Review: Lick (Stage Dive 1) by Kylie Scott

 

“Love isn’t always smooth or straightforward. It can be messy and painful,” he said. “Doesn’t mean it still isn’t the most incredible thing that can ever happen to you.”

Lick (Stage Dive 1) by Kylie Scott was a sweet, sexy, fun rockstar book. It was just what I was looking for after struggling with another book for a while. It was the first book on my Rock Star book binge while I was away being a groupie this summer. (See all of my favorite Rock Star books here) It had just the right pacing, it was snarky and light-hearted, yet took me on an emotional ride. And hellooooo????? Gorgeous tattooed guitar player?

It was Evelyn’s 21st birthday, so she got a hotel in Vegas with her BFF and goes out partying. The book begins with Evelyn waking up after spending the night doing this:

She wakes up on the bathroom floor, mortified to find a gorgeous, shirtless, heavily tattooed long-haired god (who seems slightly familiar) has been taking care of her. Then her new 5 carat diamond ring gets caught in her hair, and she has no idea what the heck happened, or why the hell this perfect guy would be there with her.

“Wait a minute,” he said, watching me through narrowed eyes. “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?”
“I’m so sorry.”
Let me get this straight, you don’t remember anything?”
“No,” I said, swallowing hard. “What did we do last night?”
“We got fucking married.” he growled.

After this gorgeous hunk storms out, Evelyn noticed her ass was sore, and thinking she must have fell when she was drunk, she inspects her ass, and finds the name “David” in black and hot pink ink. When he returns and they discuss how end the marriage she can’t remember, she notices that:

“He smelled good. Clean, male, and good. Familiar. Some part of me remembered being this close to him and it was comforting. Something in my mind said ‘safe’. But I couldn’t remember how or why.”

Being a country music fan, Evelyn, who considers herself fairly sensible, ordinary and on the curvy side, has no idea that she married the guitarist of the famous rock band Stage Dive. Her plan was to settle with a nice clean cut guy who wears suits. So when Ev goes home to wait for the divorce papers, she doesn’t realize that the paparazzi would be waiting.

Ev’s ‘plan’ was always to follow in her dad’s footsteps and become an architect, she had an internship all lined up. Until she was splashed all over the tabloids. With the press hounding her, and no job, she took refuge with David and his security team. But the pull and connection between them couldn’t be denied. David remembers everything and married her for a reason, and he didn’t even realize she was that drunk.

“It’s not fair that I remember and you don’t, Evelyn.”
…….

“But I married you, Evelyn, because you made sense to me. We make sense. We’re a whole lot better together than apart.”

 She doesn’t understand why he would marry her. He could have anyone.

“When a girl like me wakes up married to a guy like you, what else can she possibly think? God, David, look at you. You’re beautiful, rich, and successful.”

He tries to help her remember.

“And this kiss is for the purposes of scientific research?”

But after the WOW kiss:

“I think I understand a little better how we ended up married.”

I enjoyed every second of Lick: Stage Dive 1. I had a stupid grin on my face the whole time a read it, and I knew I would love it the minute Ev described herself as having an “abundance of boobage”. Little fun, snarky lines ran through the whole book, I have a ton highlighted, but want to let you discover the rest yourself.

“What happened to the rest of my clothes?”
“They left,” he said, face serious.
“You took them?”
He shrugged. “You wouldn’t have been comfortable sleeping in them.”
“How on earth did you manage to get my bra off without waking me?”
“He gave me a sly smile. “I didn’t do anything else. I swear. I just … removed it for safety reasons. Underwire is dangerous.”

There wasn’t much angst. The characters didn’t do anything stupid, there was barely any miscommunication. In fact, they were HEALTHY! They tried to work things out. It was an all around feel-good book, with some great sexy times. (While lick refers to a guitar lick, it can absolutely refer to the other kind!)

What lowered my rating a bit on this book, honestly the only thing to lower it, is that I didn’t review it immediately. And I forgot it. I forgot it so much I had to do a skim quick re-read before  writing this review. It’s only been 2 weeks, but I really couldn’t remember much until I started skimming again.

“There wasn’t enough room in me for all the feelings he inspired.”

Likes:

• The snarky, fun banter.
• A nice, normal heroine (including her size).
• The fun pull between the couple was tangible.
• No stupid moves on either part.
• Davis Ferris <3 <3 So fucking sweet and thoughtful,  I wanna just…..mmm mm.
• Had me smiling throughout.
• I loved Ev. She was smart, sweet, and refreshingly normal.
• Mal, the drummer, was awesome.
• They fought hard, and made up hard, but they worked through issues, and didn’t use sex to cover them up.

Dislikes:

• Though I loved reading the whole book, there was nothing memorable about it for me. It didn’t stick with me at all, and I had to re-read for this review 2 weeks later.
• Ev was a little too inexperienced. I’m getting tired of reading about 21 year old almost-virgins.

 Rating: 4.5 stars, 4.25 Heat 

Lick by Kylie Scott was fun and quick, and I loved reading it the whole time. It will absolutely be added to My Favorite Rock Star Books list. I highly recommend reading it between edgier, angstier books. The author has an amazing voice, and had the perfect blend of love, angst, romance, sex, and snarkiness. I am thoroughly looking forward to reading more in this series.

Purchase Lick: (Stage Dive 1) by Kylie Scott

Amazon | BN.com