When college freshman Rowan Michaels meets gorgeous, up-and-coming rock star Adam Everest, she knows a player like him is the last thing she needs after her ex-boyfriend shattered her heart. But she can't stop thinking about the kiss they shared on his tour bus.
On the first day of school, Rowan is stunned when Adam saunters into her French class. He's soon failing miserably, and, on a whim, she offers to tutor him. But Adam doesn't recognize her as a makeup-free, glasses-clad college student—a far cry from the beautiful, mysterious "Peach" he met at his concert.
During a wild weekend on tour with the band, Rowan can't help falling for the sweet guy buried beneath Adam's rocker persona. Yet she knows she could never compete with the girls constantly throwing themselves at his feet. She'd just end up hurt … again.
Peach is all Adam thinks about, though, and when Rowan realizes this, she has a decision to make: stay just friends to protect her fragile heart … or reveal the truth about the night they met and admit she's fallen completely, hopelessly in love with him.
Let me start by saying that Mayhem took me by surprise. I started reading it with the intention of just reading a couple of pages to get a feel for the author’s writing, the characters, and then come back to it another time, but instead I ended up finishing it the same day. It’s a fast read. I also want to add that I am completely burned out on New Adult Contemporary, so being able to finish this story says a lot. I can’t even begin to tell you how many books I’ve started that are Contemporary New Adult and I quit mid book. Not that they are horrible, but it all just starts to read the same. I do have some issues with MAYHEM, but I will get to that in a bit.
The story kicks off with girl is out with her best friend, best friend gives her a make-over, tells her to live a little, etc. You get the gist, right? I immediately thought, here we go… goodie goodie falls for bad boy rocker. Bad boy rocker has some kind of past he can’t deal with and pushes her away, blah, blah, blah. But nope! It was a lot more than that, and a lot better than I was expecting.
Rowan’s night goes from okay to horrible in just minutes. I was a bit iffy on if I would like Rowan or not. Her reaction to what she just witnessed was not a normal one. At least not in my world. I wouldn’t have just sat back and eaten it the way she did. It really bugged me the way she handled things in the beginning. To me it just wasn’t real. However, this leads her to Adam. Adam is everything you would expect of a bad boy rocker. Drinks, sleeps around, parties, and just lives his life on the edge. However, Jamie Shaw didn't not go overboard on his personality. He wasn't disrespectful or abusive to woman in any way. I think I would have thrown my kindle if he was. He sort of had a clean attitude about things. He had his fun, but kept everything cool and wasn't too crazy.
Adam and Peach meet at this club, and immediately there is a connection. Peach (Rowan) turns to Adam for a quick, but sort of clean hook-up. She just wanted to forget what happened, and knew Adam would do the job. What she didn't expect was that Adam would forever be hooked on her after that night.
Stepping back into her normal life, Rowan did not expect to see him ever again. When she does, it's in her french class. Adam has no idea that Rowan is Peach, and actually ignores her for like a quarter of the book. It isn't until Rowan puts herself in a situation where she is forced on the road with Adam and to tutor him in French, and help him pass his classes.
This is where the story really got interesting for me. I loved EVERYTHING about Rowan and Adam while on the road. I laughed so much! I loved that Rowan was a goodie, goodie, but she sure as hell had a mouth on her. The girl defended herself, and even though there was some back forth between her and Adam, when made up her mind about something, she stuck with it.
My issues with the story are that till the very end, the characters felt a little younger than what they were supposed to be. At times I felt like I was reading a young adult. I know that new adult isn't too far from the whole young adult years, but there were times that they felt a lot younger than eighteen.
Another issue I had was that I don't think there really was any closure to Rowan's huge dilemma. The beginning of the book she gets slapped in the face with the truth, and yet, she ignores it for almost the entire book. Doesn't really face the issue. I honestly don't know what was the point of adding all the extra stuff, when she treated it like it was over and done with. Maybe it's just me, and I missed something, but I don't get the point of it all except that she met Adam.
Aside from that, I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next!
3.5 Stars!
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This book sounds interesting and the fact you finished says a lot. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHi Cherie! I really liked it. I think you'll like it. :)
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