Published by: Gallery Books
Publication date: April 7th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
For fans of Jamie McGuire and S.C. Stephens, a sizzling new adult novel featuring the tumultuous relationship between a young piano prodigy and a reluctant billionaire playboy—set against the vibrant backdrop of a New Orleans college campus.
After being bounced from foster family to foster family, Keeley, a talented pianist, is ready to start over as a junior at Tulane. But when she plays a small concert that attracts the attention of Jude, a brooding playboy and heir to an enormous fortune in the wake of his parents’ tragic death, suddenly Keeley’s life is thrown off balance once again.
Jude is the first person to confront her about the pain behind her music, and she struggles with whether or not to let him into her life, or to keep protecting herself from the hurt that relationships have caused her in the past. But Keeley’s about to learn that the melancholy young billionaire who appears to have everything can open her eyes to exactly what she needs…
“How to Deal with Writer’s Block”
The hardest book a writer will ever sit down to create is…the next one. I never used to believe that. After all, when I wrote my first two romances—the Robin Hood-themed What a Scoundrel Wants and the European Regency-era tale Song of Seduction—I was brimming with ideas. I had never used certain names. I had never explored certain themes. I had yet to tackle favorite tropes. They would all happen in time!
Now, some twenty published romances later, I’m at the point where running out of ideas is not the case, but finding fresh ways of presenting those ideas can be tricky. I’ve been able to dodge and weave past this conundrum by keeping interesting in multiple romance sub-genres, including apocalyptic, paranormal, erotic, historical, and new adult. But much of that can be window-dressing. There is just as much research involved in writing a convincing contemporary, or a paranormal with consistent worldbuilding, as it is to write a historical.
The real way to avoid writer’s block is to leave the editorial mind behind. My editorial mind is conscious of the characters, themes, and even phrases I’ve used in previous books. But I still have stories to tell! How do I do it? I write faster than my mind can keep up with. For me, that literally means typing faster than I can think. I use a software called Write or Die, which encourages (or forces) me to write and keep writing. No stopping. No second guessing.
Because second guessing is the source of writer’s block—or at least my experience with the term, at least. If I think too much about the industry, reviews, readers, success, or the simple worry that I’m saying the same thing over and over, I can get bogged down in a swamp of doubt. The story is still the most important consideration. That means setting daily goals. That means letting my creativity outrun my internal criticism. That means getting a draft saved to my computer. Period.
After getting that draft saved, then I give myself permission to be more purposefully critical. I can weed out the clichés I’ve already created from my own backlist, and to make everything from the characters to the wording more dynamic. Yes, it’s getting more challenging every time I sit down to start another book, but if I hadn’t around this time last year, we wouldn’t be talking about Blue Notes. Each new romance offers the best remedy for writer’s block: the promise of another beautiful happy ending.
I like Keeley. She’s had a hard life and has wisdom beyond her years for it but she also has a innocence to her. She has insecurities and sometimes a hard time blending in because she has had the hard younger years she had. She is also grateful to her foster parents who helped turn her life around. Which is nice to see and she builds a strong bond with her friends Janey and Addie.
At first I felt like her relationship with Jude was kind of toxic. Yay there was tons of chemistry and he did get her to come out of her shell a lot of times. I thought he was a little too controlling and dominant. There is a point where Keeley steps back says wait hold up is this what I really want and it changes the course of things. I really liked that she was able to do that. The other interesting thing is that I think it’s been a long time since I’ve read an NA or Adult that only shows on pov. So we only get Keeley’s side of things which makes Jude more mysterious. You want to know what he’s thinking. I forget how much fun that element can be.
I liked the plot. I thought there was a lot of different avenues that it could possibly take which made it so you were not 100% sure where it was going. I kept thinking up scenarios like uh oh what if this happens and then it didn’t and I was happy with the route it took. It was a lot about Keeley figuring out who she was now after shedding the alias and settling on persona finally. Being able to be open finally. I loved seeing her develop through the story.
I like the writing and the setting of New Orleans area was a lot of fun. I loved hearing about different food in areas as weird as that sound. I also love that there was a Chicago connection. Yay Chicago. I also really enjoyed the side characters of Addie and Janey. There was also Brandon who was definitely interesting. He added that little side drama.
So I enjoyed this read and I don’t think you can go wrong with a likeable MC that holds herself accountable for the things she does.
With Lorelie Brown, the Katie Porter co-writing team has been honored with a Reviewers’ Choice award for Best Erotic Ebook, and the first m/m nomination for RT‘s Book of the Year. Back-to-back releases of their La Femme Nakita-inspired “Command Force Alpha” series will begin in August from Samhain.
During her junior year abroad, Carrie lured an unsuspecting Englishman to the Midwest, where she’s kept him a happy ex-pat for sixteen years. With two pre-teen daughters and a master’s degree specializing in the Old West, Carrie is a movie buff, a former ballroom and bellydancer, and a woman in desperate need of a maid service.
