

Title: Grace Note
Author: J. Bengtsson
Page count: 431
Published: June 28th, 2023
Publisher: N/A
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Received: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Rating: 5/5

I’m the privileged youngest child of the famous McKallister family. He’s a runaway foster kid living rough. We were never meant to meet. This is where our story begins. It’s nowhere near how it ends.
Grace
The beat. The cheers. The thrill of the unknown. I shouldn’t leave the safety of the music arena—my last name is McKallister, after all, and I’m intimately familiar with worst-case scenarios. But I’m drawn by the talent and the turmoil behind the weary eyes of the drummer on the streets. I’ve never seen anyone my age as wild and unrestrained, a lightning bolt of electricity that never hits the same spot on his bucket drums twice. He plays with such confidence, such rage. I have to know who he is and where he learned to bang out drum solos like he owns the night.
I want to help him. No, to save him. If only Rory will let me.
Rory
When I play, I’m in my element. I know how to draw a crowd and how to keep them riveted. For a small period of time every day, I’m special. Talented. Going somewhere. Little do they know I’m going back to nothing: no family, no friends, no roof over my head. When the music ends, I fade into the background like the undesirable I am. And then she shows up, so pretty and polished and pure. I don’t expect her to stay and talk. I definitely don’t expect her to sit down on the sidewalk and drum a song onto my thigh. Yet here she is—anyone’s ultimate dream girl—promising to save me.
Too bad Grace stumbled upon me a decade too late.

I came into this series right at the end, I have only read the previous one and this one so they can be read as a standalone. Grace is the baby in the family, Grace has been sheltered from the world but she is still aware of the dangers. Rory, oh my heart just ached for him and all the things that he had gone through and not letting it get to him he’s got dreams that he’s going to accomplish and make them happen. There were moments when I was reading with tears in my eyes this book was jammed with emotions and feelings. There are sensitive topics of child abuse and a few others, so be sure to check them before reading.


Leave a comment