Review: The Sound of Us & Steal My Breath Away by Sarah Castille

 The Sound of Us (Havencrest U #1)

 

 A Star is Born meets Good Girl Complex in this angsty, deeply emotional, heated romance perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover. 

They say music is a universal language…Skye Jordan thought she had it all figured out. Eighteen months ago, she was in college and dreaming of a basketball career. But in a split second her world fell apart. Now she’s back at Westfield U, broke and desperate. She has no use for sexy, bad boy musicians who kiss her senseless. . . until she lands an internship at the radio station where he works.

DJ Dante Romano has lost every person close to his heart. All he has is his music. Consumed by guilt and driven by vengeance, he has no time for love, and yet the fiery new intern who shares his passion and feels his pain tempts him like no other. For Dante, Skye is off limits. And yet from the moment he meets her, he can’t turn away.Soon their scorching attraction develops into something deeper. 

Together they could make beautiful music, but will their untold secrets force them apart?

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What I thought about The Sound of Us

Skye Jordan had dreams of playing basketball, but those dreams are lost, sending her back to college. She needs a job and finds one at the local radio station with DJ Dante Romano. He's got working through some things of his own and this brings Dante and Skye together as they try to figure out what they want in themselves, in their lives and in a partner.

Music form the backdrop of this story through the radio station and as a coping mechanism to provide solace to their respective past circumstances. Even though Skye and Dante should stay away from each other as coworkers, they can't help themselves. They have a somewhat dysfunctional relationship, with Dante using his past trauma when he needs an excuse and Skye enabling him. Pretty much the usual new-adult themes of moving from young adult to adulthood and dealing with everything that comes with it. After some inst-attraction, there's some steamy moments between Skye and Dante to spice things up.Somewhere along the way, they give each other what they need.

This was an okay story for me. I like the music backdrop, but I thought both characters were immature and that made it hard to love them. The first half was a bit slow as well, so I didn't get invested in these two characters like I want to in a romance. Overall, just okay story but it may appeal more to a younger reader.

Steal My Breath Away (Havencrest U #2)

 

New York Times bestselling author Sarah Castille brings another angsty, deeply emotional, heated romance that blends Ana Huang’s Twisted Games with Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard.

Emotions run high, but the tempo thrums higher as music, heat, and angst collide between a singer and her bodyguard.

Haley Chapman has struggled against rules all her life. As the daughter of a senator, she’s expected to finish her college degree, but music is her one true love―the only outlet she has for her wild, impulsive feelings.

When Haley becomes the target of a brazen kidnapping attempt linked to her mother’s high-profile Senate career, the Senator insists on round-the-clock protection. Having a security detail follow her around college feels like overkill, but the Senator has the perfect solution.

Ace Murphy was her brother’s best friend, and a former Air Force pilot, now working in personal security as a celebrity bodyguard. He was also Hailey’s teenage crush and the man who abandoned her when she needed him most, breaking her fragile heart.

Now, as Ace poses as her boyfriend on campus, their personalities clash. He may be her protector but to Haley, Ace is just another obstacle to her freedom and a painful reminder of the past. But as the threats escalate, their forced proximity ignites a connection they can’t ignore—one that could either save them or break them all over again.

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What I thought about Steal My Breath Away

In this second book in the Havencrest U series from Sarah Castille, Ace plays bodyguard to his best friend's sister Haley when she goes to college. There's some history between them, with Haley crushing on Ace in her younger life. The story is told in dual point-of-views and with a dual timeline so that the reader can understand what happened in their past.

As with the first book in this series, I found these characters to be a bit immature. Haley is naive and Ace is closed off, which doesn't make for a good pairing, but their past connection through Haley's brother keeps them tethered together.

I found Haley's circumstances a little difficult to believe as her mother is a political figure with someone after her, and therefore, Haley needs a bodyguard. There's an insta-attraction between Haley and Ace that takes a while to get sorted as they do the push-you-away / pull-you-back-in game. I've been disappointed in the lack of maturity of these characters in both books in this series, and I know that this author can do much better, so I hope if there are more installments, that the main characters would have some modicum of maturity.

Overall, the typical bodyguard story, complicated with second chance romance and forced proximity between Haley and Ace. I was rooting for them, but the story was a bit predictable, so that took the wind out of this reader's sails.