Full Tilt (Full Tilt #1) by Emma Scott Review

 

Synopsis:

“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***
All In (Full Tilt #2) forthcoming…
#nocliffhanger #nocancer #tearjerker

 

Review:

“You are a universe.”

WOW! What a gorgeous story! New-to-me author Emma Scott has written a beautifully-crafted, lyrical story with memorable characters and a simply beautiful love story. Emma Scott is a new-to-me author and I devoured this book in one sitting. Her words are simply magical. Once I got past the emotional beginning of this story, I could not put this book down.

Kacey is a hard-living member of a rising rock band but the alcohol and hard partying are taking its toll on her. She seeks the limelight only because she is intensely lonely and alone, even with the crowds of adoring fans surrounding her. She is estranged from her cold and controlling parents, which eats away at her as she struggles to find herself in her new rocker life.

Jonah is a brilliant glass artist who is determined to finish an art installation. No spoilers but he is severely limited by time and other constraints so he just can’t let anyone or anything stop his carefully crafted schedule. Until Kacey crashes into his life.

“I didn’t know it then—I couldn’t have—but in that moment, the rest of my life, or what was left of it, began.”

Theirs is a lovely, slow-burn romance, built on sweet friendship and beautiful trust in each other. Trust is not easy for either of them. Each character is believable, real, flawed and human. Kacey marches to the best of a different drummer but Jonah accepts, and loves her, for who she is. He doesn’t try to change any part of her.

Make no mistake, there is plenty of sexy romance in this book. And hello Theo! Hot brother alert. Yes, this book is passionate, emotional and very much the tearjerker but it all plays out perfectly. Emma Scott, where have you been all my life? I am thrilled to have had the chance to enter your world and can it wait to read more of your books! And I am looking forward to devouring ‘All In’ next.

“Because anyone can hit a jackpot, right? You just have to play.”

Reviewed from a copy obtained via NetGalley.

 

Pre-Order All In (Full Tilt #2):

Part II of the two-part Full Tilt duet, coming October 11, 2016. PLEASE NOTE, this novel is NOT a standalone. It is highly recommended one read Full Tilt first to get the entire arc of the story and to avoid spoilers.