DRUMMER GIRLby GINGER SCOTT
Arizona Wakefield was a beat without a melody. Living a half-breathing life in a half-finished neighborhood with parents who always wore half-hearted smiles, the high school senior only had one thing that let her color outside her family’s perfectly drawn lines—her drums.
Jesse Barringer was a song without a chorus. The son of a washed-up rock star who’s also one hell of a deadbeat dad, he was given two things from his father—musical genius and a genetic link to the bipolar disorder that drives him mad.
One night in a garage at the end of a cul-de-sac in the middle of a bankrupt California neighborhood, Jesse’s melody found Arizona’s rhythm. An angry boy with storm-colored eyes found a blonde angel in Doc Martens with missing lines in her own story. Where her rhythm stopped, his words took over, and together, they wrote one hell of a story.
"Calm covers storms."
This isn't an overly positive review, but it certainly isn't going to be a complaint filled one either. I feel like this one missed the emotional "mark" for me. I didn't have the connection I thought I could/should/would with this type of subject, but I fell in love with Jesse. With Jesse, I actually felt his depth and his pain. I felt his turmoil and heard his demons. Unfortunately, Ari felt a little blah to me, and I understand why - given what she went through, but she sort of hampered the experience of this whole book for me.
"Jesse has demons. I knew he did, but it still doesn't make it easy to watch someone battle them."
Dual POV - totally a missed opportunity in this book. Ooooobviously, that's myyyy opinion and it should never hold any weight, but I will say that I was seriously hoping for some insight into/from Jesse. Even though this wasn't his story to tell, I feel like it would have added another dimension to everything going on -given the fact that we had issues on both sides of the relationship. Clearly this was Ari's book, her story, her journey. But man! I would have loved to have heard from his mind....to jump into his psyche and heard from him first hand.
That doesn't mean this wasn't good, it just wasn't amazing for me. It didn't really hold my interest, and for the depth of the subject matter, it had the ability to hold me captive. While it did for some parts, it didn't in most other times because it felt as if it/they droned on. Just like with the cadence - it worked for me at some points, but others didn't quite jive, so it felt awkwardly paced, and very slowly at that. I just couldn't finish it and give it a glowing review. It wasn't for me. It was ok and it was leaning towards a 2-3 star review, but it started to bother me with regards to the pacing and what was seemingly filler in some spots, so I just didn't want to not like it. It was almost...dare I say, boring. I think I need to admit I was hoping above hope that this was the twist-me-up, amaze me kind of read that I was expecting. However, it felt very low-key even given the subject at hand, but maybe that's me putting too high of an expectation of "super emotional" on it. Sadly, her voice was too bland for this subject matter for me. Bred was my first read by Scott, and I knew how the original book "read", so I was just amazed and in love with that book, so I was hoping for more of an emotional connection with this one. But with this being a new story, it didn't have the same effect and it just kind of fell flat. Am I sad? No. Not exceptionally, because again, I did enjoy some of it. It was good - just not amazing, not really interesting enough to hold my interest.
But it's also not going to stay with me. Or is it? I am on the fence with this one. It felt very monotonous....there wasn't an inflection in the author's voice while I read, and I like the ups and downs of a journey when it's marred by personal struggles. So, overall, it felt like her voice didn't have the 'punch' I needed to actually dig deep within my emotional self to fall in love with this story. But Jesse and Ari had a relationship that made me smile. Their trust in each other was well noted and I love that Jesse knew he could lean on Ari as heavily as he did and vice versa. But when he was feeling the 'buzz', you could see it in every way and I loved watching his change/growth, but her patience for him was amazing to see.
"I give him my oxygen willingly."
I like the depth a manic character can give me because there is simply so much going on, so to be able to explore the inner workings of their mind, knowing it is an intense journey - I really like that side of it. Not really a spectacle, outside-looking-in kind of enjoy, but more of an admiration, or appreciation of how they can fall in love, but also feel the heaviness from one swing to another. One high to another low. It just adds a level of pause for me because I think it's beautiful to watch someone fall in love and when you're manic, that comes with a deeper, more considerable weight to it. Unfortunately, I didn't feel the heaviness I would have expected and that ruined the "mood" for me.
"His touch is like a dose of venom, and I'm mildly paralyzed."
~BEE
~MEET GINGER SCOTT~
Ginger Scott is an Amazon-bestselling, Goodreads Choice Award and Rita award-nominated author of several young and new adult romances, including Waiting on the Sidelines, This Is Falling, Wild Reckless, The Hard Count, Cry Baby and Bred.
A sucker for a good romance, Ginger’s other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. (She’s also a sucker for a hot quarterback, catcher, pitcher, point guard…the list goes on.) Ginger has been writing and editing for a hella long time. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at http://www.littlemisswrite.com.
When she's not writing, the odds are high that she's somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork 'em, Devils).
~CONNECT WITH GINGER~
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Thank you! I love your honesty doesn't matter the Author.
ReplyDeleteI always try to be honest because I would want the same from someone else. I also know that this is MY opinion and not many share it, and that's the best part. It's all a discussion at that point.
DeleteThanks for commenting and supporting me, Candice.
Thank you for the honest review!
ReplyDeleteAlways honest, Julie Kay.
DeleteThank you!!!