Book Description:
Emily Portman loves her job. A writer for Breakout! Magazine, she shadows and showcases up-and-coming bands. When her next assignment takes her to Austin, Texas, she can't wait to add the city to her map of places she's visited. Places she's left without looking back. Her plan is to keep moving on, and the last thing she needs is a man holding her back. She's not going down that road again. Tyler Macy is stuck in a rut. Despite his exceptional talent as a musician, he has chosen to take a backseat with his music and let others grab the limelight. Wounded and mistrustful, he doesn't appreciate his friends efforts to bring him back to center stage. Emily comes onto the scene and sees his full potential, but he fights to stay in the shadows, shutting her out before she can add to the scars another woman gave him. For Tyler to find his music again, he needs to accept the help that Emily and their friends offer. When he discovers that his muse lies underneath Emily's skin, it is still not enough to keep her from walking away. Neither will admit what they really want until it is too late. Emily is once again thrown in Tyler's path when she is assigned to join them on tour. Despite the pain in his past, Tyler sees that she is worth it, even if she's stolen both his heart and peace of mind. In order for them to be together, they both must discover whether the music and their passion are enough to overcome the obstacles that separate them. Maybe finding love is worth the risk.
Find it on Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7336499.Amber_L_Johnson
Excerpt:
Walking toward him is like trudging through the deepest mud, but I hold my head high, my hands in my pockets and strides long. When I'm less than a foot away, his head turns toward me without lifting his chin, and he looks up from under his brows. The white smoke from his cigarette causes his eyes to nearly close before he pulls it from his lips and exhales upward into the air. I'm struck by how incredibly handsome he is in black wool and new jeans. I want to know if his skin feels hot under his clothes and if his back feels the same when I scratch fingernails across his spine. My fists clench in my coat pockets at the thought. This is going to be so much harder than I'd been prepared for.
Our Review:
**ARC Received for honest review**
Review by Donna ~ 3.5 Stars
“I can’t get the notes out. They’re stuck. I try my hardest, but nothing happens, even when my fingers bleed and the calluses have calluses…”
Firstly I would like to say how much I loved this cover and now that I have read the book the cover means so much more, it is beautiful. I fell in love with Amber L Johnson’s writing after I read Puddle Jumping, although it was short, that book packed a punch so I was expecting much of the same with this book.
Emily is a music writer, she writes for a magazine following up and coming bands and helping them on their way to super stardom. She loves her job and all the travel that accompanies it. For her, this was her ideal job and she was good at it.
Her latest assignment takes her to Texas, just moving into her temporary home becomes a mission in itself and this is where she first meets Tyler. Tyler is the odd job man in their block of apartments and unbeknown to Emily, their paths are definitely going to cross again.
Tyler is your typical broken musician, although emotionally he is destroyed, he is super talented and he cannot help the musical genius that comes through his soul as he writes and plays. Tyler is in a funk at the moment, he used to write beautiful songs and sing lead vocals for his band but his brokenness has led to him being in the wrong place to create anything and totally lose his confidence. Being a multi instrument musician though has its plus side promptly instils himself behind a drum kit instead of front and centre, back there he can hide and keep his unhappiness to himself.
“I can’t…need you. I can’t keep you here because I don’t want to have to need someone again.”
Emily is shocked when she realises that Tyler is in the bad that she has been assigned to and it is not long before his story comes to the surface but can Emily keep it professional, or will lines and boundaries be crossed? Could Emily be the person to bring Tyler back from the brink, will fame and fortune be bestowed upon them or are they just destined for failure?
Tyler was an amazing character though, the way that he wrote his music had me melting, swooning and sighing. I love a broken man and Tyler definitely fit the bill and I was championing for these two. Emily had her own emotional issues and you just knew that these two were going to be the perfect match for each other. When Tyler’s ability to write beautiful music comes back you can’t help but melt and get the warm and fuzzies.
“You? I’m going to be here when you figure it out.”
“What?”
“When you figure out that the music isn’t in me - it’s in you.”
I was really looking forward to reading this, the blurb had pulled me in and I was itching to start. For me this was an easy read, it flowed beautifully and was well written as you would expect from Amber L Johnson. For me personally, the reason I did not give it a higher rating was because I did not have that character connection with this book, while the plot carried me through the story effortlessly I just didn’t make that bond with Emily and Tyler which I feel lessened my enjoyment. I have to say that this did surprise me considering how much emotion and empathy was packed into Puddle Jumping but for me this one just fell short. None the less though, this was still a really enjoyable NA read.
Guest Post By Amber L Johnson:
If you were a music journalist what bands would you be stalking at the moment?
If I had the money and connections I would climb aboard the Foo Fighters tour bus and only leave when they pried my cold dead hands from one of the seats. I’d lose my mind if I could be backstage at a Fall Out Boy or Paramore concert. But the band that I think I would have the most fun watching night after night would be Imagine Dragons. Have you seen their live shows? The drums, man. That’s all I’m saying.
It says in your bio that music can heal a broken heart, what song's have helped you in tough times?
Music has gotten me through some really hard times. And the one that sticks out the most for me was when I lost my first baby. We had been trying for two years at that point and I was just completely broken Listening to Storm by Lifehouse was my saving grace. I sang it every day until it stopped hurting so much. Even to this day, the lyrics make my chest ache:
How long have I been in this storm?
So overwhelmed by the ocean's shapeless form
Water's getting harder to tread
With these waves crashing over my head
If I could just see you
Everything would be all right
If I'd see you
This darkness would turn to light
And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
I know everything will be alright
I know everything is alright
I know you didn't bring me out here to drown
So why am I ten feet under and upside down
Barely surviving has become my purpose
Because I'm so used to living underneath the surface
About the Author:
Author Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/whereisjakeryan
Website: http://www.amberlynnejohnson.com/
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