Book Review: Facing the Music by Andrea Laurence

Facing the Music(Facing the Music #1) by Andrea Laurence
Genre: Adult Fiction (Contemporary Romance)
Date Published: September 15, 2014
Publisher: Pocket Star

In this sizzling and hilarious contemporary e-book romance, pop sensation Ivy Hudson returns to her small town to face her ex. Only trouble is, she made her Taylor-Swift-like career with the hit song “Size Matters”—and the football hero has had to live it down ever since.

Five years ago, high school sweethearts Ivy and Blake’s relationship imploded and both their lives were changed forever. Ivy became a rock star and Blake lost not only his dreams of a successful NFL career, but his reputation. Ivy’s angry song about their breakup, called “Size Matters,” hit the top of the charts and Blake became a national laughingstock. He’s salvaged his career and returned to Rosewood to be the high school football coach, regaining his status as town hero and leading the boys to the state championships.

When a tornado whips through town and destroys the high school gymnasium and stadium, a committee is formed to help rebuild and plan some charity fundraisers. Blake’s grandmother requests that Ivy return to Rosewood for the events. Forced back together for the good of their hometown and their careers, Ivy and Blake have no choice but to put aside their differences, stop running from their pasts, and finally face the music.

For fans of Kristen Proby and Colette Auclair, Facing the Music hits a perfect balance between small-town romance and big-time success. Follow Ivy and Blake as they fall back in love and figure out what does matter in the end…

Facing the Music is the first book in the Facing the Music series by Andrea Laurence. It's a cute little romance about second chances for two people who fell in love and broke up before either of them got famous. Blake broke Ivy's heart pretty bad. While I don't think her intentions were to hurt Blake back in quite the way she did, her song had a negative impact on nearly all areas of his life. At the same time, with a song titled "Size Matters", how could she not know? Needless to say, they don't exactly get along when they are thrown together to work on the fundraisers for Rosewood. I love bantering, and the bantering between these two was pretty funny. The chemistry between them is hard to deny too. You can feel it sizzle off the pages. With the romance, drama, and humor, I like how Facing the Music played out. Even though Ivy and Blake know each other, as the reader, I got to know them too as they re-united. I'm excited for more books in this series. Blake has many siblings. I'm hoping we'll get their stories in upcoming books.

The ARC of Facing the Music by Andrea Laurence was kindly provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley for review. The opinions are my own.

Andrea Laurence is an award winning author of contemporary and paranormal romance. She has been a lover of reading and writing stories since she learned to read at a young age. She always dreamed of seeing her work in print and is thrilled to share her special blend of sensuality and dry, sarcastic humor with the world. A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, she’s working on her own “happily ever after” with her boyfriend and their collection of animals including a Siberian Husky that sheds like nobody’s business.

Andrea is represented by Jessica Alvarez at BookEnds, LLC. Her publicist is Morgan Doremus at Pitchlit.

To learn more about Andrea Laurence and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.