Tag Archives: RocknRoll

Book Review – Full Circle by Terry Tyler

Posted on May 29, 2014 by charmouabb

This book was received from the Author in return for an honest review

By Terry Tyler

Two years have passed since we left Dave, Ariel, Janice and Shane at the end of DREAM ON.
ARIEL thought her hard work and perseverance had been rewarded when she met record producer Theo Perlmutter ~ then a tragic event turned her dreams to dust.
Newly married JANICE was happier than she’d ever been ~ but the honeymoon ended when born again alcoholic husband Max careered off the wagon and into the nearest bar.
Being forced onto The Jeremy Kyle Show in DREAM ON was not enough to make ladies’ man SHANE learn his lesson – will his philandering ways eventually catch up with him?
Rock band THOR has risen from the ashes…
… but DAVE is unhappy, trapped in a domestic situation not of his choosing.
Will there be a happy ever after ending for any of them?

I was excited to start this book; I really really enjoyed Dream On, which is the predecessor to this one. You can find my review for that HERE. In Full Circle we find ourselves reunited with the gang a few years down the track… Life has been ticking along as it does, bringing with it a new set of hurdles for everyone.

It was funny how things worked out, wasn’t it? Fucking hilarious, really.

As soon as I started reading I felt this warm fuzzy familiarity, it was just like visiting old friends. I was glad to find that my favourite characters were just as I remembered them. I could recognize them, even though parts of their lives had changed, they were still the people I got to know in the first book. This really, is why I think you should read the first book before you start on this one. You don’t HAVE to, but the character journey will be so much more fulfilling if you do! I also want to point out; if you’ve read the first book then you would be CRAZY to not read this sequel.

A good sequel doesn’t spend its time re-hashing the previous book, but it does help refresh your memory with what had happened, it needs a good flow to link the two books together, and this most certainly does that. I loved that there were some long running storylines that ran throughout both books, but also this book had a few new characters and stories that were fresh and substantial.

There is a lot going on in this book, plenty to keep you turning the pages, plenty to keep you wanting to jump in and give a few characters a bit of sound advice. For me Janice was one of these characters. Her storyline with her alcoholic husband made me feel exactly how I’d expect a friend to someone in that situation to feel, frustrated and heartbroken. I spent her chapters alternating between wanting to hug her and wanting to shake some sense into her. In fact, I think I spent many chapters with most of the characters feeling like this (Could’ve seriously throttled Shane sometimes! The male psyche baffles me) this just goes to show how real this book is, how real the characters are. These are feelings I would have if my friends were going through these situations. I empathised, I rolled my eyes, and I was hopeful, crushed and excited. Just like the last book, the characters all have their own voice, their own journey.

Terry Tyler really makes the most of using this sequel to tie up lots of loose ends, it’s very satisfying to follow the story through so many twists and turns and have that feeling that the story really has been told. Fans of a good HEA won’t be disappointed… I loved the way this ended in every single way possible. Oh, and I absolutely LOVE how just as the title is Full Circle, at a few points in the book I was thinking to myself… yep, that just came full circle… because that is well and truly life!

She’d come full circle; right back to the beginning

photo credit: ChrisGoldNY via photopin cc<photo credit: LaVladina via photopin cc

Book Review – Rock My World By Julie Shackman

Posted on April 14, 2014 by charmouabb

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When girls at school were salivating over boy bands, I was planning to run away with Tom Petty or Lindsay Buckingham and have Stevie Nicks sing at our wedding reception (although seeing as she’s allegedly had relationships with both these guys, that could have been very awkward.) The pretty boys never did it for me. When the candy smiles and slick dance routines used to send my peers into a swooning mass of teenage hormones, I was day-dreaming about kohl-eyed Buckingham serenading me with his crying guitar. Oh enough of this mental gossip! I need to get on with my work… – Ruby Cameron

Rock Music, Ghosts, Romance, Mystery… When you mix these all together what do you get? One of the coolest takes on Contemporary Romance that I’ve read in a while!

There’s a ghost in my romance book! I’ve never come across such a thing before, but this book had me HOOKED from the get-go. Now there are a few things in this world I am terrified of, sharks and ghosts are probably my top two, so even though I knew this book had a ghostly aspect to it, the moment I actually came across said ghost I was straight on my phone texting my BBH proudly that I was in-fact reading about a ghost. Me: “OMG I’m reading about a ghost” BBH: “Oh geez I hope you don’t have nightmares” Pfffft. No nightmares around here thank you very much! This ghost was far too nice to have nightmares over him…

“And you’re not in the room here with me.” “Er well I am actually.” Oh come on. This guy is a total arse. “Prove it then!” I smirk. Oh how I wish I had kept my gobby mouth well and truly shut. No sooner had those words slipped from my tongue, than I recoil in shock at the vision in front of me. First there’s a shimmer like an intense heat on a summer’s day, before I’m confronted by the sight of the Jon Bon Jovi look-a-like again, all hair, denim and baseball boots. And this time he’s standing just a few feet in front of me, crackling a little like bad TV interference.

