dirty Little Secret was a good read with a few minor issues here and there. This is my first time reading a Jennifer Echols novel and I'm pleased with the writing. Details were substantial and not overbearing, and the plot itself was fresh and far away from what I've been reading lately in New Adult. So, yes. I will be reading much more by the author.