Release Day Blitz, Reviews, and Giveaway: Lead: Kylie Scott

by - Tuesday, July 29, 2014


Lead (Stage Dive #3)
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Expected July 29, 2014

Stay up all night with the sexy rockers in Stage Dive, the epic New Adult series from New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott, author of Lick and Play.

As the lead singer of Stage Dive, Jimmy is used to getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, whether it's booze, drugs, or women. However, when a PR disaster serves as a wake-up call about his life and lands him in rehab, he finds himself with Lena, a new assistant to keep him out of trouble.   


Lena's not willing to take any crap from the sexy rocker and is determined to keep their relationship completely professional, despite their sizzling chemistry. But when Jimmy pushes her too far and Lena leaves, he realizes that he may just have lost the best thing that ever happened to him.


Teasers from Kylie Scott's Facebook page
“Lena, you seen my old black Led Zep shirt?”
“Nope.”
“You sure?” His brows became one dark cranky line. The scratches on his face were healing well, thank goodness. Though it didn’t reduce my desire to throttle his mother on a daily basis.
“Yes. I haven’t seen it.”
Can’t find it anywhere…”
“And this is a surprise, how?” I slipped my hands into my back jean’s pockets. “Jimmy, you own more clothing than Cher, Brittney, and Elvis, put together. Things are bound to go missing.”
“Sure you haven’t seen it?”
“For goodness sake, what do you think, Jimmy? That I stole it to sleep in or something?” I laughed bitterly. Sure as hell, the truth deserved a good mocking. I’d sunk so despicably low.
I hadn’t even meant to steal the stupid thing, but the shirt had been mixed up with my laundry a few days ago. It’d been the first top I laid my hand on after stepping out of the shower, ready to go to bed. Without thought, I’d put it on and it’d been so soft, the scent of him lingering beneath the laundry detergent. Every night since, I’d found myself in it come bedtime. My shame knew no limits. And no, I still hadn’t quit. The words still hadn’t come even close to leaving my mouth.
He frowned. “No.”
“That I have some deep secret longing to feel close to you resulting in my stealing your shirt like some creepy perv?”
“Course I don’t fucking think that,” he replied crankily, reaching up to grip the top of the doorframe. All of his bulging muscles stretched the arms of his white T-shirt in the nicest way. It was all I could do not to start drooling, my heart beat taking up residence somewhere down between my thighs. And who could blame it? Not me. Maybe if I got laid, this would go away and things would return to normal. It’d seemed safer to avoid rubbing up against any men just in case I got carried away and started dating again. This new situation, however, changed everything.
“Well, of course not! That would be crazy.” And wasn’t that the god’s honest truth? Cray-zeee. Lock me up and throw away the key because it wasn’t like I didn’t know better.
“Just can’t figure out where the hell it could be.”
Angels couldn’t have smiled as innocently. They might have tried, but they would have failed, the dirty-mouthed, winged, little liars. “Jimmy, I don’t know where it is. But I’ll look around for it later, okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, and then added as an afterthought, “and stop looking at me weird.”
“I’m not!”


...the man might be pretty, but he sure as hell wasn't nice.

Jimmy Ferris has just come through a rough patch...Drugs, booze, rehab, and a PR nightmare. So he is in need of a live in assistant/babysitter/sobriety coach. Enter into his world, Lena Morrissey.

She's sassy, outspoken, tough, and not affected by his fame. She has sworn off men due to her history. He's bitter, angry, moody, and living on the edge. He knows women are just a trigger for him. But despite their confrontations and his resentment of her presence, it becomes their new normal and provides  a measure of stability and comfort. 

Slowly their working relationship shifts a bit and like most women, Lena ends up with a bit of a crush. But she knows she cannot act on it. She actually sees the real jimmy under the facade to the broken man underneath. Maybe because she's pretty bent herself and has her own issues. 

Jimmy Ferris was special and complicated, beautiful and beastly, all rolled into one. A natural-born performer...Still I swear I could feel his pain bearing down on me, threatening to snap me in two. 

Jimmy...He tries to appear put together, likes control but can easily lose it, and is trying to keep his addictions at bay. But he is damaged and deep down looking for acceptance. He uses anger and obnoxious behavior to keep people from  seeing the real him. But underneath he is genuine, sweet, but totally clueless and emotionally repressed. He does not understand feelings, relationships or women. He just knows he needs what he needs. He was almost childlike in a lot of ways. 

He always seemed so polished, so perfect, you could almost ignore the chaos and pain living inside of him...He was such a dichotomy of good and evil, beautiful and bad. 

Lena is sensitive and cares too much. She has hew own reasons for self protection, but cannot seem to distance herself from him. He actually won't let her. But he also cannot admit he has any feelings either. 

The crush presents itself almost like a Junior High Romance with guarded looks, mixed signals, denial, and awkwardness. And eventually it all comes out in the open. His well meaning but destined-to-fail attempts at fixing their problem by distractions, turning her off, and getting it out her system are comical, complicated, and messy. It is obvious to everyone they are match made in Heaven (or Hell), but Jimmy's demons run deep and he keeps emotions locked down tight. But Lena is not going to settle for halfway. She wants it all, but does this broken man have enough to give?

"Sometimes you just have to follow Jimmy's lead." (Ev)
"Are you insane? He'll lead me straight to hell." (Lena)
"Perhaps. But he likes you, so I'm guessing he'll bring you back out safe and sound." (Ev)

I loved their feisty interactions and chemistry. Jimmy did not really know what hit him. He was so oblivious to some things. But he was also funny and sweet. He just had such a hard time even understanding his own feelings that it was hard for him to even meet her part way. 

I couldn't stop loving him, and he refused to start. That was the cold hard truth.

The guys from the band: David (his brother), Mal, Ben, and their ladies Ev and Anne are all back. They add comic relief (especially crazy, unfiltered Mal), support and some drama to the mix. Jimmy and David's past is a huge factor in the brother's issues.

This one had a bit of a different feel. In the first two books, the guys were the pursuers. They had to convince the women they were a safe bet. In Lick  it was mostly sweet and dramatic, in Play it was crazy, hilarious, but also emotional. But in the one it is a slower build and Lena is is the one wanting more and Jimmy is the avoider who is afraid to feel. Lead is rooted in the deep seated emotional pain that stunted Jimmy's emotional growth and kept him hiding behind a facade, booze, alcohol, and women for years. And no one really cared enough about him (other than his brother and band) to try to reach him. He is now recovering from his addictions, but he also needs to recover from his past if he ever wants to move forward. 

And even though Lena knew it was inappropriate, she could not help but try to help him and feel for him. It was just a matter if she could ever accept it. It was funny, sarcastic, emotional, heartbreaking, and sweet. It was also frustrating. A few times I wanted to shake some sense into characters or smack them. But it was engaging and I was totally invested in them. Vulnerable Jimmy really won me over. His emotions were hidden even to him most of the time, but were still raw, powerful, and sincere. And there was one part I swear that totally touched my heart so much I had to read it a few times over and just sigh.

This is another fun installment about real women and rock stars. They are not perfect, they have issues, but they are passionate and devoted once they find their "one". I am looking forward to Ben's story as it has been teased in these past two books and it is already set up for drama and fireworks.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 


I loved David and Ev in Lick, and Mal and Anne in Play, so Jimmy and Lena had some pretty big shoes to fill. By the time I was turning the page at the end of the book I was hooked on them, but it took me a bit to get to that point of love. 

When Lena is hired as Jimmy’s sober companion, she has no idea what she is in for, only that it can’t be worse than the office assistant job she’s been working. But as she gets to know Jimmy, resisting his charm becomes more and more difficult. 

Jimmy is hard on his sober companions. Having worked his way through multiple companions since his latest release from rehab, he is tired of feeling like strangers are up in his business. To him, Lena is no different: just another person following his every move and restricting his peace. 

When Lena tries to quit because of her attraction to Jimmy, he decides that he doesn’t want a different assistant, and he would help her “get over” the attraction. The attempts to change her mind led to several great moments in their relationship that neither would have anticipated. 

Part of me thinks there was just SO much going on in Jimmy’s life that I couldn’t get as deeply emotional about any one aspect. He had his own addiction he was fighting, his mother’s involvement, and then there is Lena. 

But what I did love about their story was that it wasn’t about Jimmy chasing Lena. Nor was it really Lena chasing Jimmy. There was as much hesitation from both sides, though for different reasons. 

As far as a continuation of the Stage Dive story, this was great. There is plenty of interaction with the other members of the band and their ladies. I can’t wait for Ben’s book, Deep. I love the way the timelines overlap just a little bit, so that the continuity of the series is more than simply the characters, it really is a well woven story.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lick (Stage Dive#1)
Waking up in Vegas was never meant to be like this.

Evelyn Thomas’s plans for celebrating her twenty-first birthday in Las Vegas were big. Huge. But she sure as hell never meant to wake up on the bathroom floor with a hangover to rival the black plague, a very attractive half-naked tattooed man, and a diamond on her finger large enough to scare King Kong. Now if she could just remember how it all happened.

One thing is for certain, being married to rock and roll’s favourite son is sure to be a wild ride
Play (Stage Dive #2)
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Buy Amazon/B&N
Kim's 4.5 star review

Kylie Scott returns with the highly anticipated follow-up to international bestseller LICK.

Mal Ericson, drummer for the world famous rock band Stage Dive, needs to clean up his image fast—at least for a little while. Having a good girl on his arm should do the job just fine. Mal doesn’t plan on this temporary fix becoming permanent, but he didn’t count on finding the one right girl.

Anne Rollins never thought she’d ever meet the rock god who plastered her teenage bedroom walls—especially not under these circumstances. Anne has money problems. Big ones. But being paid to play the pretend girlfriend to a wild life-of-the-party drummer couldn’t end well. No matter how hot he is. Or could it?


Upcoming

Deep (Stage Dive #4)
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Pre-order: Amazon/B&N
Expected January 6, 2015

Don't miss a beat with the fourth and final novel in theUSA Today bestselling Stage Dive series from Kylie Scott.

One by one, the members of Stage Dive are falling in love. David, Mal, and Jimmy have all taken the plunge, and now it’s Ben’s turn—only he refuses to fall into that trap. The sexy bassist enjoys his no-strings-attached lifestyle. But when Ben is forced to keep the one girl he's always had a weakness for out of trouble in Sin City, he quickly learns that what happens in Vegas, doesn’t always stay there. 


Kylie is a long time fan of love stories, rock n roll and B-grade horror films. She demands a happy ending and if blood and carnage occur along the way then all the better. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and one delightful husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet.

Other works by Kylie Scott:
The Flesh Series**Colonist’s Wife **Heart’s A Mess

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