Book Review: Playing Along by Rory Samantha Green

Two lives. Two Continents. One Song...
Then: George Bryce was an awkward, English schoolboy fantasising about being in a band.
Now: George is front man of Thesis, an overnight Indie scene sensation. Intense, creative and self-effacing, his childhood dreams have all been fulfilled- so why does George still feel so lost?
Then: Lexi Jacobs was a confident Californian high school cheerleader, planning her future marriage and a meaningful career.
Now: Lexi is searching for substance in a life full of mishaps. Cautious, bemused and rapidly losing the control she used to rely on., none of her teenage dreams have delivered and she's left wondering "What's next?"
Follow George and Lexi as they navigate their days thousands of miles apart. Fly with them from London to LA and back again, as George copes with the dynamics of his tight knit band and loose knit family, while Lexi juggles her eccentric new boss, bored best friend and smother mother.
Even though there's an ocean between them and their worlds couldn't be further apart, George and Lexi are pulled together through music, and their paths appear determined to cross.
The question is- when?

Playing Along by Rory Samantha Green was such a refreshing read that I had real trouble putting it down.
The book doesn't contain chapters but instead shifts between George and Lexi's perspectives in short bursts. I really enjoyed this style as it felt extremely personal so I got to know the two main characters very quickly.
I liked Lexi and I thought that her character brought a lot of humour to the story. But it was the character of George that made this book so good. I loved the way in which the author explored the many sides of him. There's the rock star who lo
ves being on stage and meeting the fans but behind all of that is an incredibly vulnerable person who is chasing acceptance and respect from his own parents.
I was willing Lexi and George to get together as you get the feeling that they would be perfect for each other. I don't know if Rory Samantha Green knows someone in the music business but I felt that she painted a very realistic picture of life within a world-famous band.
Playing Along will capture your attention and emotions from beginning to end, you will fall in love with George but more than anything you will want George and Lexi to be find each other.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 4.75/5

Pages: 290

Publisher: Write To Be You Press

Many thanks for the review copy of this book, Playing Along is available to buy now!

Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher: Blog Tour and Review

Morning everyone! I am the second stop on the Billy and Me Blog tour, let's start with my review of this fabulous book by Giovanna Fletcher:

When you've got the dream boyfriend everything should be perfect, right?
So why isn't it? Wonders Sophie May.
When Sophie and Billy met and fell in love, she thought she was living in a fairytale. After all, Billy is an actor, a teen heart-throb adored by girls around the world- and he loves Sophie. She's the only girl for him.
But being on Billy's arm comes at a price. Their relationship has thrown Sophie into the spotlight after years of shying away from all the attention.
Can she handle the constant scrutiny that comes with being with Billy? Most of all, is she ready for her secret heartbreak to be found out and shared with the nation?

Billy and Me is the brilliant debut novel from Giovanna Fletcher. Sophie is working in a little tea shop in her small village of Rosefont Hill when she meets the gorgeous and seriously famous Billy Buskin. They fall in love and Sophie is thrust into Billy's very public life; will she be able to handle the constant attention and is she prepared to put her life on hold in order to support Billy's flourishing career?
The characters of Billy and Sophie are really lovely. At the beginning of the book I found Sophie a little frustrating but as I found out about her past, I understood her actions and attitude a lot more. Sophie has effectively been hiding since her school days, being thrust into the spotlight would be huge for anyone but Sophie finds it particularly difficult seen as she normally does everything she can to go unnoticed.
My favourite character in the book was Molly, she is the owner of Tea-on-the-Hill and Sophie's boss. More importantly though, she is Sophie's best friend. The scenes between Molly and Sophie were particularly touching and they had me in tears at the end of the book.
Giovanna Fletcher is married to Tom from McFly so she obviously has first hand experience of being married to someone famous. Giovanna clearly brings her own experiences to this book but I think she shows that you can still shine in your own right if you are with someone famous. Sophie has to discover who she is and what she wants to achieve just as Giovanna has shown by writing this wonderful book.
As I said, I was in tears by the end of this book and not many have that effect on me. I felt as though Billy and Me was a showcase of Giovanna's writing; she shows how she can be witty, warm, sexy and poignant, all whilst holding the reader's attention. I really hope that we can look forward to more books from this author and I highly recommend Billy and Me.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 5/5

For the blog tour, the very lovely Giovanna Fletcher very kindly talked about where she got the idea for Billy and Me:

A lot of people say you should write what you know. With that in mind, you'd think it would've been easy for me to sit down and write about a girl who fell in love with a guy in a band as I've been in that relationship for almost ten years, and, in fact, that was what I started with when I first got going. My first step was to write out a variety of different ideas and summaries... but I felt so restricted in the band environment. I felt that any idea I had would be questioned as to its origins. Had certain situations happened to me? Is that how I'd felt all that time? The questions would've been endless and they would've focused more on me and less on the characters I wanted to create and portray. I played around with the notion of including the celebrity world that I know, alongside the life of an actor, another life I knew well. 

That was my starting point, but as I started writing and the layers started building it became something else entirely. It's not a simple story of girl meets boy, to me it's far more...but then, I'm bound to say that! 

