Book Review: Tell Me You Want Me





This is my book review for Tell Me You Want Me by author Kris Embrey. I received a copy of the book for an honest review. The book contains, sex, with consent and dubious consent, date rape,  tons of swearing, drinking, drugs and pill addiction. If any of these things are triggers then I  would advise to read with caution.

I received this debut book from author Kris Embrey and immediately liked the cover. Delving into it with high expectations I was sure this would be one crazy roller coaster of a ride. I was not disappointed. It moved along at a steady pace with partying, drugs, mood swings, love, dysfunction and music.  Two unlikely souls fall head over heels for each other, but they each have very different ideas of what that should be leaving in its wake a combustible relationship that keeps circling back to pain and heartbreak,  mostly for the MC Gina.

This whirlwind rock and roll romance is told in first person and supported by a cast of dynamic characters.







Let's meet some of them:

Gina Kelly- a talented singer and stage performer who makes her way to New York to audition for a Broadway play. Her performing chops gets her an audition for a rock band called Tin Garden and puts her in the cross hairs of the bands lead singer.

Bridgette and Jewels- two airline stewardesses on her father plane that agree to let Gina stay with them so she has a safe place to stay while auditioning and getting the part in a play in NY.

Lex Leonard- Gina's eccentric play director and is directly responsible for introducing Gina to Sebastian

Carl- Lex's over worked and under appreciated assistant

Stan- Band Manager of Tin Garden

Leon Taylor- becomes her best friend on the tour and make up artist.  Per Leon, he is there to watch out for her. He is such a lively gay character, you will just love him.

Walter- rich gay best friend of Leon. Forced to be someone he is not by his family.

Sebastian  'Bas' Roland- the married, lead singer of  Tin Garden from Surrey England, infatuated with Gina on first sight. The wounded drug addled damaged superstar that wants love and needs to be needed, but can't shake his addictions.

 There are a lot more characters but you will need to discover them on your own.

My two cents...
This is a story of two people trying to make a relationship on the road in between the spotlight and the music, amidst drugs and rock and roll.

The immediate attraction they shared and the rocky relationship between Sebastian and Gina was palpable. You watch as Gina loses herself, makes compromise after compromise as Sebastian's needy, damaged, persona over shadows her. Like most relationships of this caliber you see glimpses of the good person they can be and those are the strings you hold onto. And Gina tries to hold onto them with a vice grip.
"Tell me you want me " was his tag line. It was said repeatedly throughout his interactions with Gina until I  was rolling my eyes.  I  couldn't really like Sebastian beyond his physical description. He has some redeeming qualities like his talent and his ability to find thoughtful gifts and give her some world class experiences. But his over bearing mood swinging crazy drunkenness was tiresome.

There is a lot of sex between them but it feels for the most part disingenuous, one sided and un-engaging with him un-romantically calling the shots. Only once did it feel like lovemaking. There is one part where Gina asks him what he wants for his birthday and his response is true to his crass character. Maybe it would be better if I  imagined him saying it with an English accent. Hmmm....nope!

The characters were extremely well developed.  It was easy to connect with them and experience every emotion and scene with them. Super kudos to the author for making them so totally diverse and unique and worldly. The main characters are well written and each have their own battles and back stories. There are bits of funny interspersed throughout, to give us a reprieve from the intensity of Gina and Sebastian's relationship. They are the quintessential argue, kiss and make up couple.

I like that author Kris Embrey used the beautiful song Lei Dorme to describe the relationship. It is definitely fitting. However, I  was even more surprised that the story ended in a cliffhanger.
What?!!
Are you kidding me?
What more is she going to put poor Gina through?!!!
Obviously,  Sebastian is incapable of loving any one as they deserve.
His pills yes! people....not so much.

I would be remiss if I did not mention...
While the story moved along at a steady pace, and was well thought out, I found the many spelling and grammatical mistakes in the story, detracted from the overall enjoyment of reading such an  interesting  rock and roll romantic drama. A good round of edits should easily fix that and hopefully we will see the huge difference it will make in book 2.

Also my lovelies, this is not a watered down rock and roll story. It is full of ALL things 80's rock and roll.

My favorite line:
"Stop it stop it Look at all  of you!," Carl took the bowl of orange slices and threw them at us. "You fucking animals. I hate all of you."
This whole scene around this line just had me so tickled. I mean for Christ sake who throws orange slices at people?LOL

I give this book 3.9 πŸ”ŽπŸ”ŽπŸ”ŽπŸ”Ž

If you are a fan of Pinterest like me, here is the author's inspiration board

Get it today on Paperback   Kindle



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