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Book Review: Rifts & Refrains (Hush Note #2) by Devney Perry

Oct 16, 2020

Rifts and Refrains (Hush Note #2) by Devney Perry

Pages: 288
Publish date: September 29th 2020
Publisher: Devney Perry LLC
ISBN: B0861K73KD
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

From the moment Quinn Montgomery sat behind her first snare and cymbal set, she was destined for fame and glory. As Hush Note’s infamous female drummer, she sets the rhythm for the band’s chart-topping hits. When people tap their feet to their music, it’s to her pulse.

Quinn is content to live in a world away from her family and the cage of her youth. Her only regret is leaving Graham Hayes behind without a goodbye. No matter how many sold-out stadiums she plays, no matter how many crowds sing her songs, his voice haunts her when the music stops.

When a family tragedy forces her to return home to Montana, she plans to leave the second she’s paid her respects. But seeing Graham again turns her life upside down. As a boy, he wasn’t able to make her stay. As a man, he might be her future.

If they can mend their rifts and find solace in the refrains.

Rifts and Refrains:

I’m doing my review a little backwards for this series, but you can check out my reviews on Lies & Lullabies by Sarina Bowen and Muses & Melodies by Rebecca Yarros. I love reading both of them and Rifts and Refrains by Deveny Perry was no different. This is the second Deveny Perry book I’ve read and let me tell you, I loved this one a lot.

Rifts and Refrains follow Hush Note drummer Quinn as she returns home for a family tragedy. But her return home isn’t easy. It was never going to be. It’s been a long time since she returned home to Montana. Quinn was pretty content with her life and the choices that she made, her only regret was leaving Graham behind. And now that she is back old feelings come to the surface, and will she able to leave this time and survive.

Photo by Matthijs Smit on Unsplash

Quinn was an interesting character in the first book. I didn’t hate her or even like her. And the reader gets to see many different sides of her in Rifts and Refrains and I adored that. Quinn is a little rough around the edges and as the novel goes on we get to see why. We get to see the fallout of her leaving home. It was hard to watch Quinn with her family. She tried anything and everything for their approvable and she just didn’t get it for a long time.

Graham was such an interesting character. It took a little while for me to warm up to him but as soon as he and Quinn started to reconnect it was great. He resented Quinn for a lot of things, but when he sees that it wasn’t perfect and how her relationship with her family is pretty much non-existent, he understood a little more. I adored Graham’s relationship with his son Colin. Gosh, my heart. It was beautiful.

The romance had it’s many ups and downs in Rifts and Refrains. It took a long time for Quinn and Graham to connect once again. They both had their demons and they both hurt one another. And that played on each of their minds. But slowly as both Quinn and Graham grieve, they reconnect with one another. It was sweet, sexy and such a fantastic second chance romance. I do wish we got some flashbacks like the other books in the series. It would have been great seeing Quinn and Graham first falling in love as well

Photo by Timo Stern on Unsplash

There are some pretty emotional moments in Rifts and Refrains. Quinn doesn’t return home for a holiday. She is there to lay her grandmother to rest. Her grandmother was the one person that stood by her when she left. She is only the person that was proud of her no matter what. It was hard seeing Quinn having to deal with this, on her own for most of it. But it was also fantastic seeing the other members of Hush Note pop up. It was sweet actually. The reader can see that together they have made their own family.

As I said before Quinns family was hard to connect with. Graham truly got to see the heartache and hurt her family caused following her Grandmothers funeral. I don’t think he even got it to them. It was hard reading how hurt Quinn was by her family, but she still tried to put on a brave face. Quinn’s family was very hard to like. Each of them had their faults in the way that they treated her. But as the novel went on, the reader gets to know them a little bit more.

Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash

Overall, Rifts and Refrains by Deveny Perry was everything that I wanted. It was hard to read at times, but it was also beautiful. It’s a fantastic second chance romance that hit all the spots. Quinn and Graham were adorable and sexy and fit together so well. I also adored the bond that Quinn and Colin built and it just made everything better. This is a great second book in the series and I plan to read more Deveny Perry books for sure.

