Concupiscent Bibliophile: Blissful Tragedy by Amy L. Gale- Book Tour and Review

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Blissful Tragedy by Amy L. Gale- Book Tour and Review

Title: Blissful Tragedy Author: Amy L. Gale Genre: Contemporary Romance 18+ Publication Date: February 8, 2014 Publisher: 5PrinceBooks

Event Organized By: Literati Author Services, Inc.

~ Synopsis ~

Sometimes love is more than tragedy or bliss. Ambitious twenty-two-year-old Lexie Waters is intent on taking the advertising world by storm. When she’s offered the soon-to-be open position she’s been vying for at a swanky advertising agency, there’s only one last summer separating her from dreams of corporate success. Still bitter from catching her boyfriend cheating, she heads out for a night of fun to see her favorite band, Devil’s Garden, but fun turns into utter embarrassment when she insults the enticingly confident lead singer, Van Sinclair. Van is intrigued by Lexie’s ability to resist his charm and secretly obtains her cell number. Shocked but eager to get to know this captivating rocker, Lexie accepts Van’s invitation to see his next show, which requires an overnight stay. The overwhelming feelings that follow take them both by surprise, and with two months left before starting her sought after new position, Lexie joins the tour. As she’s catapulted into the world of groupies and wild parties, she questions Van’s commitment to her.

My Review:

Blissful Tragedy by Amy L. Gale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lexi has just graduated from college, landed a great job that she will start at the end of summer, and found her boyfriend cheating on her. Her friends take her to a Devil's Garden concert to cheer her up, and afterwards backstage she surprises the sexy lead singer Van Sinclaire with her blunt exclamation of her intent to talk about music and not sleep with the band. Van is intrigued by her, and by the end of the evening has obtained her phone number. They begin to text and talk and soon are both infatuated with each other. Lexi goes to another concert on the tour and when their sexual chemistry enters the equation, she agrees to go on tour with them for the rest of the summer until her job starts.

I enjoy a good "rocker meets and falls in love with fan who stands apart from the other fans" book, and this one had a lot of elements that I liked. I liked that Lexi was focused on making sure she didn't get swallowed up by Van's lifestyle and kept her own independence and career goals as a priority in her life. I liked that Van was sexy, respectful, and tried hard from the beginning to be a good partner in the relationship despite some of the temptations and lifestyle expectations of in his profession. I also really enjoyed some of the supporting characters, especially Jenna and Marcus. That said, I didn't fully connect with Lexi. I felt that she was a little too impulsive at times and would react in extreme ways before taking the time to try and understand or work through a situation. I know in some cases she has a history that would make certain things challenging for her, and she eventually would get to the point where she was making the thoughtful decision. I found her regular hair twirling to be a little odd because it really didn't seem to fit with her character and confused me a little sometimes.

Van and Lexi had great chemistry and the scenes with them together were very steamy. This is not erotica, so there are some phrases like "caressing his manhood" to contend with. Most of the time those scenes were well-written and still maintained the proper sexy feel of a passionate couple, but there were a couple instances where some of the language was incongruent with a hot rocker and his girlfriend engaged in what was supposed to be hot passionate sex.

I also found some of the dialogue a little choppy and felt sometimes that I was being told how much they loved each other and why, but wasn't really seeing it or feeling it completely. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would read more by this author in the future.

*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.

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~ About the Author ~

Romance author by night, pharmacist by day, Amy Gale loves rock music and the feel of sand between her toes. She attended Wilkes University where she graduated with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. In addition to writing, she enjoys baking, scary movies, rock concerts, and reading books at the beach. She lives in the lush forest of Northeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, six cats, and golden retriever.