*ARC* Full Tilt - Review

Full Tilt #1

By: Emma Scott

Published: June 28, 2016 by Trillian

292 pages

Source: ebook, Netgalley ARC from publisher

(Goodreads / Amazon)

Summary:

"I would love you forever, if I only had the chance..." 

Kacey Dawson has always lived life on the edge--impulsively, sometimes recklessly. And now, as lead guitarist for a hot up-and-coming band, she is poised at the brink of fame and fortune. But she is torn between wanting to be a serious musician, and the demons that lure her down the glittering, but alcohol-soaked path of rock stardom. A wrecked concert in Las Vegas threatens to ruin her career entirely. She wakes up with the hangover from hell and no memory of the night before, or how she ended up on her limo driver’s couch... 

Jonah Fletcher is running out of time. He knows his situation is hopeless, and he's vowed to make the most of the handful of months he has left to him. His plans include seeing the opening of his glass installation at a prestigious art gallery…they do not include falling in love with a wild, tempestuous rock musician who wound up passed out on his couch. 

Jonah sees that Kacey is on a path to self-destruction. He lets her crash with him for a few days to dry out and get her head on straight. But neither of them expected the deep connection they felt, or how that connection could grow so fast from friendship into something more. Something deep and pure and life-changing…something as fragile as glass, that they both know will shatter in the end no matter how hard they try to hold on to it. 


Full Tilt is a story about what it means to love with your whole heart, to sacrifice, to experience terrible grief and soaring joy. To live life with all its beauty, and all its pain, and in the end to be able to smile through tears and know you wouldn’t have changed a thing. 

***FIRST BOOK IN A TWO PART DUET*** 

MY REVIEW:
I knew going in to this story, that it wasn't going to fall into my "happily-ever-after box". I knew that it was going to be emotional and sad. It definitely was that. But there was so much love and joy to come out of this story as well. It was a great, touching, love story!

It's also fair to say that I think I know where the second part of the story is headed. Some call that predictable, which sometimes has a negative connotation with it. For me though, I thought it would be a perfect second part to the story - if it follows whats in my head. (you'll have to stay tuned to my review for book two to see if I was right or not)

This was another gem that I saw others posting about in the CoHorts FB group (the first was Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas). If you are a Colleen Hoover fan, and you aren't in that group, you are missing out! This is the second book recommendation that was widely talked about in the group that I decided to check out. Turned out Netgalley had both books in this duology available to request for review. It was definitely another win!

This story wasn't just about a physical attraction between two people...though there's definitely a lot of that. It really touches the heart strings. The main characters Jonah Fletcher and Kacey Dawson are both lost in a sense. Jonah is facing a very real time clock to what's left of his life and wants to leave behind a legacy. So he has a strict schedule to create a masterpiece of glass art. He's working two jobs basically and everything in his life is scheduled right down to the minute - nothing out of the ordinary, nothing spontaneous. Take meds, work, take more meds, work more. He doesn't sleep much. He's going through the motions of every day to work and to finish his art piece. For the last 15 months he hasn't allowed himself to be in a relationship with anyone. He's cut himself off from everyone but his closest inner circle: his parents, his younger brother Theo, two best friends Oscar and Dena, and his helper with his art piece Tania. He's existing....but not living.

Kacey is a guitar player in an all girl band that is finally hitting it big. Her life is seriously messed up and to "cope", or really just mask her feelings, she is never sober and is always with a different guy. Drunk every night, she's wasting away. Music is definitely her talent. She loves to sing and write songs...but this life of partying and touring was never what she envisioned for herself. Everything changes one drunken night in Vegas, after playing a show as part of their tour, when her limo driver is tasked with getting her home safely. The limo driver...is Jonah. This is truly where their story begins. First as a friendship they both desperately need. Then, as love grows, the incredible heat of the story.

It's not often I'm reading a story where I have the thought that pictures would've been so cool - pictures of Jonah's glass art. I'm confident what's in my head does no justice to the amazing art that is created in glass blowing. NA romance fans will definitely enjoy this story of love, of beauty found in even the saddest of places.

Top 5 Favorite Quotes:
"Thanks for being a good guy, Jonah. There's a shortage in the world."

"...you can find beauty everywhere, even in the things that scare you the most."

"I'm more afraid of not being with you than I am of being with you."

"We might not have months of years, but we have moments. Thousands upon thousands of them. Let's take each moment, seize it and wring it dry."

Whenever the urge to kiss him came over me, I would kiss him. No more living life halfway. We had to go full tilt, just like the card players did. I would hit instead of stay. Always.

Language Rating: 2 (medium)
Mature Content Rating: 2-3 (medium-high)
Final Rating: 4.5 stars