5 Smooches
Synopsis
When they get an offer to join a national tour, the musicians of Luminescent Juliet finally find their ticket to fame. But for Sam, the band’s dazzling but troubled bassist, making sure his past stays locked away feels more important than winning the spotlight.
Then Peyton, a budding music journalist, joins the tour, tasked with chronicling the band’s every move. She and Sam have a history, one that has made them enemies. Neither wants to deal with old pain and misunderstanding, and they agree to keep the past in the past. This is more than fine with Peyton after all, it’ll only help reassure her picture-perfect boyfriend back on campus that following the band is all totally professional.
Yet being forced to look at Sam in a new way brings Peyton a different perspective on the past?and his magnetic baby-blues and rippling muscles are hard to ignore. When the tour kicks into high gear, the real truth about their shared past comes to light, and Peyton is rocked by forces as passionate and chaotic as the music she loves.
This book is intended for mature teen audiences due to strong language and some sexual content
Review
“The past will not affect my future.”
I have been a fan of Jean Haus’ Luminescent Juliet series for awhile now and devour each book as soon as it is released! Not only do I own all of them in book form (either ebook or paperback) but I have them all in audio as well. This series as a whole is one I can read over and over again and never get bored. With The Band, the third installment, was absolutely no different. I loved every drama filled moment and read it straight through in one sitting.
“Sam should be the one person who was aware I wasn’t a slut. Usually virgins aren’t considered sluts.”
Sam and Peyton have a past, a dramatic and regret filled past, that has left them not talking to each other for years. When Sam’s bandmate, Romeo, asks aspiring rock journalist Peyton to join their tour to help document it she cannot say no but how can these two live together on a tiny bus with all the hostility between them. Can they work through this to become friends or even more?
“Thirty pounds more would never take away your beauty.”
There are times in this story where I was wanting to wring Sam’s neck and then there are times where a big bear hug is not enough for the sweetness that comes out of his mouth. I don’t want to dwell in what the history between Sam and Peyton is because I think figuring that out as you read is part of the fun but even when Sam is seeming to hate Peyton he still somehow comes across as funny, protective and kind . . . you know for an ass.
“You finally got an ass. A seriously hot ass,”
Jean Haus’ writing is both fun and emotional. She knows how to be super sexy without ever making it overkill which in the New Adult genre can be very difficult to do. So many of these books are either too sexy or too dry but with her books I love the build up and the pay off is always worth the wait. Of all the men she has written, Sam has been the most emotional and also the sexiest. His protective nature towards Peyton is a serious turn on.
“Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. If the good is that freaking good.”
As much I wanted Peyton and Sam together this whole book, I still understood why they let their past affect them. Things like what went down between them are not easy to overcome and the details surrounding it are complicated and ongoing. This is not something that you can just easily move past and have a happily ever after. This is something that will continue to affect them even in the future. This book is not a happy go lucky rocker band story. It deals with many serious issues and at times your heart will break but, don’t worry, give it a few chapters and Jean will have you laughing and rooting for these two all over again. Once again, this is a Luminescent Juliet story I can see myself reading over and over again.
~miranda
