Thursday 7 December 2017

✪ BEHIND THE BARS ✪ Brittainy C. Cherry ✪

© Bianca Janeane ✰ 





• 7 December 2017
• Book #1 in the Music Street Series
• Standalone!

★★★★
5 Stars

When I first met Jasmine Greene, she came in as raindrops.

I was the awkward musician, and she was the high school queen.
The only things we had in common were our music and our loneliness.

Something in her eyes told me her smile wasn’t always the truth.
Something in her voice gave me a hope I always wished to find.
And in a flash, she was gone.

Years later, she was standing in front of me on a street in New Orleans.
She was different, but so was I. Life made us colder. Harder. Isolated.

Caged.

Even though we were different, the broken pieces of me recognized the sadness in her.
Now she was back, and I wouldn’t make the mistake of letting her go again.

When I first met Jasmine Greene, she came in as raindrops.
When we met again, she was the darkest storm.



We're in New Orleans with 16 year old Jasmine.
She LOVES music. She loves to sing. Soul.
But her mother is starting to make her hate it. She drags her to every single pop audition she can find. To every ballet and singing and acting class. She wants Jasmine to have the success she never had. She's a 'momanger'. And Jasmine only wants to make her mom proud.
Then Jasmine meets this amazing musician - he's playing his saxophone on the streets as if his life depended on it.
It's Elliott. The shy guy from school - the one who gets bullied for stuttering and being too shy and skinny.
But Jasmine sees the soul of this amazing boy. They become best friends. But it's not long before Jasmine's mom smells another career opportunity in another city ...
And once Jasmine's gone Elliott's life as he knew it ends with one horrible night Behind The Bars ...

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO JASMINE & ELLIOTT???
WILL THERE BE A HAPPY END?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT 
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OY!

This book was amazing!
Just like with all of Brittainy's books, I cried a lot!
It's all so heartbreakingly beautiful and sad and sweet and ugh. It was such an amazing story.
It starts as this adorable young adult thing with both of them only 16. And both don't really fit in anywhere and they both love their music more than anything. And then they find each other ... they just belong together. But it wasn't supposed to be ... yet.
And then the second half of the book, they're 22 and they've been through so much in those few short years. It will take them a long while to find their place in life again. They have to fight very hard to get to that happily ever after we SO want for them. Elliott closed himself up completely after the first part of the book. He has a lot of healing and dealing to do until Jasmine will be able to get her happy end with him.

I just loved reading this story.
I wouldn't mind seeing this on TV one day.
I also loved how the title doesn't only have one meaning for the story. There are so many different aspects of the story Behind The Bars.
Perfect.
I just loved it.
Two tiny little points I would've changed. All characters say Ya' know a lot. Very weird. One person can say it as his thing....but not all of them.
And I wanted more of an epilogue. No. We get an epilogue - two even - and we know what will happen in their personal lives, but I wanted to see what their professional lives will look like in 2 years, 8 years. BUT, I still adored this book! ♥

BEHIND THE BARS was such a beautiful and adorable and heartbreaking YA & NA romance! Full of so much loss and grief and pain and love and friends and family and hope and music and ugh - run to your nearest amazon asap - you need to get your hands on Elliott and Jasmine!!!!!!!!




ARC received for an honest review

Wow, just wow.

That is all I can say about this book.  Buy it and read it, that is all!

Ok, so you want more?

Behind the Bars is a beautiful, heartbreaking yet hopeful YA to NA second chance romance.  Now, I am not one to read much YA/NA as I am an old fart and they often feel way to young for me, however Ms Cherry is an exception to that rule.  I love everything I have read of hers to date.

Jasmine and Elliott's story is not an easy one.  It is dark and full of hurt a lot of the time, however through it all I was full of hope that they would be together.

I hated most of the characters most of the time - not our lovelies, but those around them.  I had such visceral reactions to people and things that happen.  I was shaking with anger, screaming at my kindle, yelling at the characters.

That, my friends, is one of my signs of a great story.

I loved that this story is set in New Orleans, as I have been there and can picture it as I am reading.  I  could hear the music, taste the beignets, smell the smells (yes, Bourbon St does have it's own special odour lol).

I was drawn right into this book, from the first word to the last I couldn't put the book down.

I would love to see more of these characters in the future.  Please make that happen Ms Cherry.



 Links to the Book & Author 





...if you haven't read Brittainy's ELEMENTS series yet ...
DO IT NOW !

Book #1


Book #2


Book #3



Book #4








Brittainy Cherry has been in love with words since the day she took her first breath. She graduated from Carroll University with a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts and a minor in Creative Writing. She loves to take part in writing screenplays, acting, and dancing--poorly of course. Coffee, chai tea, and wine are three things that she thinks every person should partake in! Brittainy lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her family. When she's not running a million errands and crafting stories, she's probably playing with her adorable pets.