Merch Girl Tour - Review, Excerpt and Giveaway!!!

Title: Merch Girl

Author: Rebecca Lewis

Date of Publication: May 1, 2013

Genre: Contemporary YA romance; Music

Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Lacey Kind doesn’t have the guts to talk to cute boys, isn’t a size two, and would rather stay home and listen to music than go to a party. But in the summer before her first year of college, she ends up thousands of miles away from home, in the back of a tour bus, underneath the half-naked body of the hottest teen rock star in the country.

When Lacey and her best friend Trina sneak into a Boston nightclub to see their favorite band, they not only get to watch their rock gods perform for the first time, but score a chance to meet the band too. Lacey’s heart races as she comes face-to-face with her idol, nineteen-year-old lead singer, Logan Shire.

The girls charm their way into being hired to sell merchandise on Lansdowne’s first summer tour. As “merch girls” Lacey and Trina quickly find themselves transported from their ordinary, suburban life to an exhilarating few months on the road. But they soon realize that life on the road isn’t always a smooth ride...

Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17703969-merch-girl

Purchase links: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords | Kobo | iBooks

About Rebecca Lewis

Rebecca Lewis is the author of the Young Adult novel, Merch Girl, and a lover of all things music! She's been writing stories since middle school and penned her first fanfic about a semi-popular boyband in 1997. Her passion for music and writing brought her to Boston University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the College of Communication. During her college career, she interned for various record labels in Boston and New York City, sold merch for local bands, worked at record stores, and did a whole lot of grassroots marketing. She currently resides in Florida with her husband and puppy.

Blog: http://rebeccajlewis.wordpress.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Rebecca_Writes

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rebecca-Lewis-Author/408824785861600

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/RebeccaLewis

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/rebeccalauthor

Excerpt

I rubbed my hand soothingly against my throbbing forehead. I’d never experienced a hangover before, but I guessed this was what it felt like. I opened my eyes slowly and saw the low ceiling above me  and the curtain hanging by my side. Strange, I had no recollection of getting into a bunk. I cautiously pulled the curtain back and poked my head out to find an empty hallway. I maneuvered my way out of the bunk and realized I was only wearing Logan’s t-shirt and my underwear. His soft cotton tee felt nice against my skin, and still smelled like him. I breathed in the scent, which brought a rush of memories from last night back into my mind. Good memories, really, really good memories. 

Review

     I absolutely love reading anything to do with music, rock stars or the entertainment industry.  I'm actually a bit of a freak about it sometimes, to be quite honest!  So I was pretty excited to read another book about regular girls touring with their favorite rock band (it didn't hurt that this is the first one I've seen from the merch girl angle of things).  Do we ever really think of the people behind the merch tables when we're at venues, big or small?  If you're honest with yourself, the answer is not really - bordering on never.  Lacey and Trina are BFFs who just graduated high school and are ready to spend their last summer together before college.  Lacey is quiet, shy and unsure of herself.  Trina is boisterous, brimming with confidence and never shy about leading the charge on anything.  When they get the unforseen opportunity to meet up and coming band Lansdowne (their favorite, over which they're complete fangirls) things spiral from there.  The girls end up becoming friends with the guys and getting hired to be merch girls on their first tour.  With sparks flying between Griffin and Trina & Lacey and Logan, the summer is heating up.  But can secrets on the part of the girls and the guys, plus scheming from mean girl Jenna stop things before they even start?

     Maybe it's just because I've never really been a crazy, balls to the wall fan of any particular band in my life.  I kind of missed the window for boy band crazy, fangirl shenanigans by being too young during the NKOTB, Backstreet Boys, and N'Sync era.  And I'm not really into the newer boy bands, like One Direction.  I was kind of in-between.  Yes, I had posters on my wall.  But I didn't go to concerts, cry, scream and overall lose my mind over my favorite bands.  That said, Lacey and Trina are better characterized better than your average, screaming fangirls from the crowd.  We get to see into their brains and learn that they really do like the guys for who they are.  Also, though the relationships are a little too I love him just-because, instalove for my taste I appreciated the tumult of both relationships.  Neither of them was perfect and we are constantly reminded that all of them are just immature teens/twenty-somethings, who are still finding their way.  I don't want to give any real spoilers, so all I will say is that there were a couple of twists involving Trina & Gabe's relationship and Lacey's interactions with fangirl Devin that were unexpected.  Overall, a cute fluffy and slightly angsty rock 'n roll romance, definitely more suited for actual teenagers (or more naieve/less jaded adults).  I could barely suspend my disbelief sometimes.  A fun romp, but I am definitely NOT the target audience.  

