Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: Chaos by Jamie Shaw

I really loved this book!  It caught my attention from the beginning and I didn’t want it to end and was sad when it did.

This is a story about Shawn and Kit.  Shawn and his best friend Adam have been best friends since grade school and have been playing music together for almost just as long.  During a school function where Shawn and Adam were playing their guitars is where Kit first saw and heard Shawn and fell in love at the tender age of 8 years old.  When she became a freshman Shawn was graduating and she crashed a graduation party where she hooked up with Shawn and never heard from him again.  Flash forward 6 years and that’s where the story picks up – Kit now a guitar player herself auditioned for an open spot in Shawn and Adam’s band and gets the job.  Unfortunately she clearly remembers Shawn but it seems Shawn doesn’t remember her at all and the story goes from there.

First I have to say I love the names of the main characters Shawn Scarlett and Kit Larson – so good! As the relationship develops between Shawn and Kit I found myself rooting for them more and more – the book is told from Kit’s POV which I usually don’t like the single POV but in this case not always knowing what Shawn is thinking was not a bad thing.  Also you could tell what type of person he is by the things he does for those around him, Shawn is the leader of the band and its obvious through his actions.  This of course confuses Kit to no end.  The story development was paced perfectly and I enjoyed the dialog between Kit and Shawn as they were getting to know each other first as friends and as something more.  I had to keep reminding myself that Kit is young but the choices she makes throughout the book made sense and I could even relate to what she was doing when I think about being 21.  I think Jamie gets that part dead on.

I also loved the secondary characters – I have not read the first 2 books in the series (will definitely do that here soon) and the band is great and 2 of the band members already had their own stories.   The real concentration for the additional characters is Kit’s brothers – she has 4 brothers – 3 older and her twin Kaleb and they are fantastic.   There is a subplot involving Kaleb that was great, I hope that Jamie Shaw is planning a spin-off series featuring the others.  There is one more book left in this series with the band but I am going to keep my fingers crossed the brothers definitely deserve their own books.

I cant say enough about this book and highly recommend it whether you have read the first 2 or not.

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As the guys continue asking me questions—have I been in a band before, were we any good, why’d we break up—and I continue giving them answers—in college, we could have been better, because they wanted nine-to-five jobs—I wonder what would happen if Shawn would remember me. Would I be happy? Would he laugh it off? Would he apologize for breaking my teenage heart?

Any apology now would be too little, too late. It’d be meaningless—and so infuriating that I’d have to use my combat boots to do just what Kale told me to.

“And you’re sure this is what you want to do with your life?” Mike asks me, and I nod.

“More than anything.”

Satisfied, Mike turns to Shawn. “Anything to add? Or should we have her play?”

Shawn, who hasn’t said another word since asking me what year I was, rubs the back of his neck and nods. “Sure. Let her play.”

Taking my dismissal for what it is, I walk away and grab my guitar, sliding it onto the stage before hoisting myself up behind it. I force Shawn from my mind and get set up in record time, strapping my Fender around my neck and stepping up to the mic. As I adjust it to fit my height, the guys are all sitting at the tables, laughing and carrying on. All of them but Shawn, who is too bored with my audition to laugh along with the rest of them.

“What do you want me to play?” I ask, ignoring the way he’s staring at the table in front of him like it’s far more interesting than anything I could possibly do onstage.

“Your favorite song!” Adam shouts, and the butterflies in my stomach fade away as I concentrate on the music in my head. I think about my options for a moment before chuckling under my breath and stepping back. As soon as I position my fingers and pluck the E string, all six American Idol judges start to groan and I can’t help laughing.

“Just kidding!” I say into the microphone, knowing they must have heard “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes a hundred times by now by amateur guitarists. When I step away from the mic again, I smile down at my guitar, thinking about it for another brief moment before I begin playing “Vices” by Brand New. My fingers slide over the strings, the harshness of my chords assaulting the very foundation of the building we’re in and reminding me how much I’ve missed being onstage. With my old band, I played small venues to small crowds, but a stage is a stage, and a show is a show. Performing is in my blood now—like being A positive or B negative. I couldn’t forget what it feels like if I tried.

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