New Release Review Tour & Giveaway:
Bounce by Noelle August
BookCrushin is thrilled to be a part of the blog tour for the third release in the Boomerang series, Bounce by Noelle August! In today’s post we will share all the book and series information, an excerpt, both Shannon & Kelly’s spoiler-free reviews and a tour-wide giveaway! Shannon and I loved this series — if you are looking for smokin’ hot new adult books that are also well written, positive and funny, you must check out the Boomerang series!
Bounce by Noelle August
Series: Boomerang #3
Category: New Adult, Contemporary
Publication: August 25th, 2015; William Morrow
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Kobo
This final chapter in the fun and steamy New Adult trilogy by Noelle August (authors Veronica Rossi and Lorin Oberweger) features two aspiring musicians who must choose between their careers…and their sizzling attraction for each other.Playing the occasional club gig just isn’t cutting it for twenty-two-year-old cellist Skyler Canby, who’s trying to support herself and her mother back home in Kentucky. Persuaded by her best friend Beth to accompany her on an audition for the first feature film launched by Blackwood Entertainment, she figures why not? Beth’s a shoe-in for the lead, but maybe Skyler’s newly dyed pink hair will help her stand out enough to score a small speaking part.
Never in her wildest dreams does Skyler imagine she’ll land the lead role or that she’ll have her shoes knocked off her feet by the kiss her audition partner, Grey Blackwood, plants on her—a kiss that feels very real and not at all “acted. ”
After throwing a party that causes thousands of dollars of damage to his older brother’s home, reckless musician Grey Blackwood gets roped into working off his debt on the set of his CEO brother’s newest project. Grey spends his days fetching coffee and doing odd jobs around the studio, but he lives for nights when he performs with his band. He knows if he can stay focused, success as a singer is just around the corner. But that’s tough with a distracting pink-haired girl occupying his every waking thought.
Skyler and Grey have every reason to resist each other. But, like a song neither of them can get out of their minds, they have no choice but to go where the music takes them.
Excerpt:
BOUNCE
—a Boomerang novel—
By Noelle August
Two aspiring musicians must choose between their careers…and their sizzling attraction for each other in the final Boomerang novel.
Skyler’s Point-of-View
Chapter 20
Good lord in a basket, it’s him all right. Grey. Illuminated by the golden lights coming on along Venice Boulevard. With suds and water sluicing off his ridiculously ripped body, cascading from his massive tattooed biceps, running down his taut muscled abdomen. His swimsuit sags dangerously low, clinging to his sturdy thighs, making, um, everything, pretty evident.
And evidently pretty impressive.
Probably, this would be a good time to actually speak some words, but even in a town full of hot, hot people, this is kind of stratospheric.
“Yep, it’s me.” Grey reaches back to turn off the shower, which breaks the spell, so I can at least avert my gaze like a decent person. Then he rubs a towel vigorously over his gleaming body and tucks it around his waist.
He has a strange look on his face—peevish, embarrassed, and it feels suddenly like we’re intruding on something. Or maybe it’s just me. I think about that moment in my trailer. His fingers on my skin. My wanting and not knowing what to want.
“Uh, so, what are you up to?” I ask in an effort to win the prize for most obvious question ever. “I mean, I can see what you were up to.” Seriously, Sky? “But, uh, were you just in the water? What brings you out here?”
“I’m crashing nearby. At the garage where my band rehearses.”
“Really?” asks Mia. “Why?”
Grey looks from me to Mia and then back to me, weighing something. Maybe whether or not he can trust us. He’s got this hot, coiled energy all the time, like he’s always holding back. Like he’s an animal caged inside a human body.
“Just staying there for a few weeks.”
“Because of your mom?” I ask. It was obvious from their interaction on set that there’s some bad blood there, though compared to my mom, she seems kind and thoughtful, whip-smart and curious without being overbearing. Which makes sense, given her offspring.
Then I remember that Grey’s not really her offspring. He said “stepmother,” and the way he said it really answers my question.
Which is good, because he doesn’t actually answer it. Instead, he gathers up his stuff—surfboard, wetsuit—and gives us a grin. “I gotta head out,” he says, as though nothing’s hanging there between us. He looks away for a second, following the path of a guy in an Obama mask as he weaves his way up the boardwalk on a ribbon-festooned unicycle. “Told some friends I’d hook up with them tonight.”
“Wait,” says Mia. “So, you’re just sleeping in a garage? Like on an air-mattress or something?”
Grey shrugs. “A couch. It’s okay.”
“And taking freezing cold showers out on the beach? That doesn’t sound great, does it, Sky?”
“No, it doesn’t,” I say, but I’m afraid of where she’s going with this.
“Can’t you stay at a hotel or something?”
He shakes his head. “Money’s a little tight right now. I’m giving Adam almost every penny to pay him back for the house, and I don’t really have…” Again, he goes silent, and I can feel, literally, the tension of him wanting to talk, wanting to say more to someone. Needing it.
“Why don’t you come stay at our place?” Mia blurts. We have that in common. The blurting thing. “I mean, I’m just about all moved out, so there’s room.”
Ay, dios. No. No.
