Series Spotlight - Preload Series by Scarlett Cole

Part 1

I must admit I have some scathingly brilliant ideas for blog posts.  Then I get stymied for any number of reasons.  But this is my latest brilliant idea.  I gave every book in the Preload series a 5 out of 5 or higher.  I’ve read all of them except for the final book at least twice and the only reason I haven’t reread the last one is it just came out a short time ago and I haven’t had a chance yet.  But I will read it again, oh yes I will.  So here are my thoughts on this magnificent series.

 

The Purest Hook - Second Circle Tattoos # 3

 

 

Although part of a different series by Scarlett Cole, this is also the first book of a new series she’s written about a heavy metal band, Peload.  The other band members are only briefly mentioned and it’s not necessary to read this one first if you plan on reading the Preload series, which I highly recommend.  I read this book after reading the first couple of books and my reaction when reading this one was, “oh, OK, so that’s how they met each other.”  And also a point I should mention is that while I did enjoy this one, the rest of the Preload books, I found, were much more enjoyable.

Dred Zanders is the hero and the first member of the group Preload, that we get to know. We first meet him when he and Trent, one of the heroes of the Second Circle Tattoos Series, work together on a tattooing reality show where both are judges. Dred is very successful in his music career but also very down to earth. He comes to visit Trent at Second Circle where he meets Pixie aka Sarah Jane Travers. She works as an office manager and aspiring tattoo artist at Second Circle. Trent and Cujo, another tattoo artist had found her at the lowest time in her life and helped her get back on her feet and make a good life for herself.

Dred is smitten with her and keeps asking her out but she figures he's way over her head and keeps saying no even though she's also become smitten with him. Because of this she eventually agrees and they start a long distance relationship. He lives in Toronto part of the time and LA part of the time so it begins to become a real problem working Miami in but he's finding it harder and harder to be apart from Pixie. That is until he finds out about her past and that changes everything.  Dred over reacts to what he finds out and walks away from Pixie without

Both Dred and Pixie are great although I do want to smack Dredd a good one on his reaction when he finds out about Pixie. It's not like he hasn't sprung something big on her and she wasn't fazed at all. But thankfully he doesn't take too long to see the error of his ways and does the grovel us readers love so much.
 

So this works as the set up book for the series.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Jordon Reclaimed

 
Wowzers, where have you been Scarlett Cole? I was checking out book lists by other readers with similar tastes and came across this one.  The price was right, I hadn’t read any by this author, the storyline sounded good so I took a chance.  I started it as soon as I got home from work and simply couldn’t put it down.  This book blew me out of the water.  I read it until well into the night, knowing I’d be working the next day, but I couldn’t not finish it.  There are SO many things to love about it I’m not even sure where to start so I’ll start with Jordan the hero.

He truly breaks your heart.  He’s the bassist of a very popular heavy metal group named Preload and very successful now.  But his history is horrendous.  He was locked in an attic when he was a very small child and kept there until he was finally found at age 10.  He had no light, no company, nothing.  He was never allowed out of the attic but his ‘father’ had no problem going into the attic and beating poor Jordon.  In fact, he didn’t even have a name until he was rescued and a warm hearted social worker gave him a name.  When he was discovered, he was put into foster care but that didn’t work.  He was small and skinny with no social skills and was bullied mercilessly until he was finally put into a group home where he bonded tightly with four other teenage boys who had also been mistreated.  In fact, they are who have formed the band.

Jordan is left with all kinds of issues.  Fear of abandonment is one of them and because of this, the other four band members and Jordan all live in the same house.  One of them, Dred Zander (who happens to have his own book in a previous series and one I was absolutely delighted to discover I already own) is planning on moving out and Jordan is freaking.  Although he knows it’s irrational, he needs to know where they all are all the time.  One of his coping mechanisms is walking.  He’s walking one evening with his very young honorary niece when he walks past a dance studio and he sees a young woman dancing.  He’s mesmerized by her beauty and her talent and for a brief time he forgets all his issues.  Because he’s also a composer, when he gets home he writes a song for her to dance to.

 
They meet and it’s like each other has found their other half.  Aleksandra Artemov is a ballet dancer with the National Ballet of Canada.  Her father was a ballet dancer who defected from Russia until he injured himself to the extent he couldn’t dance any longer.  So instead he devotes himself to Lexi’s career to the point of abusiveness.

There is such a connection between Jordan and Lexi but Jordan doesn’t think he’s worthy of her because of all his issues.  But other than letting her father walk all over her, she is very strong and nothing that Jordan does or says frightens her away.

So! Why do I love this book so much?  First reason is Jordan.  He is so damaged that you just want to hug him and hold him and not let him go.  Even though he’s this famous rock star it hasn’t gone to his head at all.  In fact he’s even uncomfortable spending money despite the millions he has.  He’s never had any kind of relationship with a woman before so he has no idea how it works.  Though he’s had sex with random women, considering he’s this big musician, he’s not a dog about it.  He is quite your atypical rock star.