VERDICT:  3/5 Stars

*I received an ARC from the author and tour host for the purpose of this blog tour. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published May 1st, 2013.*

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY BELOW, FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN EBOOK OF MERCH GIRL!!!!!!!!

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Late Night With Andres Blog Tour - Review, Playlist and Giveaway!!!

Release date: October 29th 2013

Purchase: Amazon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18469063-late-night-with-andres

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Rising-star blogger Milla Kierce knows she's arrived when she sees the swag basket in her dressing room on the night of her late-night television debut. But before she can bite into the muffin that symbolizes her success, gunfire echoes through the TV studio. She's just hidden herself (mostly in plain sight) when the door flings open. Instead of a gunman, there stands one of the world's most popular rock stars, Gage Daxson, looking for his own way out of danger.

Thrown together, they'll battle a venomous man seeking revenge and his own sexual pleasure, but they may never leave the building again. Distracted by fear, fame, and infamy, can these two somehow find their way to each other?

Equal parts horrifying and hilarious, Debra Anastasia's Late Night With Andres offers more than a few twists and turns—and, of course, enough heat to keep things interesting.

My Thoughts

     Definitely an interesting read!  Milla Kierce is a blogger who has suddenly become famous in the media for her wit and advice with her online persona.  Now she's waiting to be interviewed by late night talk show host, Andres.  Things don't happen the way she expects however when a crazed gunman comes to the studio, throwing together her and rock star Gage Daxson, into a mutual fight for survival.  Now all they have to do is stay alive until the police are able to get them out of there,  Will they find they have something more in common than they ever thought?  I was already a fan of Debra when I read this novella, having read her book Poughkeepsie and absolutely adored it.  So I went into this one expecting something mainly hardcore and intense in it's rendering.  What I got instead was something slightly hardcore, with a very big sense of humor!

     Gage and Milla are both bad-asses but the gunman himself is a caricature most of the time, making me laugh while making me cringe and fear for their lives.  Probably the biggest caricature in this book is Andres himself, the talk show host who is basically a complete asshole and uses the entire situation to break back out into on the scene reporting.  He has hidden cameras in the dressing rooms, tries to obstruct justice by denying the police access to anything and everything - oh and he'd like nothing more than for someone to die and make his story all that much more exciting!  Probably my biggest disappointment was that the novella length didn't really allow for any serious character development and the romance felt very, very rushed and superficial.  The thing with the toes (I won't go into detail, so as not to spoil it) was funny and weird, but overall I just didn't feel like they could really say they loved each other based on the interactions they had.  Overall, it kept me entertained and was a fast, fun read.  I would recommend it, and I hope Debra decides to maybe expand it into a novel someday!

VERDICT:  3.5/5  Stars

*I received an ARC from the author.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book was published October 29th, 2013.*

Playlists

Gage:  I felt like Gage would probably be a really big fan of ballady, 70s and 80s rock bands.  Gage probably listens to a lot of Journey and Foreigner on his downtime, with some AC/DC mixed in for good measure, just to make sure people know he's a bad-ass!  For newer stuff, I see him as being a fan of Seether, Blink-182 and maybe some Imagine Dragons.

1.  For Those About to Rock - AC/DC
2.  Faithfully - Journey
3.  Cold As Ice - Foreigner
4.  Fake It - Seether
5.  What's My Age Again? - Blink 182
6.  Amsterdam - Imagine Dragons

Milla:  She's not a fan of Gage's music, which leads me to believe that she might be more into stuff that doesn't neccessarily hit the mainstream.  Here are five songs that I think Milla would probably like (the last is kind of what I think her preconceived notions of Gage match up with):

1.  The Beekeeper - Aoife O'Donovan

2.  Open-Ended Life - The Avett Brothers

3.  Tell Your Heart - Schuyler Fisk

4.  Helplessness Blues - The Fleet Foxes

5.  Talkin' Smooth - Kate Voegele

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Debra Anastasia grew up in New York and got a bachelor's degree in political science at SUNY New Paltz. At the start of her marriage, she moved to southern Maryland with her husband. She still doesn't trust crabs and all their legs, though everyone else in her family thinks they're delicious. Her favorite hobbies include knitting, painting furniture and wall murals, and slapping clowns.

