Just A Girl

By Ellie Cahill

Synopsis

After getting kicked out of her own band—by her own boyfriend—Presley Mason finds herself back in Wisconsin, helping her parents run their renowned music store. Instead of belting out powerhouse vocals to sold-out crowds in L.A., she’s stocking shelves and inspecting rental violins. But the shop isn’t all bad: When she’s vacuuming up late one night, she bumps into the guitar teacher with the smoldering amber eyes and the killer tattoo. And that’s when things take an interesting turn.

Presley soon finds that Paul Kellerman is as good in bed as he is on guitar. So why isn’t he stoked to share his band, Jukebox Bleu, with her? Turns out Paul has crippling stage fright, which he’s been self-medicating without much success. But when Jukebox Bleu’s lead singer gets called for military service, the other members beg Presley to front them. Even though she swore never to mix men with music again, the temptation to perform is almost as intense as her chemistry with Paul. Now Presley must decide what’s more important: a second chance at love . . . or rock stardom.

Review

This book does a really good job of grabbing you from the beginning. It starts with Presley getting kicked out of the band she started with her boyfriend, the same boyfriend that just teamed up with the other band members to kick her out. What a prick!!! Three years of her hard work went down the drain in the span of a few minutes. Devastated and angry, she heads back home to lick her wounds and it’s there she meets Paul, a guitar teacher who works in her parent’s music shop. They quickly start a relationship, despite her vows to never date another guitar player again after being so badly betrayed by the last one. Things get even more tricky when she’s asked to be the lead singer for his band, because she also vowed to never date another bandmate, and that’s one line she’s not willing to cross.

I liked Paul and Presley and thought they made a really nice couple. The chemistry between them was palpable and the sex was hot, although some of the sex scenes are done behind closed doors. Between the two, I liked Paul the most. His struggle with stage fright was heartbreaking and you can’t help but feel sorry for him after what happened with Presley and his band. I liked Presley, but the conflict she caused between her and Paul, and then between Paul and his band, really frustrated me, and I have to admit that during that time, I didn’t like her much.

JUST A GIRL is told only in Presley’s POV and appears to be a stand-alone. Several chapters include texts between Presley and her BFF, Tweets and song playlists for whatever moment Presley is going through, which I thought were really interesting. I will say that I was disappointed with the lack of closure we got regarding Presley’s old band. Overall though, I found this book to be an easy and lighthearted read. I liked the story and the humour that popped up every now and then.

My Rating: