Jennifer Echols

Sarah Seville knows how to handle a rock star. But she's never encountered a star quite like Quentin Cox. The sexy leader of the country band the Cheatin' Hearts is full of secrets. Sarah's mission: find out everything she can before the band goes bottoms up. Convinced that the key to keeping the band together is helping Quentin win his former lover back, Sarah decides to make his ex jealous. But nights in Quentin's arms leave Sarah breathless and wondering whether she's fooling anyone but herself. She's falling hard and fast for Quentin, and is in serious danger of bringing the band-and the man-to its knees.

Playing Dirty

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I’ve been a big fan of Jennifer Echols’ young adult books for a long time now. Such a Rush is my favorite. I think she writes fantastic contemporary characters with interesting storylines. I was thrilled to learn she was going to begin writing new adult novels. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both of the books in the Stargazer series.


  
    “Sarah got a thrill from figuring out the psychology of famous, creative people and helping them improve their quality of life, but she didn’t enjoy giving tough love. And she definitely wasn’t good at it.”
  


Sarah, a public relations expert, is charged with keeping the band The Cheatin’ Hearts together. On the surface, it looks like they’re going through a bit of a crisis right now. If you believe the stories in the tabloids, each member of the band is a mess in his or her own way. There’s a Quentin, a cocaine addict, Erin, the woman who cheated on him, Owen, the man she cheated with, and Martin. Martin was the one furthest removed from the limelight. Everyone assumes Quentin has started his destructive behavior because he’s broken-hearted after Erin cheated on him. Sarah’s plan is to get Quentin and Erin back together and keep the band from breaking up. The truth is nowhere near that simple.

As Sarah soon learns, the band members are each keeping their own secrets and they’re not quite the same as the rumors that are circulating. The logic behind their secrets and the plotting and games was quite interesting. I never really knew what was going to happen with the band members. Their lies and secrets were so intertwined it was hard to see where one ended and the next began. The members of the band live by three rules:

Rule #1 – No drugs.
Rule #2 – No sex with other band members.
Rule #3 – No sex with record company spies.

But, like you would expect of any good drama, each of them are breaking a rule. It’s a fun ride finding out who is hiding which secret.


  
    “If only everything were different. If only he wasn’t a coke addict, he wasn’t a stupid hick, she wasn’t trying to keep him together with his band, and she wasn’t contracted to his record company, she would have had the most delightful decision to make: to ho or not to ho.”
  


The other thing Sarah has to deal with is her attraction to Quentin. She’s completely conflicted by her feelings. She knows she has to keep things professional, and she’s trying to get him back together with Erin, after all. She’s not trying to land him for herself. He’s attracted to her, too, and they devise a completely flawed plan to get Erin back: despite Rule #3, Quentin and Sarah are going to pretend to be in a relationship. They will make Erin jealous and she’ll come running back. Things don’t exactly work out that way. You’ll have to read for yourself to see the mess they all get themselves in and what the ultimate resolution to all their issues is. Throw in the added drama of the legitimately crazy star Sarah last worked with and this book kept me on my toes the entire time.


  
    “Now is when I say that felt fantastic, and I thank my lucky stars I’m such a loose woman.”
  


Sarah and Quentin had great chemistry. The sexual tension could have been cut with a knife. With their plan to make Erin jealous and the attraction between them, I knew it was only a matter of time before they gave into it. The sexy scenes in this book aren’t quite as over-the-top as most in new adult books are, but they’re still pretty steamy.

I really enjoyed this book. If there’s a third book released in the Stargazer series, you better believe I’ll be reading it.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

Lacey

Originally posted at Booklovers For Life

3.5 STARS

It’s been a few days since I finished Playing Dirty, and I’m still not sure how to feel about it. It was my first time reading a book by Jennifer Echols, and while I’m not jumping for joy at the prospect of reading another of her books, I still did enjoy myself while reading Playing Dirty. I wasn’t really impressed with the writing, but I really liked the characters and story.

Well, I didn’t like the characters ALL the time. The first third of the book I didn’t like at all. The writing was all over the place, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, so I didn’t like any of them, and everything was so hectic and crazy that I couldn’t believe when I started actually enjoying the book. It took me by a huge surprise. I was honestly thinking that this book was going to be a DNF, but then somewhere along the way, I started liking the Sarah and Quentin and the band. They started making me laugh out loud, and endearing themselves to me. Sure, they didn’t act their age at all sometimes, but it made the book all the more interesting.

The story was very… interesting to read. It was like nothing I’d ever read, and that was a great thing. Sarah is a PR expert at Stargazer, and her newest client is the country band The Cheatin’ Hearts. She needs to do well on this job, aka prevent the group from breaking up, because she’d screwed up on her latest job with singer Nine Lives. So Sarah goes to meet The Cheatin’ Hearts, and they’re all a bunch of hicks. They get drunk, they get into brawls, and are basically over-the-top. What Sarah doesn’t know is that all four of the people in The Cheatin’ Hearts, Quentin, Erin, Owen, and Martin, act this way on purpose. It’s all for publicity.

For The Cheatin’ Hearts, they live by three rules. Rule One: no drugs. Rule Two: no sex with other band members. Rule Three: no sex with record company spies. Quentin, the leader of the band, made these rules when they first started the band, and now… he’s in danger of breaking Rule Three. Because when Quentin meets Sarah, he wants her.

Quentin is such a unique main male character. He’s my favorite character of the book. He’s so utterly ridiculous, it’s cute. He’s a major dork and nerd, but he can’t let the public know, otherwise it might tarnish his image of being a badass rockstar. So instead of the world knowing about his allergies and asthma, they think he does cocaine. I laughed so hard every time Quentin spoke, or someone made fun of Quentin, which happens a lot, that he was the main reason why I started liking the book a lot more than I did in the beginning.

Sarah was pretty funny as well. While The Cheatin’ Hearts has its own scheme of trying to get rid of her, she has her own plan to have them stay together as a band and churn out another album. She holds her own against the band’s antics, and with Sarah and the band going head to head, it was so much fun to read.

Quentin and Sarah are absolutely adorable together. They were perfect for each other, and complemented each other so well. And Quentin can be such a sweetheart. He’s always thinking of others first, and then when he falls in love with Sarah, he’s even sweeter with her. He’s still boisterous and crazy, but there’s a sweet side of him no one ever saw before.

I really did end up enjoying Playing Dirty. I was pleasantly surprised to find it so entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny to read.

3.5 STARS! This was a fun, hilarious, if a bit hectic, contemporary romance.

Thanks to the publisher for generously providing me an ARC to review.

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Playing Dirty

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