Lead by Kylie Scott Series: Stage Dive #3
Published by Macmillan on July 29th 2014
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Purchase @ AMAZON or BN
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Stay up all night with the sexy rockers in Stage Dive, the epic New Adult series from New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott, author of Lick and Play.
As the lead singer of Stage Dive, Jimmy is used to getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, whether it's booze, drugs, or women. However, when a PR disaster serves as a wake-up call about his life and lands him in rehab, he finds himself with Lena, a new assistant to keep him out of trouble.
Lena's not willing to take any crap from the sexy rocker and is determined to keep their relationship completely professional, despite their sizzling chemistry. But when Jimmy pushes her too far and Lena leaves, he realizes that he may just have lost the best thing that ever happened to him.
Liezel’s Thoughts:
Depending how one looked at it Lena was either in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time. Her boss was a jerk and within minutes of getting fired she gets noticed by Mal of Stage Dive. Who wouldn’t be impressed with the petite yet sexy young woman giving her former boss a piece of her mind. She was one of those that didn’t take any bull$hit no matter how influential you were. It sounded exactly what Jimmy needed. Without the necessary qualifications she was hired right there and then to become Jimmy’s live-in assistant.
Sounds like the perfect opportunity right? To live in leisure, be rent free, getting paid to traveling the world without spending a single penny with a world renown band. It would have been that easy except the man who you were responsible for was a uncommunicative, rude , egotistical ass of a man who is just getting over an alcohol and substance abuse. If you asked me, you couldn’t pay me enough to deal with a man THAT volatile. Lena however is fierce enough to handle it all. It doesn’t matter how many times Jimmy dismisses her or even fires her. Not like her predecessors – she can take it.
Jimmy was just supposed to be a job to Lena but after seeing Jimmy at his worst she notices that underneath it all Jimmy is so much more that she originally thought. As the days pass she can’t help but start enjoying the time they spend alone together. When her feelings fester out of control without any sort of reciprocation at all she decides it is time to go. But of course Jimmy and the rest of the Stage Dive will not have any of that. She is after all now one of their own. Not wanting to lose the only person that seems to get him Jimmy comes up with this elaborate plan that is bound to work…
“Every part of me wanted him. I yearned for him on the cellular level. There could be no escaping emotions of this magnitude. His good and bad, dark and light, his nice parts and his nasty.”
I thought the first two books were fantastic but out of the three “Lead” has to be my favorite so far. Why? There’s just something about this misunderstood lead singer that got to me. He was on so many levels such an ass but as the story progressed and I found out more about the things he went through not only for himself but for his brother you couldn’t help but admire the man. His emotions were very deeply buried into his psyche I knew it would take one hell of a woman to break through all of that.
Lena was the perfect person for the job. Not only did she keep him on the right track, defend him, get him through some of the hardest and toughest times but she also got him to open up and come to terms with his feelings and emotions. I thought she was all around amazing. When she realized she was way over her head she knew exactly when it was time to step away even if she was risking her heart.
I absolutely loved these two together. In the beginning I thought t they would never fit but oh boy was I wrong. Kylie Scott did a fantastic job convincing me that they were right for each other. I thought that Lena was exactly what Jimmy needed -physically and psychologically. She opened so many doors for him emotionally and in return she got the love and affection that she always deserved.
Besides the terrific romance, I thought the banter between all of the characters was what made this one entertaining. There were definitely some parts that will make you sad but to balance things out there was a perfect amount of comedy about it too.
All in all, I thought “Lead” was great story and I can’t wait to see what is in store for Ben in “Deep” that is due to be released early 2015.
The Verdict:
Excerpt:
“Lena, you seen my old black Led Zep shirt?”
“Nope.”
“You sure?” His brows became one dark cranky line. The scratches on his face were healing well, thank goodness. Though it didn’t reduce my desire to throttle his mother on a daily basis.
“Yes. I haven’t seen it.”
Can’t find it anywhere…”
“And this is a surprise, how?” I slipped my hands into my back jean’s pockets. “Jimmy, you own more clothing than Cher, Brittney, and Elvis, put together. Things are bound to go missing.”
“Sure you haven’t seen it?”
“For goodness sake, what do you think, Jimmy? That I stole it to sleep in or something?” I laughed bitterly. Sure as hell, the truth deserved a good mocking. I’d sunk so despicably low.
I hadn’t even meant to steal the stupid thing, but the shirt had been mixed up with my laundry a few days ago. It’d been the first top I laid my hand on after stepping out of the shower, ready to go to bed. Without thought, I’d put it on and it’d been so soft, the scent of him lingering beneath the laundry detergent. Every night since, I’d found myself in it come bedtime. My shame knew no limits. And no, I still hadn’t quit. The words still hadn’t come even close to leaving my mouth.
He frowned. “No.”
“That I have some deep secret longing to feel close to you resulting in my stealing your shirt like some creepy perv?”
“Course I don’t fucking think that,” he replied crankily, reaching up to grip the top of the doorframe. All of his bulging muscles stretched the arms of his white T-shirt in the nicest way. It was all I could do not to start drooling, my heart beat taking up residence somewhere down between my thighs. And who could blame it? Not me. Maybe if I got laid, this would go away and things would return to normal. It’d seemed safer to avoid rubbing up against any men in case I got carried away and started dating again. This new situation, however, changed everything.
“Well, of course not! That would be crazy.” And wasn’t that the god’s honest truth? Cray-zeee. Lock me up and throw away the key because it wasn’t like I didn’t know better.
“Just can’t figure out where the hell it could be.”
Angels couldn’t have smiled as innocently. They might have tried, but they would have failed, the dirty-mouthed, winged, little liars. “Jimmy, I don’t know where it is. But I’ll look around for it later, okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, and then added as an afterthought, “and stop looking at me weird.”
“I’m not!”
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About Kylie Scott
Kylie is a long time fan of erotic love stories and B-grade horror films. She demands a happy ending and if blood and carnage occur along the way then all the better. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and one delightful husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet.
Kylie is represented by Amy Tannenbaum at the Jane Rotrosen Agency, New York.
