Blow From the series: Virtuous Paradox #1 by Heidi McLaughlin
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Published by Loveswept on November 8th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Music, New Adult, Romance
Purchase links: Amazon, iTunes
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Source: NetGalley
Meet the complicated men behind the sexiest boy band in America! In Blow, the start of an emotionally charged series from bestselling author Heidi McLaughlin, an insatiable heartthrob gets blinded by the spotlight—and learns to fight for love.
Bodhi McKnight has always had everything handed to him on a silver platter: fame, success, money, girls. The raven-haired, blue-eyed hottie is the son of Hollywood A-listers, and when he’s asked to join the boy band Virtuous Paradox, his star shoots even higher. But so do expectations, leading Bodhi down a destructive path of addiction—until a drop-dead gorgeous guardian angel shows him her sizzling brand of tough love.
When Bodhi ends up in rehab, he doesn’t expect to meet someone as cool and down-to-earth as Kimberly Gordon. Although he’s enjoyed the company of beautiful, charming women before, none of them have tried to get to know the “real” Bodhi. But Kimberly isn’t fazed by his stardom. She’d rather go horseback riding, teach Bodhi to play guitar, or ask him about his feelings. Soon Bodhi realizes he’s fallen head over heels for her. He just hopes that he’s strong enough to protect what they have from all the pressures and temptations of the outside world.
Praise for Blow
“Heidi McLaughlin never disappoints. Blow is a sexy, forbidden love story about the dark side of fame, addiction, and finding the light at the end of the tunnel. I couldn’t put it down.”—Nicole Jacquelyn, author of Unbreak My Heart
“Heidi McLaughlin’s Blow is a beautifully romantic story of redemption and triumph—fame at its darkest, but humanity at its brightest.”—Sarah Robinson, author of the Kavanagh Legends series
“Blow will absolutely blow you away. Scorching-hot chemistry woven into a very poignant story of addiction.”—New York Times bestselling author Sawyer Bennett
“Blow will be your newest addiction! Real and raw, Heidi McLaughlin delivers another emotional hit!”—Stacey Kennedy, USA Today bestselling author of the Dirty Little Secrets series
Includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.
We received this book/audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
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Book Review: 6 stars
Without doubt, Heidi’s BLOW blew me away for good!!!! And the blurb may have indicated that this book isn’t like any other I have read, but I never expected to hit that target 200% bull’s eye…. One of my bookworm life’s surprises!!
The deeper I go, the more I feel … the more this moment means.
BLOW is the first story in McLaughlin’s new series, Virtuous Paradox, which goes around telling us the love stories of the boy band “Virtuous Paradox”, starting with Bodhi. Bodhi McKnight is a celebrity child with a famous actress and a famous film producer as his parents. His heart has always been in the right place but the pressure today’s music industry puts on him, forces him to turn to coke for help so he can deal with everything on his plate. But he got at a point where Life had to draw a line, tell him “That’s it! You had enough!” and send him to rehab. And maybe that place for the most addicts seems like Hell, but in Bodhi’s case, it gave him a purpose to change himself, his lifestyle and his life’s priorities. And what – or better who – is that purpose? Well, it hears at the name Kimberly Gordon; his one-to-one person for psychological support and to make his stay as more bearable as possible. Although, neither imagined what kind of “bearable” his stay would turn out to be.
“What if I think I found it? The one thing that will replace the high I’m craving?”
The connection these two form is instant and the moments that are following it may seem sometimes quite fast and lacking the average needed time for growing properly. But here’s where this thought halts; because the events-unfolding may have a fast pace, but NOTHING about this story is average and usual. And undoubtedly the characters fall under the same category too. Their complexity, their different lifestyles and emotional world are some of the things that move this story out of the sphere of “Average”. It’s really remarkable how much character progress and strength have fitted into it. You go into it expecting an interesting, different story with great characters, but what you get is far from it; what you get is the heart-warming story of two characters who, until the moment they laid eyes on each other, were on pause and the moment they found each other, the true journey begun. It’s really hard to explain the amazing feelings that the impressive growing and change of these two heroes did to me. Witnessing their 180, especially Bodhi, was something that I will never forget.
“… she has the power to destroy me and keep me clean at the same time.”
Whoever has had the “Heidi McLaughlin” experience before, would definitely know that her characters always have that “something” that can blow your mind. And neither Bodhi nor Kim could escape this fate. Their passion, love, struggle, strength are some of the undeniable elements which will ….. Blow you – no pun intended! :p As for the cover, I can’t really say much because they don’t fit. The ways that someone can perverse this inspired cover may be many, but this is which I go for: “under the cocaine – the white part of the cover – addiction Bodhi had to go through, ironically this was – the transparent BLOW – what, in the end, lead him to find his salvation and put his life in an order so he can get closer to his HEA.” Too much maybe, but this was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the cover after THE END of the book. My mind and perspective of things definitely changed after this read. It would be too bad if you didn’t give it a try 🙂 Without thought “Highly Recommended”!!
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