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COVER REVEAL: The Silencer by Cora Rose
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RELEASE BLITZ: Disco Bar by Tori Ross
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MUSIC MONDAY: Innocence of Youth by The Manatees
Pick a song that you really like and share it on Monday.
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RELEASE BLITZ: Popped: A Charity Anthology
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PRE-ORDER BLAST: Angel by Linden Bell (Giveaway)
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BOOK TOUR: The Second Son by Adrienne Tooley
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NEW RELEASE BLITZ: The Quicks, The Deads, and Me by Don Hilton (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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BLOG TOUR: The Keeper by Aimee Nicole Walker (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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MANGA: Bokura no Scramblues
Bokura no Scramblues – Mame March
Haru Kurosaki once heard a stranger’s song in high school that made him decide to finally follow his passions. Now, he’s a graphic designer who’s recently been put in charge of designing a CD jacket for the prodigy musical artist Eddie Astley. On the outside, Eddie is intimidating and aloof — but when Haru spots him at a rock concert, he realizes how wrong that assumption is. As he sees beyond Eddie’s surly exterior and catches a glimpse of the man beneath the affectation, Haru begins to think about the message and emotions that Eddie tries to convey through his music. And in trying to get to know more about Eddie for his design project, he discovers that music always has a way of transporting you to a vital moment from the past.
The mangaka must have been rickrolled once, hehe.
Our Scramblues is a tale of talent, inspiration, and the art of capturing an artist’s soul. Haru, a graphic designer and hardcore music lover, jumped at the chance to design the CD artwork of famous music prodigy Eddie Astley.
Eddie is from Britain but moved to Japan at a young age. He’s fluent in Japanese. The man is also notoriously temperamental. He rejected Haru’s initial drafts, so now the graphic designer is struggling to come up with a design worthy of the prodigy’s fabulous songs.
Haru decided to spend more time with Eddie to see what made him tick and hoped to hell he could capture that in his design.
While the majority of the plot focuses on the humorous interactions of the two MCs, part of it is filled with nostalgia mixed with grief at the loss of Eddie’s grandfather, also a talented musician who constantly encouraged him as a child. Eddie longs to capture those childhood songs he composed with him.
Eddie was an asshole but thawed little by little because of Haru’s sunshine-y charm. He initially tried to get under Haru’s skin by hitting on the supposedly straight man, but oooh, how the tables turned!
Haru’s guileless adoration and solid belief in Eddie’s talent, and just being a creature of pure happy dog energy crumbled Eddie’s walls and laid him bare. Add to that the childhood connection drama that initially broke hearts, but trust the eternal optimist in Haru to turn that into a powerful confession scene!
I liked the artwork, but I’m not a fan of how the mangaka drew the facial expressions. The ugly-cry faces and other intense expressions of the characters looked unattractive. But the characters look great in normal situations. Eddie’s appearance is yum!
As somebody obsessed with rock music all their life, I loved this behind the scenes glimpsed of an album’s creation. Though I was underwhelmed with Haru’s final design, overall, this manga is a wonderful ode to artists who pour heart and soul into their creations.
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REVIEW: The Bitter Rivals Fiasco by Hayden Hall
Frat Brats of Santa Barbara: The Bitter Rivals Fiasco – Hayden Hall
I fell in love with the enemy. Twice.
Hudson
For my twenty-first, I threw a masquerade party and met the most exciting guy on the planet, dressed as a fallen angel. Then, I never saw him again.
And just when I think my life is perfect, in walks my nemesis, Tate Anderson.
The guy’s got no finesse. He looks down on everyone, especially me. So, when the mischievous wannabe matchmaker of a professor forces me into a project with none other than Tate, I seriously consider dropping out.
Except, the more time I spend with him, and the more we growl and bark at each other, the tighter my chest feels around him.
To put him out of my mind and escape the feelings I’d kept at bay for so long, I keep throwing the biggest parties in the city. Like some modern version of Jay Gatsby, I hope to run into my mysterious fallen angel, but he’s ever so elusive.
Until he shows up again.
And I take his mask off…
Tate
My life sucks but don’t make a mistake thinking I would let anyone know.
Especially not Hudson Blackwood. That guy’s gloating enough already. Ugh… He laughs too much, pretends he’s so cool, nothing really bothers him.
Well, except the fact he’s stuck with me on a semester-long project. But I’m stuck with him just as much. He’s also hot as hell and knows it, which makes him infinitely more annoying.