But I can’t say anything. I can’t tell my best friend, who knows I’m talking to Brooks, starting to maybe, sort of, think about where that could go, that having Grey in my apartment, so close all the time, is a very dangerous, very bad idea.
Grey shakes his head. “Nah, I appreciate it, but I’m cool here. I promise. Thanks, though.” He takes a few steps toward a squat gray building with weather-beaten shutters and a tiny, shed-like garage in the back. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
“Hang on,” says Mia, pulling me along. She gives me a look, tipping her head in his direction, like she’s tapping me in for the debate. “You’re cool with it, right, Sky?”
“Of course.” Not. In no way. “But it seems like he’s got it under control here. So, if—”
My words disappear, though, because Grey’s pulled up the garage door, the muscles of his broad back and shoulders shifting smoothly as he thrusts the door up along its rusting track.
“See?” he says, pointing to a lumpy white couch sporting what looks like a half-century’s worth of mystery stains—a perfect complement to the funk of beer and weed and sweat potent enough to make my eyes water. “Perfectly fine, right?”
But, like me, he’s lousy at hiding his feelings. Even turned away to shove some empty beer cans into a garbage bag, his body language tells me everything.
He doesn’t want to be here in this musty space, crowded with furniture and audio equipment, the only natural light coming in from the tiny half-moon windows set into the garage door, which faces a dim alleyway.
“You should come stay with us,” I say, surprising the hell out of us both. “I mean, this is…”
“It’s fine,” Grey insists. “I don’t need much, and I’m hardly ever here.”
I think how different he is from Brooks, who says what he means, tells you—without hesitation—what he wants.
“Come on,” says Mia.
“Seriously,” he tells us. “It’s really nice of you to ask, but I’m fine. I can’t afford—”
“I paid up on the place through the end of the lease,” Mia says. “You can just chip in on food and utilities. I’m sure you can manage that, right? It’s only for a few weeks. And you’d be rooming with two awesome, super hot girls. How can you say no to that?”
He looks at me, and I can see he’s worried about the same things I am. Rooming together. Being too close, constantly one second away from making a really dumb choice. He’s young and too reckless for me. And a musician, on top of it all. He’s everything I don’t need sharing my space.
But something tugs at me, makes me put all of those concerns aside. I see it in his smoke-gray eyes, which are so alive, so deep and full of thoughts. Some pain or fear lives there. Something that makes it so hard for him to accept. To take a simple kindness. It’s not just about me but about trusting. Anything.
Seeing that, I can’t let him spend another night in this crappy place. Just…alone.
“You should come home with us,” I say. “It will be…a lot better than this, I promise.”
Dual Spoiler-Free Reviews:
Shannon’s Thoughts:
[book rating=3.5/5.0]
The Boomerang series has been one of the most surprising and refreshing NA series I’ve come across in awhile. I was instantly smitten from book one, Boomerang, and book two, Rebound, received a coveted 5 stars from me.
Bounce follows Grey Blackwood the younger brother of Adam who was the star of Rebound and Skyler Canby the best friend and roommate of Mia who was featured in Boomerang.
Grey while being younger and seemingly directionless, actually has a lot of passion and heart. From the instant him and Skyler first kiss, in something literally right out of a movie, you know these two are destined to be together.
What I really gravitated towards in the first two books was the realness of the situations, the beautiful and loyal friendships and of course the swoon worthy romance. It’s why I was over the moon with the first two books but unfortunately, Bounce missed the mark just a bit for me. For starters, it felt like the side dramas that Grey and Skyler were each going through took precedence over their actual budding romance. For most of the story they were apart dealing with their own baggage. Grey’s story in particular was compelling but Skyler’s felt less fleshed out. I also wasn’t a fan of the pseudo love triangle that was thrown in to further complicate the path of getting these two to an inevitable happily ever after.
I really wanted them to get back to the passion they first experienced in the beginning of the book and was left wanting for more of that and it just never materialized. Thus, I didn’t feel the connection between the two of them as much as the MC’s in the prior books. For me it felt like Grey was more invested in his feelings for Skyler whereas Skyler was a bit more focused on her own issues. I really wish the two characters had more time on the page to form a stronger relationship. The intent and chemistry was there it just wasn’t enough.
However, Grey, really hit the mark for me and I loved his character and what his personal journey was about. I felt the pain of what he was going through with his Step-Mom and how his childhood had affected him. I felt that he grew the most in this novel.
While Bounce wasn’t as strong for me as Boomerang and Rebound it was still a solid addition to this series. It is a fast, entertaining read that will keep you flipping the pages until the very end. I am disappointed it won’t be continuing. I was hoping that Beth would get her own book, even though her character’s fate is known in this book, I still think it would have been great to see one more book in this adorable series. In fact, I think the writing duo of Noelle August should write another book in this series and call it Ricochet. There a title, my work here is done.
