
BR With Sara & Jo**ARC provided to our Smexy Bookaholics blog by the authors, Miriam Brady & Amber Best, in exchange for an honest review**After losing her entire family in an accident, Madison (Maddy) Grey is broken. For six months, she is a shell of the happy, fun loving person she used to be. In an effort to pull their friend out of her depression (even if only for a short time), Maddy's friends take her to a concert of her favorite band, Murder of Crows, where Maddy catches the interest of the lead singer Calvin (Cal) Hunt. The moment Cal sees Maddy, he knows there is something different about her from the women he normally pursues so he invites her backstage after the concert in an attempt to get to know her better. Despite being told that Maddy is single but unavailable for a relationship, Cal pursues her anyway and does his best to convince her to take a chance on a relationship with him. Maddy's guilt over moving on after the tragic loss of her family and Cal's womanizing past are both HUGE obstacles they will need to overcome if they want to make a relationship work. The ironic part of this entire situation is that Maddy and her friends created what they call a back-up list which means the following: If the woman carrying this card has been recently made single, through the accidental death of her husband, untimely demise due to unforeseen natural causes (or deliberate murder) or has become single due to the fact that her husband was a cheating bastard who left her, then this is an emergency. A new husband must be procured for her promptly. A list of suitable candidates is provided on the other side. The back-up list was created as a joke and none of the girls ever intended to date any of the guys on their lists. That is why is why it is so ironic that Maddy and Cal start a serious relationship because he was the #1 guy on her back-up list.My ThoughtsI really enjoyed reading about Maddy, Cal, and their relationship. I can't even imagine what I would do if I lost my entire family in the manner that Maddy did. I was a little surprised at just how emotional this book made me. There were several times that I had tears in my eyes and my heart was aching for Maddy and the others affected by the death of her family members. I thought she was a very strong person and I was really happy to see her have a second chance at happiness with her dream guy! While Cal could be immature at times, I thought he was sweet, generous, understanding, and super supportive when it came to Maddy. Especially considering he didn't know that Maddy had recently lost both her husband and children. I loved the friendship between Maddy & Kinley (her best friend). I loved the fact that the girls have been life long friends and that they were there for each other, through good times and bad. I loved the fact that they were completely honest with each other, even though the truth wasn't always pretty. I also LOVED the fact that the girls had an obsession with shopping and Coach handbags :)))"You know us, we never just admire things-cash and credit, first born children and organ donations have all occurred when we go shopping."Why Not 5 Stars?I fully admit that a character can make or break a book for me. While I adored Maddy's character for the most part, her decisions in the last 50% of the book made me angry, frustrated, and I lost a lot of respect for her. I get the fact that Maddy was pretty inexperienced when it came to dating and that she had insecurities stemming from the fact that she is dating a rockstar who used to be a man-whore. However, I was not ok with the fact that she so easily judged Cal when he had done nothing but be supportive and understanding when it came to her. I hated the fact that Maddy took anything the media said about Cal as truth and would not give Cal the chance to defend himself. Especially when she found out she was pregnant and made the decision that Cal did not deserve to know about her pregnancy because of a misunderstanding that the media caused. Seriously, that is NOT a good reason to cut the father of your child out of the child's life! He has every right to know that he is going to be a father and to be a part of that child's life! I would like to point out that not everyone will have the same issue with the book so please don't let my mini rant discourage you from reading this novel. I just feel very strongly about situations like this in books where the woman hides her pregnancy from the father and I don't feel her excuse for not telling him is a legitimate reason.The epilogue was another aspect of this story that I am on the fence about. While it was definitely a twist I was not expecting and it sets up the story up for the next book, I found the situation a little far fetched and unbelievable. This is all I am going to say about the epilogue though as I don't want to spoil it for anyone else. Overall, I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy emotional books about second chances, love, friendship, and rockstars =D