Ghost or not, anyone who sings beautiful renditions of Rock classics over breakfast is alright in my book. The ghost in question, Stevie Vee, was the lead singer of a rock band in the 80’s. In the present day he’s hanging out in/haunting our main character Ruby Cameron’s new house hoping for a bit of closure. Now Ruby is a quite a cool eccentric chick, she’s also a reporter for the local paper, recently separated from her rather dull boyfriend and soon to be lit a-fire by her new boss… So she has quite a bit going on to say the least…

There was a lot to keep me entertained; I wasn’t bored for a second. There were no life shattering twists and turns, but I liked it that way. The story didn’t need to try and outwit. It was too busy making me fall in love with the very unlikely combo of ghosts and romance, which were so cleverly intertwined… Like, it was completely normal to be going to a masquerade ball with your (hot) boss and dealing with dating drama all while you have a ghost waiting for you at home to help him find peace. Yep, totally normal. Also I have to mention that the flashbacks into Stevie’s life were well thought out and clear. Sometimes flicking back and forth in time/place can get confusing or slow the pace down. Neither of these things happened here. This book has been one of my favourite reads in this genre so far this year. If you’re like me and looking for something fun to read that’s a bit different from the norm you should give this a go.

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Book Review – Dream On By Terry Tyler

Posted on April 5, 2014 by charmouabb

Before I start, here’s the blurb…

Dave Bentley was born to be a rock star.

He’s a reincarnated Viking warrior, too…

When Dave forms his new band, Thor, there are plenty of sleepless nights for Janice, his on-off girlfriend and mother of his son. Not only must she deal with the thrills and spills of life as a hardworking single mum, but also the imminent return of singer-songwriter Ariel Swan, Dave’s one true love.

Poor Janice. Dave is still the love of her life.

Ariel Swan returns to small town life – and Dave’s heart.

She and her friend Melodie (whose ambition is to be “a celebrity”) enter a TV talent competition, so Dave and the rest of Thor decide to make the most of the opportunity for possible fame and fortune, too. This adventure brings about big changes in the lives of all of them – none of which Dave could have anticipated.

One member of Thor even ends up on The Jeremy Kyle Show..

I’m a rock chick at heart…Ask BBH, she knows my deal. So I’ve read a few ‘rock’ inspired books. Various storylines and characters. Contemporary fiction type reads. I enjoyed most of them. And I really enjoyed this one. Dream On intertwines (British) rock music, romance and the normal everyday trials and tribulations we all could face. It was the (very well thought-out) inclusion of ‘everyday life’ that made this book feel really ‘human’ to me. The earnest face of trying to make it in todays world, with the term ‘making it’ having very different meanings to the various characters. But don’t for a second that the ‘everyday’ setting makes it boring, because it really doesn’t. So, firstly let me set the scene with this excerpt from band mate Ritchie…

“I’ve said it before, I know, and I’ll say it again; one minute you’re sauntering along, happy as Larry; you’ve got a gig that night, money in your wallet and some little darling in the audience who’s only got eyes for you, and the next day you wake up next to a woman you don’t recognise who’s put on five stone, wears pyjamas to bed so you won’t get any ideas, thinks more of the kids than she does of you, and wants you to pack in your music and get some shit boring job so that you can pay for her to sit on her arse and watch Jeremy Kyle all day. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.”

This had me cracking up! You gotta love it!

One aspect that kept the book flowing was that we had a few main characters heading up their various stories and parts in the overall story. I loved that these characters didn’t just sound like they had the same voice with a different name. They all had substance. They all were real. They all had quirks, mannerisms and back stories that really came across when it was their turn to be focused on. By doing this, Terry Tyler manages to cover a lot of ground but it doesn’t get confusing or jumpy. It makes the reader feel like we are part of their world, part of their gang, that we are drinking at the pub and living it with them.

My BBH and I do read the odd entertainment blog, so we get the concept of ‘celebrity’ so I really enjoyed reading a book that touched on today’s obsession with people getting their ‘15’ minutes of fame and how the entertainment industry works the way it does. About how music shows aren’t purely about musical talent. That ‘looks’ do matter. That the role of social media can’t be underestimated. That to the world, entertainment value is everything. That there are a lot of people in competition for an opportunity. I thought this book captured all of this really well, giving you a peek into what you can imagine it would be like for contestants behind the 1 hour televised contest show installment some people watch on Sunday nights.

I don’t want to give too much away about this book; I want you to read it for yourself. If you like a good contemporary fiction read you’ll really enjoy this; I guess the theme that keeps coming through in this review is that it’s relatable. It’s real and engaging. You can hear the music, smell the beer and feel the emotions. It was a cool read and I’ll be reading the follow up, Full Circle, for sure because I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to these guys!