{"id":71912,"date":"2015-12-28T21:05:34","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T02:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=71912"},"modified":"2023-09-20T21:43:33","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T01:43:33","slug":"review-louder-than-love-love-steel-1-by-jessica-topper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=71912","title":{"rendered":"Review: Louder Than Love (Love & Steel, #1) by Jessica Topper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy: Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

Absolutely beautiful!<\/b><\/p>\n

4.5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book has been on my tbr forever, and I\u2019m so glad I finally got around to reading it. The story of a grieving widow and a washed-up rock star had me gripped from start to finish, and I was completely lost in their absolutely beautiful love story.<\/p>\n

Three years ago, Katrina lost her husband in a tragic accident. With her life and her dreams shattered, and with an infant to care for, she returned to the safety of her home town and to her circle of girlfriends who gave her the support she so badly needed. I loved Kat. She\u2019s been through a lot, but she is strong and she has persevered through it all, coping the best she can in her life as a single mother to an adorably precocious 4 year old. She\u2019s created a good life for her and her daughter, her intelligence and sense of humour shines, even in the bad times, and her down-to-earth nature is both realistic and relatable.<\/p>\n

I guess I’m not a very spiritual person. I don’t think things always ‘happen for a reason,’ everything must be ‘God’s way,’ or \u2026 ‘He only gives you what you can handle’. I simply believe, and I’m sorry to sound crude about it, that shit happens. Period.
\nSometimes you are the pigeon.
\nSometimes you are the statue.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a volunteer at the town library, Kat organises a children\u2019s concert with the singer who performs the theme song to her daughter\u2019s favourite TV show, and that is how she meets Adrian Graves. What she doesn\u2019t know is that Adrian used to be known as \u2018Digger Graves\u2019, the lead guitarist for a hugely successful 80s heavy metal band. Adrian\u2019s past is pure \u2018sex, drugs and rock & roll\u2019 and it ended up destroying his life and leaving him isolated from his friends and family. Since recovering from his downfall he has lived a reclusive life, but Kat\u2019s offer intrigued him and has brought him out of hiding for the first time in a long time.<\/p>\n

Kat finds Adrian a bit rough around the edges (especially as he shows up half drunk), but his show is a huge success and when he asks her out to dinner afterwards, she is charmed enough by the sexy Brit to accept, and with easy conversation and gentle flirting, something starts to develop.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we hurry, you can make the 6:35.\u201d \u2026
\n\u201cI\u2019d rather kiss you and take the 6:55.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Things progress very quickly from there, and I was honestly surprised at how fast it started moving, but I definitely appreciated that neither of them wanted to mess around with what was happening between them. They like each other, they act on it, and from the very beginning they share a beautiful and emotional connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since\u2026\u201d
\n\u201cI know. It\u2019s been another lifetime,\u201d he agreed. \u201cDon\u2019t try to retrace steps. We\u2019ll find new ones.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love that despite all they have both been through, they are willing to embrace everything that is happening between them, and for the most part it\u2019s all so functional! Even when Adrian\u2019s secret is revealed it provides a bit of angst, but it\u2019s good angst, and only serves to bring them closer together. And I don\u2019t know whether it is because Adrian is an older character or because he is an artist and therefore poetic, but even though he is somewhat lost he seems incredibly in touch with his feelings, and the way he expresses himself to Kat is absolutely beautiful!<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to hell and back and found myself \u2026 I sprouted wings and I carried myself far away and started a new life \u2026 But until you and Abbey came along, I wasn\u2019t really living it. I know that now.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the romance is sensationally swoony! It\u2019s well-paced and realistic and I love that we get so see each little moment \u2013 the significant and even the not-so-significant – as they spend time together and get to know each other. I loved every minute of it! Yes, there\u2019s some steamy time, but the focus is definitely on the emotional aspects of their love story, and it\u2019s gorgeous!<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never been loved \u2026 like I have been loved by you\u2026 And I have never loved like I love you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But their demons continue to plague them. Kat isn\u2019t over the death of her husband, and Adrian\u2019s past mistakes continue to haunt him. And though they love each other fiercely, sometimes it takes more than love to make a relationship work. It\u2019s an intensely emotional and sometimes heartbreaking ride as Kat and Adrian fight to move on and claim their well-deserved HEA.<\/p>\n

This is such a special book. Kat and Adrian are wonderfully complex characters, I loved them both so much and I could empathise with everything they were feeling. I thought that Kat\u2019s daughter Abbey was a fantastic, and realistic, addition to the story, I loved the relationship that she had with both of them, and anything that involved Adrian and Abbey together had me grinning like an idiot. The story is beautifully told, and the romance between Kat and Adrian is totally captivating. Their love story isn\u2019t always easy, but is absolutely worth it, and the ending of this book left me with a huge smile on my face and hugging my kindle in dreamy bliss.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got all this\u2026this love \u2013 no, it\u2019s louder than love. It\u2019s passion and beauty built up inside you that deserves to burst out.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I really loved Topper\u2019s writing, and I\u2019m so impressed that this is her debut novel. The incredible detail that she puts into her story draws you into Katrina\u2019s life, her relationships with her daughter and her friends, and with everything that happens with Adrian, and sucks you right into the story, knowing exactly how she is feeling, and you feel it right along with her. I happily lost myself in this book, and look forward to carrying on with the series.<\/p>\n

I loved it \u2013 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0 \"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Louder Than Love (#1)<\/strong> (Adrian & Kat)
\nBuy: Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Deeper Than Dreams (#2)<\/strong> (Adrian & Kat novella)
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Softer Than Steel (#3)<\/strong> (Rick & Sidra)
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

More Than Merry (#4)<\/strong> (Holiday novella)
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy: Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback Review Absolutely beautiful! 4.5 stars This book has been on my tbr forever, and I\u2019m so glad I finally got around to reading it. The story of a grieving widow and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,94,9,1036,29],"tags":[1506,1507,48],"class_list":["post-71912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-rockers","category-romance","category-single-parent","category-steamy","tag-jessica-topper","tag-love-steel","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Louder-Than-Love.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-iHS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/71913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}