Review: Made in Nashville by Mandy Baggot

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I am a huge fan of the show Nashville, and this book sounded like it would be similar to that. Unfortunately what started out really good and had a lot of potential just wasn't able to deliver, and I thought that this one ended up quite a few issues. As much as I wanted to love Made in Nashville by Mandy Baggot, I just wasn't able to.

After a horrible attack, Honor Blackwood left the country music scene despite being a successful singer. She still lives in Nashville, but does her best to avoid anyone finding out what happened to her. She spends her time working in store selling guitars and roaming around her local Target store. But when her record label wants her to put out a new album she starts to think about putting herself back out there. But Honor still struggles with her fears and it isn't until she meets country's rebel singer Jed Marshall that she starts to believe she can record again. With Jared "Jed" Marshall's support and encouragement Honor begins to sing in public again, and they start to make music together. Jared wants Honor to join his tour, but he also wants her to be his girl. Before long they are making more than music together, and start dating. But the past isn't ever truly forgotten, and both Jared and Honor have secrets. When the secrets are exposed will they be able to make it through together?

I liked Jared and Honor in the beginning of the story. Jared was supportive and encouraging. He was determined and didn't give up on Honor despite her pushing him away as well as those around him telling him to leave her alone. But as the story went on, Jared was all over the place. His emotions and moods seemed to constantly change and I could never quite tell what he was going to do from one paragraph to the next. Honor had been through a lot, but she was hard for me to ever connect with. She gave up easily and seemed weak. She also really made me mad at the end of the book with her actions. She turned judgmental and made assumptions really easily and it didn't make sense to me at all. It honestly really affected the way I viewed her and it was hard for me to get over that. I felt like Jared and Honor were good for each other and made a good couple though. They had chemistry and seemed to balance each other out. But their relationship felt really rushed to me, and I found it hard to ever really believe that they had gone from never knowing one another to love as quickly as they did.

I also had some problems with the transitions in this story. They weren't smooth at all, and there was often little to no notice when it would change POVs. I felt like often times it would randomly switch from Honor to Jared from one paragraph to the next, and it was usually in the middle of a scene. It was confusing and disorienting, and I would have to try and figure out where we were dropped in at. I would constantly have to go back to see if I had missed something. I also felt as though the dialogue in this story was just odd at times. There were many phrases and things that just felt strange and out of place. I felt like things they were saying were just not things that people their age would say or do. While I love some drama and understand the need for it to keep things interesting, this one had a ton of it and it just felt like too much. I think that this was a promising story that just wasn't well executed. I had been hoping for more, and for me this one just didn't work.

**Review Copy Provided by Xpresso Book Tours**

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