About Books #21: Loved by You

I love music. I’ve loved music for as long as I can remember. Now, that might seem like a weird way to start a book review, but here’s the thing: Kate Perry’s Loved by You is driven by music. And it makes the book read like an absolute piece of art.

Story

It’s time for Karma Taylor to ante up. When her mom raises the stakes, KT has no choice but to prove that she’s living up to her potential. To her mom, that means performing in the upcoming concert, but KT would rather run naked through Golden Gate Park than expose herself on stage. Chance Nolan, world traveler and all-around gypsy, offers KT a solution: distract her mom by faking an engagement—to him. KT would be doing him a favor, too, so he can shake the overzealous blonde who won’t take no for an answer. Only pretending to be in a relationship feels very real, and Chance wonders if he hasn’t been searching for KT all along. He just has to convince her he’s so much more than a decoy fiancé.

Let’s be real: there’s way more than just a “pretend to be my boyfriend”. What makes me like the story so much, is the way in which Kate Perry executed that well-beloved trope. The added element of music is inserted in such a way that the plot actually stays believable, and the various characters allow the plot to grow way beyond what it might have been.

Characters

First of all, can we enjoy the fact that this book has a Karma and a Chance in a relationship? I mean, come on, that’s just great writing right there 😀

Now, Karma is, quite frankly, amazing. Her level of stage fright makes her absolutely relatable. Well, at least to me. But that might just be because I can imagine very little things that are worse than being put on a stage. Which is a petty, because Karma lives music.

That their parents went from “Karma” for their first daughter to “Bijoux” for the second makes just about no sense to me. But hey – we shouldn’t judge parents on their child-naming-abilities, right? Let’s focus, instead, on the fact that this is one of those families where everybody’s just a little weird and yet they all support and love each other. Sure, Bijoux has had her own traumas to deal with, and I would be more than willing to read more on her – here’s to hoping for a novella, right? – but she also knows how to be a sister first and foremost. And at times, that’s definitely something you need to be.

And then there’s Chance – now, this guy has the classic tragic backstory. But what I might just love most about Kate Perry’s books, is that she doesn’t fall back to the “classic” tortured-so-must-be-twisted thing. Chance has his hang ups, sure, but he’s also a human. One with good (and at times: wicked) intentions at that.

Narration

As per the usual, Kate Perry knows how to deliver. This is actually the 10th (tenth!) part of her Laurel Heights series, and it’s probably one of the better ones. For me at least. As per the usual, the set up was just a tad bit hasty (I mean, you’ve known each other for all of, what, 2 seconds, and you have a passionate kiss to trick someone into thinking you’re dating? Come on)

The trick is to move pass that – Kate Perry knows not only how to rip people apart, but also to bring them back together. Let’s take a moment to also really appreciate the way in which she brought all the characters back together. Seriously, I’m always complaining I’m not done with the characters after a book is done. This series gives me exactly what I want: little snippets and bits of the lives of other characters as they’ve grown throughout their respective books.

Overall: 4/5

I thought about making this a 4.5, but the beginning of this book was just a bit too abrupt for that. However, if you want a nice fluffy book? Or even an entire series of cute fluffy books? Then this might just be the one for you! (I will warn you though, there’s little instances of smut thrown in here and there, if that’s not your thing, maybe give Kate Perry a pass, because she does like to do that. And is plenty good at it too!)

If you feel like you might want to give this one a try, you can find Loved by You at amazon (affiliate link). And be sure to let me know if you enjoyed it!

-Saar