Why I read it: I received a review copy from the author via NetGalley. It had a rock star heroine and it’s in the New Adult genre which I like. I say I don’t get books because of their covers but I’ve come to realise that’s not entirely true. I won’t make a final decision based on a cover, but there are plenty of times when I click to find out more because of an eye-catching cover design and this is one of those examples. The cover is gorgeous.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) With one look, I’m his . . .
With one touch, he’s mine . . .
With one kiss, it changes everything between us . . .
I’ve been famous since I can remember. Singing, acting, dancing—I’ve done it all. The tabloids cover my every move, but I don’t want that anymore. I want to be normal, whatever that is.
When I leave Hollywood for college in Vermont, I’m on my own for the first time in my life. This is my chance to figure out who I am and what I want in life.
But it’s a lot harder than I expected. I can’t escape my image. Classes are difficult, and I’m struggling. And then there’s Caleb Fox.
Sexy, intriguing Caleb Fox.
Caleb is the one man who doesn’t want to use me. He breaks down my walls. He challenges me. He wants me. And I just don’t know if I can give him the same—or if he’ll stick around when he finds out my shameful secret that the tabloids haven’t managed to uncover.
Dating him is risky enough, but loving him could break me.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I found this story a bit of a mixed bag. There were parts where I was immersed and enraptured but other parts which felt a little flat to me. As much as I thought Caleb was wonderful, he was so perfect that the romance lacked tension. Caleb is gorgeous, smart, faithful, honest, funny and awesome in bed. He has good friends, a great family, a career plan, talent – really, what’s not to love about him? Hailey on the other hand, is a bit of a mess. She has been managed by her mother who is the ultimate awful “stage-mom” – manipulated into roles she didn’t really want, relationships she didn’t really want and increasingly, into a career she didn’t really want, Hailey has made a break. She has quit acting, singing and dancing and is going to college. She doesn’t know exactly what she wants to do yet, other than be “normal” (or, as normal as it is possible to be given how rich and famous she is). She plans to spend her first year of college finding herself and I think the book succeeds very well here. It skirts the line so that Hailey stays on the right side of “poor little rich girl”. She isn’t unaware of her privilege and doesn’t whinge. She does read older than her 18 years, but I think this is explained by her history – she’s worked professionally since she was a small child (even as a baby she was the face of Gerber). When she struggles in school, she takes it on the chin and doesn’t whine about it. She goes and gets some tutoring, works hard and does better. Yay!
