A Cruel Kind of Beautiful: Sex, Love, and Rock & Roll, Book 1

Hazen (Fill Me) tees up her Sex, Love, and Rock & Roll series with a middling rock music–themed contemporary set in Portland, Ore. Aspiring musician Jera McKnight has sworn off relationships. Then Jacob Tate, who has a job delivering newspapers, accidentally sends one sailing through her window at 4 a.m., and she’s charmed by his efforts to apologize. Their lives couldn’t be more different. Jera’s focused on making music, and her band, the Red Letters, is managed by her formerly famous father. Jacob, once a baseball star at the fictional Portland University, lost both his parents in a car crash; a year later, he’s trying to support himself and his siblings with lousy jobs like the paper delivery route. Though Jera worries that her band is only “dive bar good,” an appearance at a local music festival leads to a record deal offer—but is it the right one? Jera’s trust issues make her relationship with Jacob rocky. When he confesses a family secret, she becomes distractingly obsessed with it. Readers will be confused by her continual efforts to stay emotionally detached from Jacob despite him being a perfect boyfriend. Still, the indie music scene reads as authentic, the pacing keeps the story humming along, and the big twist is one readers won’t see coming. (BookLife)