Beats by Kendall Grey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"For months, shy drummer Jinx Hardwick has been silently crushing on her tall, dark, and scary bandmate, Toombs Badcock. Drawn to his frightening ink and scars, she yearns to uncover the shadowy secrets lurking behind his silver eyes, but Jinx is too intimidated to even look at him, let alone talk to him. When she stumbles upon Toombs and their manipulative lead guitarist Rax in a compromising position, Jinx realizes her chances of winning Toombs’s heart aren’t just a long shot—they’re nonexistent. To make matters worse, Jinx’s family needs her at home. She’s about to back away from it all—Toombs, the band, her dreams of fame and fortune—when Rax makes her an offer she can’t refuse: a no-holds-barred night alone with Toombs. There’s one small catch. She has to go through Rax to get it."
I'll start by saying BEATS is totally different when you compare it to
Strings book 1 in the series.
Before I read this I saw a post by the author stating:
"If you are looking for Strings Version 2.0, *PLEASE DO NOT* pick up #Beats. These books are not REMOTELY the same. Jinx ins NOT Letty. Why would you want/expect her to be?"
Reading that post and having not read the book or any reviews, I figured people were complaining because Jinx is shy and it is obvious she wouldn't be as dirty mouthed and experimental in the bedroom as Letty was in strings. I even commented on the above post saying "Seriously? people are complaining again?" I thought it was just people trying to bully an author again.
Now I am going to try and explain what I think people are trying to get at. I still haven't read any other reviews so maybe they will explain it better then I can but I'm going to tell you my personal feelings about this... that is what a review is after all, someone's personal opinion on something.
I don't think think the difference is in the characters personalities, the fact that one is she and the other was a slut... less of the booing, I'm not being harsh, Letty actually called herself that in Strings. I think its more of how the author wrote the books.
Strings was sex. Lots of dirty, smutty sex. With a bit of story woven in to keep you entertained. Beats was story with a few sex scenes chucked in. When
Strings came out even the author called it "Smut", she said smut was selling so thats what she wrote, I would assume she would write Beats the same way, but BEATS isn't remotely smutty. I guess she has the fans of Strings now and thought making it less smutting wouldn't lose anyone. I don't think all Strings fans will like it. I guess only time will tell on that. The only reason you can say it's the same series is because it has the same characters in it.
Saying all this doesn't mean I didn't love it... I still gave it 4 stars, if Goodreads allowed half stars it would have gotten 4.5 stars. Jinx reminded me of myself. I really connected to her.
Kendall Grey brushed on a BDSM storyline were a character needed pain with sex to get off. So their Dom gave them that. I am on the same wavelength of the character that didn't understand their Dom/Sub relationship. I am not a fan of BDSM, I don't like the humiliation it gives the sub. I know they don't feel humiliated, they get off on the submission. I just can't see it that way, it doesn't float my boat, I guess..... Back to Beats, Kendall did a great job with the subject, she explained it really well without focusing on it too much like other BDSM books do.
The love triangle was gutting at times. I could feel the pain from all concerned.
Toombs is adorable once you crack that hard outer shell and reach that soft centre of his.
Rax is an arsehole, but I think he has reason's we have no idea of yet. I think we will all come to love the good man hiding behind the selfish prick, when we get to read his own story. I hope he finds happiness.
Great book Ms Grey. :)
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