I have to admit that I couldn't wait to read this book after reading the blurb and seeing the cover! I am such a sucker for second chance romance stories and there is nothing better than a sexy rockstar! But I have to also say that Stoned by Mandi Beck left me with mixed feelings, and while there was a lot to like here there were also some things that didn't work for me.
Stone is the lead singer of Wrecked, one of the world's hottest rock bands. He has loved Willow for as long as he can remember but he also loves the feeling he gets from pills and drugs. Constantly chasing that high, he does things that the real Stone would never do, but Willow leaves him knowing that she can't continue to stick around to watch him spiral even further. Having thrown his relationship away, Stone continues to sink even further until he gets so bad that he winds up in the hospital and must go to rehab. Once clean, Stone is determined to win Willow back and show her that he is the man she fell in love with. But when Stone finds out that she has moved on and things have changed, he knows that he will have to fight for a chance at the future that they always planned together.
Part of my problem here was the characters. While I liked them and wanted them to work everything out, I had a tough time relating to them. I didn't feel connected to them, and I didn't always feel like we got to see their connection. We started this story right when things went wrong for them, and we didn't get a ton of their past, so it almost felt like we were coming into a story already in progress. I wish that we had been given a bit more of them from before, because I think it would have helped to really solidify their connection for me. I did feel like Stone and Willow had a connection and chemistry, and it was clear that they had a ton of history. But without seeing some of that, their relationship was hard to feel fully invested in.
I also had a bit of trouble with some of the things that happened here as well. I understood that they were each going through a ton and that Stone was trying to get and stay clean. But a lot of this book was filled with angst and drama, and Stone constantly going on and on about how he had thrown her away but that she was his. It just got to be a bit repetitive and really started to drag the story down. I got to the point that I wanted to skim because a lot of it felt like a rehash of the same thoughts and dialogue we had already been through. Most of this book was these two being apart, and I just never really felt like we were given enough to be fully sold on their relationship. The ending was abrupt and felt rushed, despite the fact that it had been a long time coming. I wanted more, and I felt like that was kind of the theme the entire way through this one for me. While it wasn't a bad book and I definitely had to keep going to see how things would play out, this also wasn't one that I loved either. I think that if you are a fan of angsty romance stories and love rockstar books, that this one is worth the shot. This could just be a case of this story not working for me, as all the ratings I have seen for this book seem to be much higher than my own. So if it sounds like one you would like, I would recommend checking it out.
**ARC Provided by TRSOR Promotions**
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