Her writing started a decent handful of years ago when along with the dogs, cat, kids, and husband, the voices of characters started whispering stories in Debra's ear. Insomnia was the gateway for the plots that wouldn't give up, wouldn't let go. In the shower, a twist would take hold and--dripping and frenzied--she'd find somewhere, anywhere to write it down.

www.debraanastasia.com | twitter.com/Debra_Anastasia

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I'd Dive For You

Published:  July 1st, 2013
Lick (Stage Dive # 1)
By: Kylie Scott
Momentum
ISBN-13:  9781743342374

Waking up in Vegas was never meant to be like this.

Evelyn Thomas’s plans for celebrating her twenty-first birthday in Las Vegas were big. Huge. But she sure as hell never meant to wake up on the bathroom floor with a hangover to rival the black plague, a very attractive half-naked tattooed man, and a diamond on her finger large enough to scare King Kong. Now if she could just remember how it all happened.

One thing is for certain, being married to rock and roll’s favourite son is sure to be a wild ride.

Review

      I read the synopsis of this book and my initial thoughts were this:  Hot rock star.  Vegas marriage.  Sign ME THE HELL UP FOR THAT! :)  At the same time I was kind of wary.  Right now with the classification being so new and inviting a lot of play from unknown/self-pubbed authors, New Adult invites a lot of mediocre crap along with the good.  I've been lucky enough to mostly read good stuff, but I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  This wasn't that time, actually quite the opposite.  Evelyn 'Evie' Thomas is pretty kick-ass, as far as main characters go.  She's just an average girl who prefers country music over rock 'n roll, is wound way too tight from parental expectations and wants to get laid.  So she goes wit her best friend Lauren to Vegas and wakes up the next morning next to a strange man, with tattoos and piercings.  Turns out they got married the night before and she doesn't remember a thing.  Evie also got herself a tramp stamp of his name - 'David.'  Oh and he just happens to be a famous rock star.  Agreeing to get an annulment as soon as possible, David and Evie go their separate ways but when she is descended on by the paparazzi she joins him in California until they can be done for good.  In close quarters and getting to know each other, their feelings begin to change in ways they never imagined.  Can they give marriage to each other a real shot, or will it be just a mistake that they erase from their histories?  

     The romance between David and Evie was NOT insta-love, but it wasn't that slow of a build either.  I think the best thing about it was how normal they make each other.  She never treated him like some God incarnate because of his rock star status and he makes her question what she really wants to do with her life - follow her parents' dreams or find her own.  Also, Evie and David are physical opposites with her being a bit of a big girl who is strictly vanilla and him being a rock 'n roll wild child.  We do get to see the background stories of both (more of Evie's than his though) and how life has made them what they are now.  The supporting characters weren't super fleshed out, but they weren't cardboard cutouts either.  Later in the series I'm definitely hoping for more of Mal, who cracked me up but obviously has a huge heart.  Of course there is off the charts chemistry and when they finally do have sex it is hotter than a jalapeno pepper people!!!  There was a misunderstanding/obstacle as per usual in a romance novel, with the main characters torturing themselves and acting lovesick.  The angst is short-lived though and things were resolved to my satisfaction.  But I am excited to see what happens in the second book in the series, whether or not Kylie focuses on Evie and David again, or gives facetime to one of his bandmates (maybe his brother which would for sure be interesting).  On a small note, Lauren was super hilarious and the romance between her and Evie's brother made me laugh.  Drew away from the main tension in a good way.  Overall, a good book for anyone who enjoys rock star romances, has a good sense of humor and would like to dive into the New Adult genre with a good read.  But beware, there is a good amount of mature content, not recommended for those under 17 unless they can handle it.  The characters in this book are in their 20s for a reason! :)

VERDICT:  4.25/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published on July 1st, 2013.*