Title: Rock Bottom
Author: Josephine Traynor
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 1, 2016
Blurb
“Money. Fame. Success. I had it all. And now I have nothing. No band. No contract. I’m roughing it with the commoners, and I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing.”
Reece Ashton is used to living the dizzying heights of being a celebrity, until his only other band member leaves just as they were about to embark on a world tour. Sold out shows, groupies, and living the high life are long forgotten as he has to learn to fend for himself while living in suburbia. Hiding out in the tiny town of Portmouthe, England is as about as far away from the spotlight as possible. He doesn’t want to be there, but he’s got nothing but time on his hands now that he’s been left high and dry by his band mate. No job, limited money and no life skills - he’s completely out of his element. No one in town knows he’s there except one girl who keeps his secret. Falling in love was never part of his comeback plan.
Madelyn Arnett knows all too well what it’s like to be on the wrong end of the paparazzi. She’s quietly rebuilding her life in the sleepy town of Portmouthe away from the prying eyes of trash media when the most famous musician on earth ends up in her workplace. Worried that when the media comes hunting for him, they will find her and she’s worked too hard to let some spoiled little rock star take her life away from her. But this helpless rock star is in need of a friend. Turns out, she’s the only person on the planet to truly know the real Reece Ashton. Fighting to not fall in love, she knows their time is fleeting as the glare of the spotlight comes hunting for Reece.
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Excerpt
“Have you heard of the term ‘first world problems’? You have Google on your phone, Reece, best get acquainted with it. Man has been doing things for himself for a long time, I guess this is the way of natural selection, who can figure things out and who can’t—”
Running my hand through my hair, I grip the phone tighter. “You know I only use my phone to ring, text and porn.”
“Good God, I’ll send someone around in a week, no doubt you will be dead from starvation or masturbatory dehydration.”
I hold the phone away from my ear and yell, “Laugh it up chuckles. You’ll see. I don’t need any fucking help.”
***
I need help.
I’ve walked for ten minutes, and all I’ve passed is more suburbia. I’m sure I’ve seen this same house three times. I’m ashamed to say that I’m pretty useless with my sense of direction. I can get lost just turning in a circle. The first five minutes of walking was hell. I started to sweat. My pants were clinging to my legs, and the rank stale odour of my body was blowing up wind.
The longest I’ve had to walk was from the door of the hotel to my waiting car on the street, or from the tarmac to the airport. I don’t include the hours across the stage a night. That was fun. This is as boring as bat shit. I don’t have headphones, I don’t have a car, and I don’t have a driver. I don’t have anything that I took for granted.
The houses are all blending in, and I don’t know which one’s mine. I’m waiting for David to text me the address, but I know he’s taking the piss. Bastard. Teasing me about first world problems. I know I sound like a whiny little bitch, but my life is in stark contrast to what it was forty-eight hours ago, and I’m struggling to adjust.
Review
4.5 Stars!
When I first saw this blurb I was intrigued. I was also a little hesitant because it’s a debut novel by I’m happy to say that I was surprised and I was glad that I decided to give it a shot. I ended up really loving Rock Bottom. This was a really solid debut novel and it won’t be the last book I read by this author. Josephine Traynor’s writing was fantastic. I could instantly connect with the characters even though Reese started off as a typical self absorbed rockstar. As the story went on you got to see another side of Reese that you easily fell in love with. Reese was a hilarious hero and I laughed a lot as he learned to do normal things. I fell in love with Madelyn straight away. She is such a strong heroine and just like Reese she had hit her rock bottom, however she was already starting to climb back up. She was also sassy and independent. I loved how even though after the things she’s been through she is still fighting and not giving up. Even after the way she meets Reese, she still treats him with compassion and kindness as the story progresses. I felt the emotions along with the characters and I felt like I was right there with them as they went on this journey. I felt the chemistry between Madelyn and Reese as soon as they met and I loved every minute of them together. I loved them apart and I loved them together. I’ll also mention that the secondary characters are also great, they hold their own and I really liked some of them. I loved the story, it was more than just the romance and it kept me on my toes. I really loved this book and I would highly recommend giving it a shot, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with Reese and Madelyn just like I did. I can’t wait for the next book by Josephine Traynor, she’s been added to my list of go to authors.
*ARC was kindly received in exchange for an honest review*
Author Bio
Josephine Traynor is very good at keeping secrets - she’s been a closeted writer for years but only got brave enough last year to show her writer friend a small chunk of what she’d written.
She’s a mother of two small boys and only told her husband about her book when it was completed. God knows what he thought she was doing on the computer for all those hours!
Josephine’s a lover of tea and has a thing for all things vanilla. She loves a good book that makes her laugh and has heaps of character growth. Her aim is to write books that inspire, cause sore stomach muscles and have memorable characters for all the right reasons.
Josephine Traynor is not her real name. The pen name is derived from Josephine being her favourite girls name and Traynor is inspired by Will Traynor from Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. His message from that book was for everyone to be brave in this world and to make their mark. This was a huge lesson for her to get over her fear of publishing. She’s doing this for her, her dream is to be a published author, what’s your dream and go after it.
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