4 Smooches!
Synopsis
It’s 1981. Twenty-four-year-old Julia Nash has recently arrived in Manhattan, where she works as a publisher’s assistant. She dreams of becoming an editor with her own stable of bestselling authors—but it is hard to get promoted in the recession-clobbered book biz.
Julia blows off steam by going dancing downtown with her best friend, Vicky. One night, a hot British guitarist invites them into his VIP section. Despite an entourage of models and groupies, Jack chooses Julia as his girl for the evening—and when Jack Kipling picks you, you go with it. The trouble is … he’s never met a girl like her before. And she resists being just one in a long line.
Jack exposes her to new experiences, from exclusive nightclubs in SoHo to the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood; from mind-bending recording sessions to wild backstage parties. Yet Julia is afraid to fall for him. Past relationships have left her fragile; one more betrayal just might break her.
As she fends off her grabby boss and tries to move up the corporate ladder, Julia’s torrid relationship with Jack takes her to heights she’s never known—and plunges her into depths she’s never imagined.
With a fascinating inside look at publishing, this entertaining story of a bookish young woman’s adventures with a rock superstar is witty, moving, and toe-curlingly steamy.
Review
So as soon as I read the synopsis I was intrigued- a book set in the 80’s? This is going to be interesting! In the synopsis, as you can see, it clearly states that the main male character is a rock star, yet my mind had conjured up this image of a wealthy upper class man whisking this woman off her feet and showing her the world and a scenic image like new orleans – yes ok so I watch too much of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals haha! So it wasn’t quite like the image I had in my mind – but still a fascinating good story!
Music and dancing is a very big ingredient to this story. I liked that about it, I’m always fascinated about stories that really delve into the aspect of a relationship, the highs, the lows, the real struggles, between a rock star/celebrity and a person who is not use to that life. It’s fascinating and it was even more so to read about it especially in the 80’s. Jack is a popular, sexy rock star and is very sought after by the public, whereas Julie is just a regular girl putting the pieces of her heart back after a breakup, working hard in the publishing industry and loves to go dancing in clubs with her best friend Vicky.
“..We kept dancing normally in the spotlight’s glare, unlike a lot of people who put on a show for him. It was distracting because our images were projected larger-than-life against the huge back wall, so everyone could see.”
The story is told from Julia’s POV – it is women’s fiction, after all. It was interesting from her point of view- but frustrating at times because Jack was a complicated character and it would have been nice to get a bit more insight into where he was coming from. I kind of loved that this is a complicated love story that it’s not all straight forward and their love has to be questioned and people probably won’t necessarily root for them from the beginning, it’s one of them story’s that will gradually grow on you. Once you get into it you can’t put down, you need to know what’s going to happen.
Will they? Won’t they?
Are they? Aren’t they?
The secondary characters add so much life to this book too- the relationship between Jack and Julia can be quite intense at times so it’s fun to have the secondary characters balance it out and they’re not just fillers in the story either they have depth to them. Vicky is Julia’s wild bestfriend and adds fun to the story. I’m really interested in her and Sammy’s relationship, rooted for them and want more. In a story there is always an asshole character, and in this one, that character comes in the form of Jack’s band mate, Patrick, biggest asshole possible, but brilliantly done because you find yourself wanting to know his story, wanting to know what his deal is? Dot is also quite the character and an important one in this story, she is Julia’s mother and the relationship between Julia and her mother is interesting, it’s lovely seeing how that develops in the book.
“You always saw everything in black and white, Julia. You needed to think one of us was to blame, and it wasn’t going to be your dad. You idolized him.”
Sometimes a scene/chapter ended abruptly and hopped on quickly and it felt like there was more to be said, more to be told. Other than that though this was a fascinating, interesting read. while Julia is determined, strong and independent while trying to guard her heart and not fall for the big bad rocker, Jack is sexy and charming, British accent? hellooooo and he is complicated as hell with insecurities of his own . The characters had so much depth and have so much more story left in them. This isn’t the end of Julia and Jack’s story, it continues in Keep dancing which is out now.
“The part where Jack does something really stupid. He’s so terrified of his feelings for his woman, he doesn’t call her right away to straighten out a bad misunderstanding… and his heart gets ripped into shreds.”
swooooon.
Jade x
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