After Kylie’s dad dies
in a freak accident, he leaves her with nothing other than her crazy
stepmother, Darla, and the ability to play guitar. When Darla kicks Kylie out
and she loses her job all in the same day, she hops a bus to Nashville
determined to make her late father’s dreams come true. Waitressing and saving
her pennies to record a demo, her big break comes when she’s asked to join a
tour going down the tubes with once platinum album-selling country music
superstar Trace Corbin. But touring with Trace is hardly a dream come true
since he’s pretty much drinking his career down the drain. If Kylie can’t pull
Trace out of his rut, he’ll pull her and her dreams down with him.
My heart went out to Kylie right in the first paragraph I
read. Whispered promises to a gravesite…the
only person you’ve ever been able to trust and depend on is gone…if you can
related, Caisey will tear your heart out page one. From that moment, I was invested in the success
and failure of Kylie Ryans, and hoping for the former. “I’m going to Nashville like we
talked about. Even though no one else
was around, she lowered her voice to a whisper,
I’m going to make you proud, I promise.”
She takes off to Nashville to try to pursue her dreams, and
in doing so leaves behind the only friend she has left. But, as Jason Alden will tell you in his music,
in Nashville, “it’s a crazy town full of neon dreams, everybody plays and
everybody sings” – so you have to be that one-in-a-million and/or be in the
right place at the right time, singing the right song.
The country music fan in me loved this. I just went to Nashville for the first time
and I felt like I was back there.
Walking the area where you can hear live music coming out of every bar. I loved the rolling soundtrack of my favorite
songs that played in my head while I thought about these characters. I don’t know why, but right from the
beginning I pictured Luke Bryan (must have been the tight jeans comment) and
that’s what I pictured Trace to sound like, except he was always singing Lee
Brice’s Hard to Love (which Trace does cover in this book!). I want to break out my boots and sing and
dance along!
I liked Kylie, she was willing to work hard, do whatever it
took to support herself. She also seemed
like the type of character you would want to be friends with. I, of course liked that she had a snarky side
to her as well. I also felt for her
being shoved into the spot light without being prepared for it.
Kylie and Trace’s back and forth hate/tolerate relationship
kept me entertained, and reading this whole book in one sitting. Although,
I can’t say I’d hate being stuck on a tour bus with him for a little while! I
loved Trace’s road family and his sisters.
His sisters particularly, added another dimension into Trace that I was
happy to get to know. It was like he had
two sides, and I wanted to slap one and hug the other.
It’s a little bad boy Tim McGraw meets Country Cutie Faith
Hill (back in the day)[or Vince Gill and Amy Grant – take your pick], when
everyone warns her to stay away…there is just something about him that draws
her in. “Kylie was standing in the path
of something wild and dangerous and a hell of a lot more powerful than her.”
But not every bad boy is good on the
inside and Trace definitely has his fair share of problems (mostly of the
alcoholic and female variety)…we’ll have to wait through the series to see how
this one goes! Caisey, you have won
yourself a new fan!
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