Kelly’s Thoughts:
[book rating=4.0/5.0]
Lately I have been really been straying from my usual YA fantasy preference and enjoying the new adult contemporary books I have been reading. I stumbled onto the first book in this series, Boomerang, on my own, no blog tour or advance reader copy, and loved every minute of it! So I immediately did what a fan would do and read as much as I could about this series and also devoured the second book, Rebound. I have to say that I built up this book so much when I found out it was going to be about Grey Blackwood that I may have set my bar too high. I found myself understanding his brooding reckless lifestyle, as it may have reminded me of a certain 20 something I once knew. Don’t get me wrong, I still throughly enjoyed Bounce and read it almost all in one night because I just had to finish it!
Bounce follows the same theme as the first 2 books, where there are extenuating circumstances keeping the the fated couple apart. The drama that ensues is funny, exciting and scandalous! However, this time around the drama is more emotionally driven, than say forbidden due to business relationships, and I think that changes the mood of this story from its predecessors to be a little more serious.
I really connected with both Skyler & Grey. I wanted so much more of them together. That chemistry was out of the park! I understood where both Sky & Grey were coming from; those tough places and hardships and why they would resist something between them, but overall they were just so much better together. Their meet cute was beyond epic. Oh and that first kiss had me blushing like a schoolgirl. But the hardest part was that they weren’t together for most of the book! I know what a terrible thing to complain about but I just wanted more of their crazy chemistry. This is one time where I think it had just cause for instalove! I know what a flip-flopper I am!
Grey and Skyler are fated. No matter what they do to try and stay apart, they of course keep finding themselves drawn to each other. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the semi-other relationship, that was building during the keep away phase Sky & Grey were playing, however I don’t blame the character at all and it didn’t affect my feelings toward them. I probably would have made the exact same decisions if that was me. I think this pseudo-relationship just led to a more plot driven distance between the characters since we readers needed a reason as to why they wouldn’t just rent a Uhaul and move in together! (Did I mention they were on fire!)
This book is the perfect epitome of what I love in the new adult genre. It had lots of angst, struggle, balance of decisions, that they as adults should make, and some smokin’ hot chemistry! When Skyler & Grey are together the pages just melted in my hands. I also love the great dynamics of all the side characters. There was some extremely positive relationships between the guys and the girls. In all the books actually. Everyone is lifting each other up and supporting each other. This is so refreshing. It seems like in a lot of books everyone is in it for themselves and the Boomerang series really makes a point about the importance of the bonds of friendships, bandmates, co-workers etc.
I have to say that I hope Veronica & Lorin change their minds and keep writing this series or just keep writing! Maybe a college sports romance series? I know that would fulfill me!
Don’t miss the first two in the series!
Boomerang (Boomerang #1)
Publication: July 8th, 2014
Purchase: Amazon
The first book in a sensational New Adult trilogy from Noelle August
Welcome to Boomerang.com, the dating site for the millennial gen with its no-fuss, no-commitments matchups, and where work is steamier than any random hook-up
Mia Galliano is an aspiring filmmaker. Ethan Vance has just played his last game as a collegiate soccer star. They’re sharp, hungry for success, and they share a secret.
Last night, Ethan and Mia met at a bar, and, well . . . one thing led to another, which led to them waking up the next morning—together. Things turned awkward in a hurry when they found themselves sharing a post hookup taxi . . . to the same place: Boomerang headquarters.
What began as a powerful connection between them is treated to a cold shower courtesy of two major complications. First, Boomerang has a strict policy against co-worker dating. And second, they’re now competitors for only one job at the end of summer.
As their internships come to an end, will they manage to keep their eyes on the future and their hands off each other, or will the pull of attraction put them right back where they started?
Rebound (Boomerang #2)
Publication: February 10th, 2015
Purchase: Amazon
Kelly’s Review
Hooking up is only the beginning of the fun in this sexy and irresistible second installment of the thrilling New Adult series, Boomerang.
Adam Blackwood has it all. At twenty-two, he’s fabulously wealthy, Ryan Gosling-hot and at the top of the heap in the business world. His life is perfect, until a scandal from his past resurfaces and knocks the tech wunderkind down, throwing his company, Boomerang, a hook-up site for millennials, into chaos.
Three years ago, Adam married his high school love—and then lost her in a tragic accident. Now, the heartbreak and guilt he’s tried to bury with work and women begins to take over his life.
Alison Quick, the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a business tycoon—and the very ex-girlfriend of Boomerang’s former intern, Ethan—has a problem of her own. She’s got one chance to prove to her father that she deserves a place in his empire by grabbing control of Boomerang and taking Adam down.
But as Alison moves in on him, armed with a cadre of lawyers and accountants, she discovers there’s much more to Adam and Boomerang than meets the eye. Will earning her father’s approval come at the price of losing her first real love? It appears so, unless Adam can forgive her for wrecking his life and trying to steal his livelihood. But Alison hopes that old adage is right. Maybe love can conquer all.
About the Authors:
Question: What do you get when friends pen a story with heart, plenty of laughs, and toe-curling kissing scenes? Answer: Noelle August, the pseudonym for renowned editor and award-winning writer Lorin Oberweger and New York Times bestselling YA author Veronica Rossi, the masterminds behind the Boomerang series. You can visit them at NoelleAugust.com, @Noelle_August, and facebook.com/NoelleAugustBooks
Giveaway:
