Saturday 10 May 2014

Saturday Spotlight - The Access series by Alice Severin

The Access series by Alice Severin


ACCESS ALL AREAS

Published August 2012

BLURB
Lily Taylor’s life has been transformed twice – once by the music she loves, and then by the chance to make a career following her passion – writing about the business. But when she gets the biggest break of her career so far, an interview with the infamous Tristan Hunter, a rock star with a talent for trouble, Lily isn’t sure what to expect. Even though she’s always admired him, Tristan has a reputation for being difficult...and demanding.

Yet Tristan turns out to be just as electrifying in person as he is on stage, and the powerful connection between them is undeniable. Now the fiercely independent Lily finds herself caught up in a whirlwind of sexual desire that forces her to question everything she believes – and she’ll have to decide just how far she is willing to go for the answers…

REVIEW
(Originally reviewed and posted in January 2013)

Foxy Rating = Five Stars
I downloaded this book a few months back but by the time I got around to reading it I forgot what it was about so rather than going back to read the blurb I just dived right in. There is a rather long prologue (two actually!) and it was this that got me hooked. Some parts were a little uncomfortable – well the coke snorting but then this is a book about the rock scene so I guess to write about that it would need to be included. Well I’m sure it happens if the gutter press are to be believed!

So we have our girl, Lily. She loves her music and has been actively blogging about it until she gets a chance to go to one of the industry’s awards ceremony and write about it for a magazine. It’s here she bumps into two of the rock gods of the newly rated group, Devised – Tristan and AC, but its Tristan who gets her pulse racing. But that’s where the prologue ends and the book starts – five years later and once again Lily comes face to face with Tristan.

Lily has made a name for herself as an up and coming rock writer and is asked to go and interview Tristan on the eve of his solo career after Devised has dramatically called it quits. Tristan is totally cool and in control at their first meeting but he is wary of journalists after what had happened when Devised crashed and burned. He plays his new album to Lily which has a totally mind blowing effect on her, especially one song which takes great relevance in the book. It’s as though he has written it for her and surmounts all her life has been about up to now. Seeing the effect this song has on Lily gives Tristan an insight into this beautiful woman. Hence they begin their secret hook ups. And oh what hook ups they are!

Tristan is a total rock god-controlling-hot-as-they-come Dom but Lily is not so easy to submit to him. Well at first she isn’t but then when the breakthrough happens – sheesh, the hot-o-meter melts!

The storyline continues with their unconventional relationship – filled with angst, insecurities, no game playing but plenty of HOTNESS! Neither of them are perfect and both have issues from the past that is stopping them taking a chance on each other. I liked both of the characters straight away and for this alone I felt it contributed to the easy flow of the writing. Some parts maybe a little over descriptive but did not detract from the build-up of storyline. In fact I read this in one sitting and a good job it was a weekend, hence able to read through the night, as I could not put it down!

I love books that are to do with the rock scene and those oh so gorgeous bad boys we adore. This book for me is up there with the best of the Rock Star contemporary/erotic reads. I was glad to see this was book one in a series of three (possibly more) Book two was already out and needless to say it was an immediate download for me and another night of continued reading. 

Thoroughly recommend this, especially if, like me you like your book heroes to be the ultimate, dominant, moody, sexy and sinful but oh so sweet in his hidden psyche. Result! Onto book two – Access Restricted

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ACCESS RESTRICTED

Published January 2013


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 Tristan Hunter, rock star. Lily Taylor, rock journalist. Fasten your seat belts.

Lily Taylor has been reporting on the music scene for years now. But when she met Tristan Hunter, the devastatingly sexy rock star with a wild past, she wasn’t expecting the ride of her life.

Now she’s been told to follow Tristan on his comeback tour to London. With their careers under the spotlight, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Tristan has the chance to reclaim the top, and Lily has the story of her career. Interviewing the people who were there right at the start with Tristan means she might finally find out the truth behind all those dark rumors. 

So far, they’ve managed to keep their passionate affair hidden. But there are some people who know – and don’t want to see them together. And with their own demons to fight, will love stand a chance? Or will the first stop on the tour be the last…

REVIEW
(Originally reviewed and posted in February 2013)

Foxy Rating = Five Stars
Book two in the Access series and here we get to dig deeper into those rumours relating to Tristan (I want to know did he do IT with AC?!!) Anyhow I have been in a book “love-in” with this series. A weekend full of Tristan and Lily, with a little intermingling of Trevor who in my eyes is the backbone of this book and my hero! Any way I digress….

So Tristan left us with the cliffhanger at the end of the first book with that text to Lily. OMG where is this going to go? Well …..London baby! Yes Lily is to accompany Tristan on his UK tour of his solo album to do a full write up but also research for a possible book about his early career with his band, Devised. Will she find out if the rumours were true about his ex-wife (the biatch!) and Paul? Was it for real what he did with AC? (I was kind of cheering for that one, yay!) Whatever she uncovers in her interviews with the people who were around at that time – would this have an impact on their newly discovered relationship? Would it cast a shadow over everything they had built so far?

Oh I have loved this series so far, totally hooked. In this book there is a lot less sexy time but no way does this detract from the powerful storyline that has you dipping and soaring every emotion you have. It was so sensual and heart wrenching. I had a physical ache in my heart at certain parts that had me reaching for the tissues. I just want to shout out all the best bits where they happened but that would give most of the book away and I hate spoiler reviews. But OMG it was soooo good.

The secondary characters were strong and really gave this book backbone. I had issues with her manager, Dave (but underneath I guess he was OK) and his manager, James (what a nasty piece of work – I just wanted to bust his balls off!) But it was Trevor, oh the wonderful Trevor who I just wanted to hug HARD. He was the hero of this book for me and took everything that was being said, everything that was happening and just made it make sense. He was one of those guys you just gravitate towards who can make things happen. He was Tristan’s producer who had been with him since the early days and had helped Tristan through his dark times after the breakup of his marriage and ultimately his band. It was through this interview Lily has with Trevor we learn so much about Tristan.

Then just when you think everything is working out to reaching a wonderful ending, Aghhh! It all gets smashed to pieces. It happens on the opening night of Tristan’s first concert in London where outside influences put a massive spanner in the works. I’ll just say it involved the ex-wife and his ex-band mate but others were also in there with their own axe to grind. Frustrating! 

Don’t worry the ending is eventually good (phew!) but not fully concluded. This carries on in the next book where the tour begins. I love being on the tour bus! Please Ms Severin can I book my slot in one of the bunks now? 

Absolutely loving this series and totally recommend. 

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ACCESS UNLIMITED

Published 29th March 2014

BLURB

They say you never know someone until you take a trip with them. But this isn’t a holiday – this is the comeback tour for Tristan Hunter. His brilliantly crafted debut solo album is getting a lot of attention thanks to Lily Taylor, the music journalist. She’s there to write up the tour, if what goes on backstage can even be printed. One thing she won’t be writing about is her passionate relationship with the star. They want to make it work, but there are a lot of obstacles to romantic bliss on a tour bus.

AC Clark, the guitarist from Tristan’s old band Devised, is also along for the ride. No stranger to excess, AC has a lot of memories about the bad old days, and he’s ready to share. Lily is learning fast what happens on the road, stays there...but some secrets are too big to hide. And Tristan knows the stage will take everything he has – and push him right to the edge. When past and present collide, it might be a crash no one recovers from…

EXCERPT

The phone beeped. I tried to ignore it, but I found myself squinting through half-closed eyes at the dark room. What the hell time was it? It felt middle of the night late, too far away from the night to be part of it, not yet feeling the distant change of light and wind that would mean dawn. It beeped again. Two were harder to dismiss. I flung out an arm from the sheets and knocked the phone to the floor. 

Fuck. Eyes shut, I moved over and did a tired sweep of the carpet next to the bed. There it was. I grabbed it, and rolled over on my back. I blearily looked at the bright white of the numbers. 3:37. Who was texting me? I pressed the little green square with the 2 in the corner, like an angry exponent. The message window opened and I froze. Watch me, said the first message. Then I tapped at the picture to make it fill the whole screen, and it still wasn’t big enough. Tristan. Taking a selfie. I wondered for a minute if the phone was wet, as wet as he was. He was leaning against the tiles in the shower, the water splashing on to his torso, which was sleek and shining, rivulets flowing down the muscled core of his body, to land and hover in the neatly trimmed tight curls that partially hid his balls from view.

Nothing else was hidden though, and the blood-flushed tip was coated lightly with water, and something else, something that showed his excitement in posing like this. Pressing send. Knowing the effect it would have. On anyone. The phone beeped again, and the next picture scrolled into view, his hand firmly grasped around the hard flesh. His eyes were less amused now, dark circles, slightly unfocused. A minute passed. The phone beeped. This time the photo was blurred, his eyes closed tight, his hand another blur within the photo, movement. I felt my face grow warm, the familiar sinking heat spreading down. He was a statue, the muscles taut and flexed in his shoulders and arms, the dip of the lines by his hips a rigid indent.  Another minute, a beep and the new photo appeared. His eyes were wide open now, and his lips were wet and full, slightly open, as though he had been taken by surprise. His hand was still tight around himself, pulling out the last tremors of furious pleasure. The evidence was captured as it struck him, adding to the sticky wet sheen that covered his heated skin. 

I shut my eyes for a moment. It was almost too much. Then the phone beeped again. It was a message this time.

Your turn....


REVIEW

Foxy Rating = Four Stars

*ARC provided by the author in exchange for my honest review

This is the third (and final?) part of the Access series and in a way I am sad to reach the conclusion. I remember being totally in a book heaven when reading the first two books last year so the wait has been too long in coming. It is stated that this can be read as a standalone read but for me the benefit is to read the first two amazing books. This third book does take on an entirely different feel and takes the story to somewhere I never envisioned it going to.

Lily is now to join the bus to write about Tristan’s comeback tour and the way the last book ended I was eager to find out what happens. Also joining the tour is AC, the guitarist from their old band Devised and a close friend of Tristan. If the rumours are correct just how close a friend are they now. What happens on tour, stays on tour but then again, could this be possible?

As I said this is a totally different feel and for me there were some areas that just had me shrieking “WTF!” Lily is no timid wallflower but what she witnesses should have had her ranting and raving but she quietly closes the door, walks away and keeps what she has seen to herself. I must admit at that part of the book I was wanting to walk away too, even though in my previous review I was wanting ‘that’ to have happened, but not now, not with how things were progressing with Lily and Tris. Anyhow I bravely pulled my big girl panties up, shoved the angst back under the pillow and carried on. How glad I was that I did.

The story then progresses with Lily getting to know AC more, gaining a deeper connection to Tris through this and both understanding that the way they were was them and not how everyone else expected they should be. This new angle of their relationship and AC’s involvement was cleverly done, bit by bit, it was pecking at my head until eventually I clicked with the whole revelation. I was totally on board with it. It didn’t have a title of what this was other than Lily and Tristan.

There were some parts that were skipped upon which I would have preferred a whole chapter on (yes that part!) but the reader was left wanting. It is not a book for the lazy reader, the author really makes you work hard for your book bliss with a lot of reading between the lines and clicking on to the thought process, which made it all the more rewarding to read. 

The ending was satisfying but also left where further could be delivered on in the future. For me I have my own connotations of what the future brings for Lily and Tristan. It’s good, real good. *sighs*

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