Giovanna also asked bloggers to tell her the word that came to mind when they looked at the cover of Billy and Me, the word I chose was 'completeness' and here is Giovanna's representation of that in cupcake form:

Thanks for joining me on the second day of the Billy and Me blog, head over to Chloe's Chick Lit Reviews tomorrow!

Book Review: This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?
It's June- seventeen-year-old Ellie O'Neill's least favourite time of the year. Her tiny hometown is invaded by tourists, and this year there's the added inconvenience of a film crew. Even the arrival of Hollywood heart-throb Graham Larkin can't lift her mood.
But there is something making Ellie very happy. Ever since an email was accidentally sent to her a few months ago, she's been corresponding with a mysterious stranger, the two of them sharing their hopes and fears. Their developing relationship is not without its secrets though- there's the truth about Ellie's past...and her pen pal's real identity. When they finally meet in person, things are destines to get much more complicated. Can two people, worlds apart but brought together by chance, make it against all odds?

I absolutely adored Jennifer E. Smith's last book The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight so I have really looked forward to reading her latest book This Is What Happy Looks Like. I have to say that Jennifer E. Smith's books have the best titles and I loved the yellow cover for this one.
I can't really review this book without including spoilers but I think it is pretty obvious from the synopsis as to what will happen.
Ellie O'Neill receives an email from GDL824@yahoo.com, whoever sent it got the address wrong as it was meant for a different recipient. However they are soon emailing back and forth and this is what we have at the beginning of the book. This was one of my favourite parts, it's so easy to be honest and open when talking to a stranger, especially via email, there's no pressure or preconceptions.
Ellie begins to look forward to these emails every day, she can't believe how close she feels to someone she has never met. This all changes when Ellie realises that the stranger she has been emailing is actually the movie star Graham Larkin. He is no longer a pen-pal but a real life person in her small town where he is filming his latest movie. After the initial shock Ellie wants to get to know Graham but she has secrets in her past and being photographed with Graham could ruin everything. Is Ellie going to give up a chance of happiness in order to keep her past hidden?
Jennifer E. Smith has written another great book. I love the dialogue she creates between the characters, Ellie and Graham's relationship is very realistic and their interactions show their deep affection for each other.
This Is What Happy Looks Like is such a good idea, it's a classic love story with a twist. What would you do if you fell in love with a huge celebrity? Would you be happy to become part of their public and exposed life? I really enjoyed Graham's perspective in the book,
especially regarding his relationship with his parents. Outwardly, Graham looks as though he has it all but he begins to questions the sacrifices he has made for his career.
This Is What Happy Looks Like is a great read, I think it will appeal to a Young Adult audience and also cross over to older readers. I think Jennifer E. Smith offers something new to this genre, it will be very exciting to see what she does next.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 4/5

Publisher: Headline Review

Number of pages: 416

Many thanks to Sam at Headline for sending me a copy, it is available now!

Book Review: The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes

Helen Walsh doesn't believe in fear- it's just a thing invented by man to get all the money and good  jobs- and yet she's sinking . Her work as a private investigator has dried up, her flat has been repossessed and now some old demons have resurfaced.
Not least in the form of her charming but dodgy ex-boyfriend Jay Parker, who shows up with a missing person case/ Money is tight- so tight Helen's had to move back with her elderly parents- and Jay is awash with cash. The missing person is Wayne Diffney, the 'wacky one' from boyband Laddz.
He's vanished from his house in Mercy Close and it's vital that he's found- Laddz have a sell-out comeback gig in five days time.
Things ended messily with Jay. And she's never going back there. Besides she has a new boyfriend now, the very sexy detective Artie Devlin and it's all going well, even though his ex-wife isn't quite 'ex' enough and his teenage son hates her. But the reappearance of Jay is stirring up all kinds of stuff she thought she'd left behind.
Playing by her own rules, Helen is drawn into a dark and glamorous world, where her worst enemy is her own head and where increasingly she feels connected to Wayne, a man she's never even met. 

 Marian Keyes is back with a wonderful new book. The Mystery of Mercy Close is a Walsh family book, this time focusing on Helen. At the start of the book, Helen is pretty low, she has no work, no flat and her depression is rearing it's ugly head.She doesn't want to take anything from her ex-boyfriend Jay Parker but she is desperate, so when he offers her a missing person case, she simply can't say no. It's a pretty exciting case;. Wayne Diffney from huge Irish boyband Laddz has gone missing days before their big comeback gig. Helen can't stand to be around Jay, especially now she has found Artie. But can she deal with Artie's family baggage and can he deal with her depression?
The Mystery of Mercy Close struck so many chords with me. Marian Keyes writes honestly and in-depth about depression. Having suffered with depression myself, I greatly identified with Helen and the battle she faces on a daily basis. I think depression and the feelings it creates can be so hard to explain to others but there were so many times when I read this book when I thought yes it is exactly like that.
Whist The Mystery of Mercy Close has a serious side, it still has a huge amount of Marian Keyes humour. Marian Keyes always writes about the serious side of life but somehow manages to create a variety of laugh out loud moments with her characters and the situations she places them in.
I have always been a massive fan of Marian Keyes and I have read all of her books. Keyes truly is a fabulous writer and I do not think that anybody will be disappointed by The Mystery of Mercy Close.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 5/5

Many thanks to the lovely people at Michael Joseph for sending me a copy of the book to review, The Mystery of Mercy Close is published today!