Have you read Rifts and Refrains by Deveny Perry? What did you think of it? Have you read the rest of the books in this series? Let’s Chat!

Don’t forget to check out my reviews on the rest of the series as well starting with Lies & Lullabies by Sarina Bowen and finishing off with Muses & Melodies by Rebecca Yarros.

Author Interivew: Kelly Siskind | Romance Thursdays

Oct 15, 2020

Welcome to this week’s Romance Thursdays interview with Kelly Siskind. If you missed last weeks interview with Helen Hardt, please do check it out. It was fantastic talking with Helen about writing different types of romacne and more

Romance Thursdays is a feature that spotlights romance authors to highlight how amazing the romance writing community is. Each week I’m will be interviewing a different romance author from across subgenres as well as both traditionally and self-published. I want to share their experience writing romance and why they love it so much. While also focusing on their writing and books

Kelly Siskind is the author of the Showmen series, the Over the Top series, the One Wild Wish series and more. She was kind enough to do this interview with me today, so let’s get into it.

Hi Kelly and welcome to Angel Reads. For those that haven’t read anything by you yet. Tell us a little about yourself and your books?

Fun facts about me: I live in a small town in Ontario and was a competitive downhill ski racer growing up. I also worked as a cook for a number of years and was a high school art teacher. These days my husband and I own a fine cheese and gourmet food store, and I write fun, sexy romantic comedy novels.

Why did you start writing romance novels? Is there anything in particular that drew you to it over other genres?

My first ever draft was actually a YA dystopian novel. It wasn’t until an indie bookstore owner suggested a romance for one of my vacations that I got hooked on the genre. The stories make women feel empowered and sexy, and I feel fortunate to give that gift to others.

You mostly stick to writing contemporary romances. What drew you to this sub-genre of romance?

I love it when romance characters feel real and relatable. For me, this happens most readily in a contemporary real-world setting, hence my draw to write in that lane.

What are some of your favourite tropes that you like reading and writing in the romance genre?

I particularly love second-chance romances and enemies-to-lovers. Both those tropes are filled with sexual tension, either through shared history or frustrating, unrequited passion.

Your latest series ‘Showmen’ explores different types of characters, their lives and some unconventional jobs. How did you arrive at this series and these characters?

I love writing character-driven stories, and I love adding quirkiness to my novels. It’s challenging to push myself and explore odd occupations, build characters with fun backgrounds. It keeps writing interesting for me, and I think my readers love that they don’t know exactly what to expect from one of my books to the next.

Who are some of your favourite romance authors? Who inspired you to write?

There are way too many authors I adore to narrow them down, and I hate leaving out amazing writers when I have to list them. What inspired me to start writing was my love of reading and the idea of creating a world from scratch: being in control of the characters, getting swept away with their actions and choices. Writing is still my greatest escape.

What are some of the ways that you think we can start overcoming the stigma of romance novels?

The more people are honest about the books they love, not calling reading romance a “guilty pleasure” or not admitting they read romance, the more other people will follow their lead. We should own the things we love and the things we don’t.

Do you currently have any books in the works? Is there anything that you are looking forward to writing, but haven’t started yet? Is there something different that you want to try writing?

I’m working on the next book in my Showmen series, The Knockout Rule. Because of the characters I’ve created, I’ve dipped my toes into writing poetry in some sections of this book, which has been a wonderful challenge. I’m also starting a new series and have dabbled in writing screenplays recently. So much to write, never enough time!

Thank you so much for coming by Angel Reads. It was lovely having you here. And I can’t wait to read more of your books!

And that is it for this weeks interview. I had a lovely time getting to know Kelly Siskind and look forward to reading her books.

If there is an author that you would like to see featured here, please do let me know and I will try my best. If you are a romance author and would like to be apart of Romance Thursdays, don’t hesitate to message me.

Have you read a book from Kelly Siskind before? Are you excited for more Romance Thursday posts? Let’s Chat!