And if that’s not enough, my stepmother is spending the last of my late dad’s fortune on her two sons and I have to study every waking moment to keep my scholarship.
The only escape I’ve had since coming to Santa Barbara were the masquerade parties a tall, handsome guy dressed as The Phantom keeps throwing.
Before I know it, I am hurtling into love and I hate it. I know my stepmother will uproot me again before the year is done. Besides, I don’t even know who this smoking hot Phantom is. This can only end one way, and it’s not good.
It’s just better for everyone if the masks stay on.
The Bitter Rivals Fiasco is an enemies-to-lovers story featuring one certified player, his moody, lifelong rival, and a Cinderella-meets-Great-Gatsby storyline. This is the fourth book in the Frat Brats of Santa Barbara series. While it can be read on its own, it’s just more fun to read them in order, since the series follows a group of friends as they grow and mature at a prestigious, boys-only business school, Highgate Academy.
The Bitter Rivals Fiasco is a blind read that turned out to be a win! Not perfect, but fantastic enough to hook me on the Frat Brats of Santa Barbara series. The book is the 4th installment of the contemporary romance series by Hayden Hall, set in a prestigious all-boys business school.
The plot is a Cinderella + Romeo and Juliet retelling with a side of Phantom of the Opera. Bitter rivals Tate Anderson and Hudson Blackwood hate each other since high school after Tate’s father edged Hudson’s parents out of a deal. They met again at Highgate Academy and promptly resumed one-upping each other in class so intensely that the professor assigned them to work together on a project.
Tate’s father was a workaholic who always told Tate to choose his battles. The man later married a cold-hearted woman who pretended to care for him, then grabbed the power of attorney out from under Tate’s nose when his father was on death’s door.
Now, the solitary broody Tate has to earn the money that was rightfully his, doing all the chores in the house and whatever else his stepmother orders in exchange for a meager allowance. He’s in Highgate on a scholarship he is busting his balls to keep, on top of his other tasks.
In contrast, Hudson comes from a loving home, is surrounded by friends, and is so rich he throws parties at the most exclusive clubs whenever he wants. On his 21st birthday, he threw a masquerade party where everyone was encouraged to be as unrecognizable as possible.
Cue the Phantom, the Fallen Angel and one unforgettable night.
Tate, as Cinderella, abides by his stepmother’s rules, as per necessity, but by no means a doormat. He snarks, negotiates, or even loses his temper at the last straws. But then, has to pay the price later on. His stepmother became especially vile towards him when he came out. She forces him to live in the attic and locks him out of the house when he’s out past curfew.
Hudson used to crush on Tate in high school until he learned what happened with their fathers. He held on to his grudge until he learned the true state of affairs. Then, as the prince, sweeps his fallen angel off his feet, and with the help of their fairy godmother, a.k.a. Hudson’s badass mom gives a satisfactory comeuppance for the villain.
This is an enemies-to-lovers story, and this part is done to sizzling perfection. The succeeding masked encounters in more parties, still anonymous to each other, and their public interactions as bickering rivals created a fabulous, squee-tastic buildup to the big reveal.
The antagonism mixed so deliciously with the magnetic pull towards each other. The air of mystery, the tingle of anticipation, the zing of sexual tension, FEELS you can cut with a knife!
The friendships were also one of my favorite parts. The Frat Brats were loyal friends to Hudson, cheering him on his pursuit of his fallen angel. Though they were wink*wink* to the angel’s true identity, knowing Hudson has no clue and looking forward to him blowing his mind when he finds out.
Alex is a fellow student and another fairy godmother, the master designer who created Tate’s beguiling look. He and his boyfriend Franklin befriended the lone wolf. They and the Frat Brats were memorable so I’m looking forward to their books.
The writing is why I’m not 100% into the story. The prose and the dialogues tend to veer towards melodrama. Not sure if it’s because of the fairy tale themes, but sometimes the phrasing is too fancy, like something out of a Victorian romance novel. One reviewer used the term “purple prose.” The effect is enhanced by how narrator Jon Waters sometimes sounds like he’s about to break into a British accent.
Still, The Bitter Rivals Fiasco is a retelling done right, with well executed tropes, familiar yet still exciting. All in all, sweet, spicy and utterly captivating!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Masquerade Butterfly
Artist: Miura Ayme
Album: Masquerade Butterfly
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THE BITTER RIVALS FIASCO: Kindle I Audiobook
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