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Blurb

Summer nights and star-crossed lovers! From USA Today bestselling author Sarina Bowen.

Once upon a time, he gave me a summer of friendship, followed by one perfect night. We shared a lot during our short time together. But he skipped a few crucial details.

I didn’t know he was a rock star.

I didn’t know his real name.

Neither of us knew I’d get pregnant.

And I sure never expected to see him again.

Five years later, his tour bus pulls up in Nest Lake, Maine. My little world is about to be shattered by loud music and the pounding of my own foolish heart.

 

 

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Review

4 stars

A rockstar second-chance-romance that is sweet, sexy, and beautifully romantic!

This is the first book in the Hush Note series. Each book will be written by a different author (Devney Perry and Rebecca Yarros write books 2 and 3), and though it’s a great start, I have really mixed feelings about this book. On the surface, I loved it. I love a second chance romance, I love kids in books, and I love reading about rockstars. But this book has one of my huge red flags that I usually avoid wherever possible – the secret baby where the guy has no idea that he’s a father. Ugggghhhhhh, it’s not okay!!! I have seen it done well, where I can understand and accept how it came about, this one… not so much. But it’s Sarina Bowen, and there was no way I wasn’t going to read this book.

Jonah is a rock star who is desperate for some down time. So, he has packed up his tour bus, and his two bandmates, and travelled to the tiny town of Nest Lake in Maine, his favourite place in the world where he once spent an idyllic summer falling in love with a local girl.

Kira is that very local girl who is now living in Boston, but has returned home to visit family, with her five year old daughter in tow. Her past is about to smack her in the face when the boy she loved years ago shows up unexpectedly… and she’s got a big secret she needs to tell him.

It’s a great set up. Jonah and Kira’s past is revealed as they individually remember their time together. Their friendship came at a time in their lives when they both needed someone, and their final night together is a memory that both of them cherish. Though surprised, they are thrilled to see each other again, and it’s clear that the attraction between them still burns strong. But first Kira needs to come clean, and then they need to figure out what to do going forward.

I could go on an epic rant about this, because it’s something I feel so strongly about. At first, I thought it was going to be okay, because I thought maybe Kira didn’t know who Jonah actually was (he had used a different name when he they originally met). But she knew, and she didn’t tell him. She knew it was wrong, and for ‘reasons’, she kept it to herself. I could sort of get why she felt like that, but that still doesn’t make it okay. I’ve DNFd books in the past because I have so much anger towards the heroine, it’s just not worth continuing on. The reason I could move past it in this case is because I was already so invested in their reunion, and Jonah seemed to get over it really quickly. He didn’t get nearly as pissed off as I would have expected, and seeing him instantly fall for little Vivi just melted my heart.

He is clearly a more forgiving and understanding soul than I, as he got over everything really easily, and he quickly sets about winning Kira back and creating a life with the family that he has craved. It’s impossible to resist a man who so devoted to his girl(s). It’s beautiful to watch, and I admit, I fell completely under Jonah’s spell.

“There isn’t anyone else I want, sweetness. You disarm me, the way nobody else can. I don’t know any way to prove it to you. But it’s true.” His thumb brushed my lip with such tenderness that I almost couldn’t bear it. “Be with me, Kira. In my heart, I really just want you.”

But finding their way forward together as a family is difficult – especially when you factor in the complication of Jonah’s life as a rockstar. They have some hurdles to cross, and Kira certainly doesn’t make it easy, but Jonah is determined to claim his family, and I loved watching them find their HEA.

“You’re it for me, Kira. No matter where I go, I’ll always come back to you.”

If not for the secret baby (like, if Kira had no idea who Jonah actually was and therefore had no way of tracking him down), then I would have loved this book more than I did. But sadly, it did sour my experience a bit. But it’s still a beautifully written story, with great characters, lots of heart and a gorgeous romance.

And just sayin’, can we please have a book for Kira’s brother, Adam? He’s freaking awesome!

I loved it, just not as much as I could have.

4 stars.

 

Hush Note

 

 

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Excerpt

I watched Kira ride off, wondering what the hell had just happened. Sure, she probably guessed that I wrote that song about her. But she’d only heard the first few bars before sprinting away like I was the devil himself.

Spinning around, I located the lodge’s bike shed. I rolled a bike out and hopped on. The seat was too low for me, so I had to stand up on the pedals. 