 
Lexi is the next reason.  I just want to hug her too.  She is so there for Jordan.  Nothing he does or says fazes her.  The only thing she wants is for him to ‘talk’ to her when one of his trigger raises its ugly head as he has a tendency to just run off.  She has ‘daddy issues’ but they are completely understandable and she doesn’t escape her own struggles.  It’s so heartwarming when Jordan stands up for her.

The world of ballet.  I love ballet.  In fact I could so relate near the beginning of the book when she dances the Nutcracker near Christmas.  I DID THAT!  Not the dancing of course, but a number of years ago I went to see the National Ballet of Canada perform in Toronto and it was around Christmas.  While I don’t know all the dances mentioned I was familiar enough.  I’m a big fan of or rather I was of So You Think You Can Dance so I could really understand Alex’s desire to break out and dance some contemporary dances.  The fact that Jordan understood that about her was special.

The book is set in Toronto, Ontario and many of the places she mentions I know of since it’s just a hop, skip and a jump from where I live so it was cool that I knew the streets.

This review is longer than I normally do but I’m just so excited about this book and all the future books in this series I got carried away writing this review.  The book is selling for $1.99 on Amazon and I really can’t recommend it high enough

Grade: 5+ out of 5

 

Elliot Redeemed
 

I so enjoyed – in fact more than enjoyed if that’s possible – the first book in this series, Jordan Reclaimed, that I was very keen on reading this one.  The series is about a successful heavy metal band, Preload, whose home base is Toronto, ON Canada.  They all grew up in the system and became best of friends and even brothers in a group home.  Music was their escape.

Right from that alone I’m excited as I live close to Toronto and it’s obvious the author is familiar with the city too.  I recognize streets and areas and even stores so it makes the book seem even that more real.  Elliott Dawson is the hero of this book.  It opens not long after Jordan Reclaimed ends.  There are only two of the group living in their home now and Elliott is planning on buying them all out.  But in the meantime he and fellow bandmate Nikan are living together.  Nikan asks if Elliott would be willing to make a hospital visit with him to visit a young fan of the group.  While he has his issues with hospitals, Elliott is a real good guy and agrees.  While he’s there he notices another young patient, 14 year old Daniel, a burn victim.  Daniel has suffered pretty bad burns when he set his home on fire.  They say like recognizes like and Elliott can tell  right away that he an Daniel both suffer from the same issue, an unnatural love of fire.

Elliott has worked years to overcome attraction to fire and his need to set them.  Elliott became a pyromaniac when he was young in a way to deal with the trauma of his childhood and he could sense in Daniel the same thing and he wants to help him through it.  It also doesn’t hurt that Elliott is strongly attracted to Daniel’s mother Kendalee Walker. 

Kendalee is attracted to Elliott too.  I mean he’s very good looking and he is good to her son who is a big fan of Preload.  But there are SO many reasons she can’t get involved with him.  She’s older than him by a few years.  She was shattered when her husband left her for a younger woman and cleaned out their joint bank account.  She has her son and his ongoing issues to deal with.  She is homeless since Daniel burned down their home.  She spends all her time at either the hospital or her part time cashier’s job at No Frills – of note here, I was a part time cashier at a grocery store for 9 years and I often shop at No Frills myself.  Her ex meets Elliott and is turned off right away.  Elliott is a long haired rocker whom Daniel worships and refuses to have anything to do with his father.  So

So any kind of relationship is almost impossible.  But now that Elliott has taken an interest in Daniel, he runs into Kendalee more often and the more often he runs into her, the more he wants to help her and just plain wants her.  But the closer he gets to both her and Daniel, the more his own issues begin taking over as he identifies with Daniel.  As Daniel begins to confess to Elliott the abuse he has suffered, the harder it is for Elliott but he knows is leading to healing for Daniel so he’s undone in whatever he does.

This is another excellent book in this series.  While I preferred Jordan Reclaimed just a tad more, as I found Jordan extraordinary and special.  It doesn’t take away for this book at all.  Elliott is such a wonderful hero, so tortured, so loyal, so honorable, so everything that makes for great hero material.

Kendalee is also very well written.  She has had so much thrown at her in such a short amount of time and she deals with it so well and remains strong and such a good mother.  I love it when I adore both hero and heroine.

The secondary characters are also amazing.  Daniel so damaged and I love seeing the other members of the band.  It’s clear by the end who is going to be matched up in the next book and I can hardly wait for that one either. I’ve already pre-ordered it.   I highly recommend this book.  I think it could be a stand-alone but it is worth it to read the first book to if only to get insight into the tight bond these friends and brothers have.

 Grade: 5 out of 5