Saturday, September 7, 2013

[Kame's ARC Review]: "Louder Than Love"


Louder than Love by Jessica Topper
Publisher: InterMix (September 17, 2013) 
Genre: Contemporary Romance

In this powerful debut novel, a young librarian grieves the loss of her husband...and discovers a love that defies classification.

It's been over three years since a train accident made a widow of Katrina Lewis, sending her and her young daughter Abbey back to the suburban town of her youth...the only place that still makes sense. Lauder Lake is the perfect place to hide and heal.

Recluse rocker Adrian "Digger" Graves survived the implosion of his music career, but his muse has long lain dormant. Until Kat hires him to play at her library—not on the basis of his hard rock credentials but rather, because of the obscure kids' TV jingle he wrote years ago. In a case of mistaken identity, Adrian stumbles into the lives of Kat and her comically lovable daughter.

Using tattoos as a timeline, Adrian unfurls his life for Kat. But as the courtship intensifies, it's unclear whose past looms larger: the widow's or the rocker's. Will their demons ever rest, or will they break these soul mates apart?






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Kame's Review:



Without Abbey’s love of that fantastical cat, could any of this exist?



Katrina's life was picture perfect and then a sun kink took it all away. Four years later she and her daughter are living in a small town outside NYC. Adrian is a poster boy of the effects of "sex, drugs, and rock n' roll", he is living a cleaner life but has yet to deal with his past. They meet when Katrina contacts him about performing at a children's program for their library. Katrina assumes since he wrote the theme song to a popular children's program Adrian must be a children's artist; it was just one song - no one would ever confuse Adrian for a children's performer but for some reason he agrees to the event. This chance meeting leads a connection neither can deny.




In my mind, it will forever be a wreck, not an accident. An accident is what happens when Abbey is too busy playing to make it to the potty on time. Or when a waiter carrying a tray of dishes crashes into a door swinging the opposite way. Accidents can be apologized for, smoothed over, explained away. A wreck is different. A wreck…does just that. It damages beyond repair.



In my opinion this book had three main characters, Katrina, Adrian and Abbey and two crucial relationships.  Katrina acknowledges early on that there would be no Kat and Adrian if there wasn't Abbey. Abbey is a wonderful four year old and her character was written with such detail. Sometimes children in books are lost characters, but Abbey had detail, moods and emotion so true to her age - which was crucial to this book. Kat and Adrian both hide things in their relationship; not to hurt the other but because to tell about it would cause so much pain. I felt the agony during the reveals and the agony over the choice of when to reveal. I was rooting for these two from their first meeting. I applaud Ms. Topper's choice to have Adrian and Kat sensitive to Abbey's feelings in their relationship and in including her on dates. I think their relationship developed exactly how a young widow who lost the love of her life and father of her child would pace a new relationship. 




“You’ve got all this…this love—no, it’s louder than love. It’s passion and beauty built up inside you that deserves to burst out.”



My only disappointment in the book was all the side drama with Kat's friends. This group of secondary characters were well developed, however a few of their drama moments seemed ill placed for me, and actually unnecessary. These characters, specifically Liz and Kev lend themselves to their own book. I hope that happens as it would be a wonderful excuse to view the continuation of Adrian and Kat's love.



Yes this is a rocker read, but Adrian is a rocker who is trying to learn from his mistakes. Adrian is a more mature rocker. There is rocker talk but not a lot of scenes at performances. I enjoyed this book and I look forward to more from this author. 

  4 STARS!





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Kame received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for her honest opinion.

*Note*: The quotes used belong to Jessica Topper; Kame and TBQ's Book Palace do not claim them.
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Meet Kame:

Kame is part of a family of readers; one day she picked up the Nook she purchased for her husband and discovered her love of e-books. A few months later he purchased one for her so he could have his back! Kame’s Nook is never far, and she is hard pressed to pick a favorite book, genre or author. As long as there are characters that make her want to sit down and have a chat and a plot keeps the pages turning, she’ll read it.

Kame's GoodReads 
 



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Thanks for the review, Kame! :) I love the cover for this one, thanks for showcasing it as a L4C a few weeks ago. 

Do you like rock-star heroes? Do you have a favorite? 











Enjoy!



Until Next Time,
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*TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!

2 comments :

Pat Egan Fordyce said...

Sounds like an amazing story Kame! There goes my TBR pile, ever crawling higher.......
Thanks Kame, always trust your recommendations.

Kame said...

Thanks Pat!