Two audiobook reviews for Billionaire Rock Star Romance by Julie L. Spencer & Courtside Crush by Kayla Tirrell (Reviews)

Billionaire Rock Star
(Buxton Peak #1)
By Julie L. Spencer
Adult Contemporary Romance
Audiobook, Paperback & ebook, 227 Pages
July 17th 2018

Summary

Billionaire rock star Ian Taylor controls everything in his life...except love. His girlfriend dumped him on New Year’s Eve, and everyone else becomes close to him for his money and fame. His best chance at finding love is to meet a girl who has no idea he’s a rock star.

Quiet, unassuming Megan wants nothing to do with love. Her goal is to finish her last year of college, focused on her studies. Having a boyfriend can wait until after graduation. When they meet in the most unlikely place for romance, Ian’s ready to win Megan’s hesitant heart but not ready to reveal his superstar identity.

Once she learns the truth, Megan finds that she doesn’t fit into Ian’s world of private jets, backstage parties, and star-crazed girls throwing themselves at him. Can Megan see past Ian’s dishonesty and lifestyle? Or will their love song end before it’s begun?

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My Review

BILLIONAIRE ROCKSTAR ROMANCE is a sweet contemporary romance about a regular girl and the rockstar who meets her visiting church one Sunday. For him, it's love-at-first-sight, but for her, it's a battle of should she or shouldn't she. An overall fun read.

This is a story that stays clean, but with a little heat. The author doesn't shy away from the impulses and temptations her characters face, but she also gives them control over them, or at least one of them with control at one time or another. The characters are easy to like. Ian has the usual groupies and bandmates who like to party too much and sleep around. Megan also has college roommates who also like to do the same. However the two of them have different standards, refraining from that lifestyle and committing to their faith. There isn't really a religious aspect to this story - more that the characters are Christians and the storyline follows that.

There were parts of this story that I loved. Then there were other parts that were just so-so to me. I went back and forth on my rating and it really is more like a 3.75. I do have to say that the narrator did a fabulous job and I thought the audio version was really well done!

In the end, was it what I wished for? I enjoyed this story. It made me laugh and swoon as any good romance should. I did feel there could be more development in places, but otherwise it was a good read.

Content: References to partying, drinking, and sleeping around, but nothing detailed.
Source: I received a complimentary audiobook copy from the author, which did not require a positive review nor affect it in any way.

Courtside Crush
(Varsity Girlfriends #1)
By Kayla Tirrell
YA Contemporary
Audiobook, Paperback & ebook, 254 Pages
February 12th 2019

Summary

So much for senior year being the best part of high school.

It all started when I caught my boyfriend cheating on me.

I did what any girl would do - I got revenge. Of course, it didn’t stop there. Thanks to a condemning video, I also got eight weeks of community service and athletic probation right before basketball season is supposed to start. (There goes my spot as captain!)

Thankfully, there’s a guy at Marlowe Junction’s Helping Hands who makes passing the time more enjoyable. He’s gorgeous, funny, and a huge basketball fan.

Too bad he’s also my brother’s biggest enemy....

Courtside Crush is a modern-day retelling of Romeo and Juliet, perfect for anyone who likes their sweet romance with a dash of drama. It is the first book in the Varsity Girlfriends series.

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My Review

COURTSIDE CRUSH is a young adult story set amidst all the cliques and drama of high school. It's the classic star-crossed lovers trope with this Romeo and Juliet retelling, as the protagonist and her love interest attend different schools and her is her brother's arch rival.

I really wanted to love this story, but it just didn't quite work for me. I enjoyed the beginning and I liked Jackson immensely, but I just couldn't seem to like Charlie. I don't know if part of it was the narrator just sounded kind of stuck up and arrogant when she read Charlie's part in addition to Charlie always feeling like she's the injured party and entitled to things... but it just rubbed me wrong. Teens definitely talk like this, but I think maybe it was too much. I also kept waiting for Charlie to change... for there to be some character development. She doesn't. She still feels abused and that she doesn't deserve anything. And then some of the students get away with some things that would have expelled them in real life. And Charlie goes along with some super dramatic blackmail just to hide things. I think too I just didn't feel Charlie deserved Jackson.

In the end, was it what I wished for? This one wasn't for me, with a protagonist I couldn't like and a story that was too dramatic. However, I do have the other two books in the series to review and am going to give them a shot to see if things change.

Content: Some innuendo, but clean.
Source: I received a complimentary audiobook copy from the author, which did not require a positive review nor affect it in any way.

Have you read or listened to either of these? What do you think? Will you be?

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