But no matter. I rode off after Kira, my first time on a real bike in years. 

The road curved around to the left, and Kira’s house soon came into view. She was sitting on the front steps. She didn’t look all that surprised to see me biking toward her, but the look of pain on her face was so vivid that I could feel it in my gut. Something was wrong, and I still didn’t know what.

“Feel any better?”

She shook her head, and I thought I saw fear in her eyes.

“Kira,” I said softly. “I know you want me to leave you alone right now, but I can’t—our conversation isn’t over. In twenty-four hours I’ll be back on that bus. Honestly, you’re scaring me. When I last saw you, things seemed like they were on the upswing for you. When I said I think about you all the time, I didn’t mean to be a creeper. I meant that I was picturing a happy ever after for you.”

“Mama!” a little voice called from beyond the screen door.

At the sound of it, Kira’s whole body went rigid. And then tears spilled down her cheeks.

I heard little footsteps pounding onto the screened porch. And then a small set of hands became visible against the door just behind Kira. Quick as a flash, Kira leapt to her feet and spun around, darting through the door. It closed with a bang behind her.

“Whoa,” a man’s voice said. “Deep breaths, Kiki. What did he say?”

The hair stood up on my neck. I dropped the bicycle and covered the distance to the stoop in three paces. Leaping up, I opened the screen door. A little girl stood there, with fair, curly hair and blue-green eyes. I was no good with kids’ ages. She wasn’t an infant, but she wasn’t school-aged either. There was a babyish fullness to her face. She was three? Four? Five? I looked up at Kira.

“I’m so sorry,” she squeaked.

That’s when I finally understood. And I almost couldn’t draw breath to speak again. “I… She… What the fuck, Kira?” 

“That’s a very bad word,” the little girl said, accusation in her voice.

“Sorry,” I said automatically. I raised my eyes to Kira’s. “You… She…” 

I couldn’t think. There was pressure in my ears, and my pulse was ragged. Dizzy, I thought, absently, putting one hand on the door jamb for support.

“Breathe, man,” the guy behind Kira said. He wore a bright pink polo shirt and an expression of concern. “Sit down. Seriously, before you crash.”

I bent over and grabbed my knees. “Oh my God.” The only thing I could hear was my own ragged breathing and Kira’s choked sobs.

“Mama!” a little voice said, full of alarm. “Don’t cry!”

The scary moment stretched on, until I heard yet another bicycle approaching outside. A moment later, another male voice called out, “Knock-knock!”

The pink-polo-shirt guy answered him, his voice full of false cheer. “Hi, Luke!” Under his breath he added, “Wow. It’s raining men.” Then he scooped the little girl up in his arms, stepped around me, and walked out the screen door. It closed behind him with a bang.

I just stood there, staring at my shoes, trying to catch my breath. Kira’s shoes moved into my visual field, but I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. Not until my head could clear. Which would probably be sometime next week. 

We stood here, awkward and quiet for a couple of long minutes. There was some low-key chatter outside, and then I heard the sound of the bicycle departing. 

The guy in the polo shirt came back inside, alone. 

“You’re her brother.” I coughed, trying to reconstruct the world into a rational place.

“Yup,” the guy said. “Uncle Adam.”

“Where is Vivi?” Kira asked, her voice raw.

“Luke is taking her for a little bike ride. There may be ice cream involved.”

“Really, Adam?” Kira moved quickly to peer through the screen. “But that’s awkward.”

“Oh, honey. We have first class tickets on the HMS Awkward today. And the ship has sailed. Luke even had a pink helmet for her, Kiki. Just go with it, okay? I told him you were having a moment.”

I straightened up. “She’s having a moment,” I spat out. “Is that what this is?” My pulse was still pounding in my ears, but now from anger instead of shock.

Kira was as pale as a sheet. “I was going to tell you today.” She pulled a photo out of her pocket. “Here. I was trying to find a way.”

I snatched the picture from her hand. “She’s, what, four?” The photo shook as I tried to look at it. The little girl smiled up at the camera, a stuffed animal in her hands. It was purple. Somehow this detail made it all the more real. The little girl in the photo was clutching the purple cat I’d won at the fair all those years ago.

 

 

For more great reads, check out our Sarina Bowen Author Spotlight