Genre: Publication Date: May 21, 2013 Published By: Author Website Random Acts of Crazy on Goodreads Julia Kent Website My review copy: Purchased (free kindle copy)
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I never intended to pick up a naked hitchhiker wearing nothing but a guitar. A guitar. Really. I don't collect guys like that (don't ask what kind of guys I do collect), but when you spot a blonde, tanned, sculpted man with a gorgeous smile and his thumb poking up and practically begging you to stop – you stop.
And I definitely never thought I'd be staring into the bright blue eyes of Trevor Connor, the lead singer for Random Acts of Crazy, an indie rock star I followed like the slobbering fileshare fangirl I am. How he came to be nude and lost six hundred miles from home is quite the tale, but how we fell in love is even more unreal.
Because someone like Trevor Connor, headed to Harvard Law next year, isn't supposed to want someone like me, a rural Ohio chick majoring in Boredom at Convenience Store University who is all curves and frizzy blonde hair and manners so unpolished they have sharp edges that make you bleed.
But he did.
When his best friend, Joe Ross, the bass player for Random Acts of Crazy and a man who makes Calvin Klein models look like Shrek, drove eleven hours through the night to rescue him, though, it got real complicated. It's one thing to like two different guys and be torn.
What do you do, though, when maybe – just maybe – you don't have to choose?
As my Aunt Josie says sometimes, "It's always complicated."
(Goodreads)
This was no church going man. Then again, the naked ones largey aren't. The hat was cheap straw, formed like a cowboy hat, and the lookwell, his fashion sense screamed Chippendales stripper on a Salvation Army Budget.
My only option? To reach over and kiss Chippy Pete. Because when you're coming down off 'shrooms and NyQuil and find yourself naked in a car older than you, 600 miles from home, a kiss is about the only thing that can make it all better.
"I would love to see you again, Trevor," I said. "The next time decide to eat a stupid shit amount od a mind-altering substance and travel naked six hundred miles, give me a visit." Wink. Oh, God. I might as well have said "Y'all come back now, ya hear?" and thrown cornbread at him.
That's the thingsometimes when you give to someone it really isn't selfless. It's selfish. You find joy in it because you're giving freely. The point where it's not freely given is the point where it all falls apart.
I had been in a bit of a reading funk when I stared this book... I'd like to add I started it in the middle of the night while frustrated with a million other things. However, it turns out this is the book I needed to get out of my funk and stop thinking. Julia Kent captured my attention and three out twists that I did not see coming.
The story itself was fun and original to me. Personally I don't know anyone that would pick up a naked hitchhiker, but then again I'm not sure there has ever been a sexually attractive one. This made me curious and I guess with the right amount of hormones anything is possible. The plot really only expands from there. You find the characters acting on impulses and discovering that even though they are from different worlds completely, their lives are really not that different of a story. I liked that Kent took the time to not only develop the characters but establish such vivid lives while keeping the pace rolling at a good speed. The setting was also put together nicely, making it easy to see Darla's world and why Trevor and Joe saw something different and were able to learn.
I personally really loved Darla. She was real and had insecurities that so many women have. Inside she knew she had something to offer but from years of being made to feel like nothing special, that inside feeling was very small. She also held onto hope. A hope that despite she had resigned herself to living a life she wasn't happy with, something good would come to her. I admired her for not backing down when something good did start happening to her. She tried to stay emotionally separated but who wouldn't.
Travis was wonderful. To start I wasn't sure how I felt about him, but this was mostly due to the fact I couldn't figure out how he accepted everything so easily. He was from a different world and yet his acceptance of Darla seemed quick. Yet, I started to see that maybe this was because he was trying to escape what he knew and felt trapped by. He and Darla were a great sexual match and the way he made her feel was beautiful. Not just figuratively but quite literally as well. I was happy to read of her acceptance of his attentions, and all he was willing to do. This is a couple that I was happy with the speed in which they fell into bed with each other.
Joe was another story completely. He was a pretentious ass. His looking down on everything drove me nuts, but people that do that in real life drive me. He was so stuck in his man bot training that he couldn't do much beyond put Darla's world into stereo typical terms. Yet he was drawn to Darla, and even upon first realizing this he tore apart the world she lived in. Admittedly this also helped him have the biggest character growth, but I hated that he fought it all so hard. I will also freely admit that despite the fact that he messed up often, and crossed many lines that would normally infuriate me, I ended up not liking him but accepting him. What Joe brought to the story was different and ended up shocking the hell out of me.
I had zero expectations in this book. I didn't read the synopsis and picked it up strictly because the title caught me. I needed a random act of crazy, and I got exactly what I needed right now. This book won't be for everyone with its different tale and twisted love story, but for those that want something different and can handle new things.... Well this book is perfect. It is very much a new adult/adult romance with string sexual content at times. I highly recommend it to people that enjoy all of the things mentioned above and are willing to go in with an open mind.
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