About The Author

A small-town girl at heart, Kelly moved from the city to enjoy the charm of northern Ontario. When she’s not out hiking with her husband or home devouring books, you can find her, notepad in hand, scribbling down one of the many plot bunnies bouncing around in her head. Her novels have been published internationally.

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The Bookshelf Book Tag

Oct 14, 2020

I’ve been having so much fun doing tags lately I thought I would do another one. This time it’s The Bookshelf Book Tag. This was created by awanderingmind in youtube, and you can check out the original video here.

I’ve recently just changed my bookshelf situation and I thought it would be the perfect time to do this post. Let me preface this post by saying that I’ve been creating my book collection for the last 14 years at least, and with that, I’ve been a bookseller for the last 3 and half of those years. While blogging for nearly the last 10. I have collected a lot of books over the years, either through presents, blogging or buying them myself.

How many bookshelves do you have?

Bookcases come in all shapes and sized and I have a few different ones. But I have 4 of the large Billy Ikea bookcases, and then 3 of the thinner cases. They aren’t all in the same room. I have 2 in my bedroom and then the rest is in a family room just outside my room.

How many books are on your bookshelves? Or how many books you think you have?

As I bought new shelves recently I did an unhaul and rearranged all my books. And I finally catalogued what I have. I’ve been using Libib to do that as it’s fairly easy to use and is great when you have a lot of books. According to that the app I currently have 718 books. Give or take a few.

How do you organize your books?

Okay, this is going to take a while so hang on. Firstly in my bedroom, I have most of my unread books. These I have a rainbow, simply because it looks really pretty. And I wanted something a little different.

The books outside my room are another story. For the most part, they are separated by genre. I have my nonfiction together, graphic novels, classics, romance and then my young adult and fiction. My YA is my biggest collection. 80% of my shelves are YA, and as I don’t have many adult fiction or fantasy, I just put them with my YA. I also have most of my #LoveOzYA together.

My fiction is alphabetised, by authors last name. I just love how it works. With the other genres, they are organised by size. I just find it looks nicer. In regards to my romance, I have then in sub-genre for most of it. For example, all my historical is together, all my suspenseful, contemporary etc.

What is the oldest book on your bookshelf?

I honestly have no idea. Probably Harry Potter. I pretty much got that even before I had my own books.

What is the newest book on your bookshelf?

I just bought a few books through work and one of those was Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters #1) by Talia Hibbert. I’m so excited to pick this one up. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this series and I’m ready for it.

What is the longest book on your bookshelf?

This one is strange because it’s three massive books in one. It’s The Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke. I have the version that combines all three books and its’ 1152 pages. So it’s a big one.

What is the shortest book on your bookshelf?

I have a few small books on my shelves, but some that I can pick from the top of my head are The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood and Weight by Jeanette Winterson.

What is the predominant genre on your bookshelf?

I said this before but it is YA, more specifically YA fantasy/paranormal. It’s what I’ve read the longest so most of the books that I own are from there, In saying that I also have a lot of romance now, which I have been reading more and more of over the last few years.

Have you done a bookshelf tour?

I did one many years ago on here, and it took a very long time, but it was also such a fun thing to do. Maybe next year I can do it again. It translates a lot differently on a blog than doing it via a video. But it’s still a fun thing to do.

Go on a random number generator and talk about the book that corresponds with that number.

This one was hard because I have so many books so I broke it down to finding a shelf and then picking a book from there. The book that I picked up was Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr. This is a LoveOZYA that I’m so excited to read.

Do you have fan merch or any other decorations on your bookshelf?

Not really, there is pretty much no room for anything like that I need it what room is one the shelves for my books. There are a few old candles on the shelves in my room, but that’s because I have a few shelves empty at the moment. And that won’t stay empty for too long.

Show us your bookshelf!

I showed you my rainbow shelves before, and the ones that are outside my room currently have many boxes and things to be throw away, so sorry no photo.

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And that’s the bookshelf book tag done! I’m tagging Ely from Earl Grey Books to do this tag. I had a great time doing this tag.

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