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Review

4.5 Firecracker stars!!

I loved this addition to The Storm series! Lyla and Tom are an amazing couple with sizzling chemistry and a highly entertaining relationship. With lots of hotness, some laughs and a bit of angst and drama, this is an exciting, passionate love story that had me hooked from the very beginning.

Tom is the man whoring member of one of the biggest rock bands in the world, The Mighty Storm (TMS), and the best friend of its lead singer, Jake Wethers. When Jake is facing potential devastation, Tom makes a deal with God to change his ways if Jake can have his happy ever after.

“I swear, I will only have sex with a woman if she really means something to me.”
Did I actually just say that – out loud?
Christ.

Lyla is the lead singer of an up and coming band who has recently signed on with TMS records. Her life hasn’t been an easy one, and she has known nothing but betrayal from the men in her life so she is currently very anti-man and is particularly wary of “muts” (man-sluts). She is concentrating on her music, recording an album with her band and preparing for their very first tour. But their tour is put in jeopardy after their tour manager is injured, until Jake brings Tom in to manage the tour – which includes him living on the bus with the band for six weeks.

It’s a fantastic set up, as Lyla has rejected Tom’s amorous advances when they have run into each other in the past, and his reputation as a “mut” infuriates Lyla while making the boys of the band delirious with excitement.

“Hoy shit!” Van yells. “Tom Carter! On tour with us! Man, it’s gonna be wild! Chicks, parties…chicks! It’s gonna be so fucking wild! The man is a fucking legend!”
Sonny looks shell-shocked. Then, he springs to life. “Damn straight, he’s a legend! He’s a pussy legend! We are touring with the best there is! Just think of the stuff he can teach us.” He gets this dreamy look in his eyes.
Honestly, he’s starting to freak me out.

The attraction between Lyla and Tom is electric from the very beginning. You can tell they want each other badly but Lyla is determined to keep away, and Tom is totally sexually frustrated so all of that pent-up passion gets funnelled into arguments, which eventually becomes friendship as they start to open up to each other, until they can’t deny what is brewing between them and then begins the fantastic banter and epic flirting which is both hot as hell and absolutely hilarious.

“You’re such a mut!”
He laughs. “I’m a mut? Jesus, what you? Twelve? And don’t throw insults at me. I wasn’t the one perving on my hot body.”
“I was not perving!” I cry with indignation.
“So, you admit I’m hot.”
“I, what? No, I don’t admit anything!”
He’s laughing at me now.

I roll my eyes. “You’re such a guy.”
“I fucking hope so, Firecracker. With the size of my junk, I’d worry if I wasn’t.”

“I wouldn’t stick your tongue out at me unless you intend to use it in the right way.”
Pausing, I turn back to him. “You’re disgusting.”
“Just the way you like me.”

The ‘girl pushing the boy away’ storyline is a tricky one, and can get annoying, but I thought Samantha Towle did a great job with Lyla. I could understand how her background hurt her, and even though her continuous rejection of Tom is maddening, it creates a brilliant tension. And I love the way she doesn’t even try to justify her actions. She accepts that she’s being ridiculous about it, and she totally owns it, and it makes her refusal to act on her attraction to him that much more intense because you’re just waiting for her to crack. And though it all her inner monologue is fantastic.

I’m feeling all these confusing things bout Tom. The more time I spend with him, the more I like him.
But I don’t want to like him. I can’t like him.
And it really pisses me off when I have to see other women all over him.
I know it’s irrational, and it’s my shit to deal with, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.

And adding to the intensity is Tom’s determination to have her. He makes no secret of how he feels, and his constant pushing and teasing is wildly entertaining! The book is told mainly from Lyla’s POV, but we do get some chapters from Tom’s perspective too, which I loved. He may be a mut, but he’s such a great guy, with a big heart, and I fell in mad love with him!

“You’re running because you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared of anything – least of all, you.”
I let a smile slide onto my lips even though smiling is the last thing I feel like doing right now. “Yeah, you are. But there’s nothing to be scared of. I’m gonna show you that. You can keep running, but I will catch you and soon. I’m not giving up, Lyla.”

I loved the development of this relationship! Their friendship is gorgeous, and you can see the genuine affection that they have for each other as they open up and share about their painful pasts. And you can see that there is more between them than just lust, they actually care for each other. But the book is still absolutely steaming! Even before anything actually happens between them there’s the banter, the teasing, the sexting… holy hell, it’s HOT! Each encounter between them is brimming with sexual tension, and the anticipation builds brilliantly until they can’t avoid it any longer, and then things REALLY get steamy! Tom is a dirty talker, and an absolute machine in the bedroom (and out of it!). He knows how to treat his girl, and there is some pretty epic sexy time. Have a fan handy while reading this book – you’re gonna need it!

“You’re mine,” he growls, making a sound filled with the sweetest agony. Then, he’s kissing me, hot and hard. “No one gets to touch you but me,” he breathes hotly into my mouth. “You got that?”
The intensity of him, the feel of him kissing me, has fried all my brain cells. I couldn’t argue if I wanted to.
And I don’t.

They initially decide to hook up in secret for the duration of the tour, and it suits them both perfectly, but as their connection deepens, and the end of the tour is in sight, they discover that letting go may not be as simple as they originally thought. And it’s not an easy ride as issues from their pasts continue to haunt them, and they both need to figure out what it is that they want, but we eventually get some swoony time, and an absolutely beautiful romance that had me clutching my heart and grinning like a fool.

“This is it…you and me…we’re forever. You’re my heaven, Firecracker.”

I loved this book! It’s well paced, it’s exciting, I was completely invested in Lyla and Tom’s story, and struggled to put it down. Samantha Towle’s writing style totally sucks you in, and you can’t help but fall in love with her characters – Lyla and Tom are both fantastic, and the rest of the boys in the band bring so much to the story as well. I laughed so much reading about their antics, and the sweet and tender moments were absolutely beautiful. And, of course, the romance was fantastic!

The book ties in really nicely with the rest of the series, with the events of this book taking place at the same time as the ending of Wethering the Storm, and there’s an epilogue which includes Jake and Tru, as well as the other boys in TMS. Although this book could technically be read as a standalone, it’s a great way to finish out the series for those who have read and enjoyed the whole story.

4.5 stars.

 

The Storm series

 

See our Contemporary Romance Recommendations page for more great reads.