Title: Before He Was Famous
Author: Beck Wicks
Release Date: May 29, 2014
Author: Beck Wicks
Release Date: May 29, 2014
***Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and mature situations. Not intended for young adult readers.***
One guy, one girl. One in the spotlight. One in the shadows.
Falling in love with your best friend isn’t always a great idea, especially when he’s Noah Lockton - the sexiest, most famous new talent on the planet. When 21-year-old small-town photographer Chloe Campbell is offered the chance of a lifetime – to join her celebrity childhood friend Noah on tour as an exclusive blogger for a New York magazine – she’s certain both have put what happened four years ago behind them. But his eyes still burn; his voice is still a jackhammer to her heartstrings; all his songs are about her. Is it possible that that night still haunts them both?
The music industry is a machine, spinning hype and rumors as much as his records. It’s not just Noah’s girlfriends who’ve got it in for Chloe (there’s no stopping the Twitter-obsessed, cat-loving pop-star Courtney Lentini for starters). Pretty soon, the jealousy and media frenzy surrounding these so-called-friends takes a life-changing turn and it seems making love means making enemies at every turn. When tragedy threatens to pull the final curtain on their relationship, both Chloe and Noah must make a choice. As much as this world leaves them starstruck, is living their dream really worth living without each other?
A story of lifelong friendships, love and hope, set in a world of celebrity, fame and social media gone very, very wrong.
"I'm bound to my shadow
I'm stick and tied and stuck like glue
This Peter Pan is all grown up a but I'll never out grow you"
I am on such a rock and roll kick right now and I love
it! There is something about a rock and
roll love story that gets me and pulls me in.
It’s the elusiveness of a rock star and how they seem so out of reach
when we see the other side of things or how it shows they are just as human as
us or maybe it’s the fantasy of someday I can marry a rocker… or maybe a little of all three?? Before He was Famous by Becky Wicks stars at
the beginning, it’s the story of the young adults who fell in love, before he
was famous. The story is told in a dual POV and is a complete story.
Chloe and Noah have been best friends since they were little
kids. They lived next door to each other
and just clicked. They were always just
friends, never crossing that line… until tragedy strikes. When Chloe is 17 and Noah is 19, Chloe’s
father suddenly dies of a heart attack.
Chloe is devastated and Noah is there to console her. When happens next neither expected and is
pushed away and kept as a secret from everyone. They continue one as friends
and fight any connection they may share.
Chloe remains home in Colorado while Noah star is quickly rising in New
York.
Noah is chasing his dream of being a singer and wins a
national singing contest and recording contract with a major record label. At the same time Chloe’s life is unraveling
before her. She breaks up with her
boyfriend and decides to join Noah in New York and with her back ground in
photography gets a job with a magazine.
They discover the connections she has to the hottest upcoming star and
they make her in charge of a blog documenting his career. The record label loves the idea so she goes
on the road with him.
They quickly learn that with fame come people who think you
can trust and those who stick to you because of who you are. Sometimes what looks like a reality is the furthest
from the truth. But lines get blurred
and neither know who they can trust or believe.
Will they be able to admit to each other what they have always felt or
is the life of fame and fortune too much for love to survive. It’s a great story that had me turning the
pages and wanting more. There’s a great
supporting cast and I see a great series coming out of this book! 4 stars for me!
Becky Wicks writes a heartwarming story about the friendship between a girl & a boy that withstands the test of time and changes as they grow older. I would rate this book 4 stars and would recommend that others read the first book in this series, you will get hooked!
"And love is just friendship with wings, isn't that what they say"
Truer words could never be spoken about the relationship between Noah and Chloe. A friendship that was innocent with the usual childlike wonder, grew into a love that neither of them was able to face or admit to. Noah is the typical hometown hottie turned pop star after he wins a national contest and his soft spot for Chloe and their friendship is shown in the early pages of this fantastic tale. Both Chloe and Noah have deep feelings of love for each other, feelings that they once acted on but never discussed and now both bury beneath the best "friend-zone" of their relationship. Their relationship with others (boyrfriend and girlfriendS for Noah) are often cast aside so that they can talk or even hang out together. It is when faced with making decisions within themselves that they each struggle to admit that they love the other and the reader is left wondering if either will ever gather enough courage to do so before the book ends. Wicks also adds a bit of myster to the plot, by adding a Chloe-stalker (when I honestly expected a Noah-stalker instead) and I found myself turning each page wondering who was behind it all. It is only after a conversation that Chloe has with Ryder, the band that Noah is touring with, that she finds it harder and harder to fight her feelings,
"he was everything I had and could never lose; my sun my moon, my star, a rock, a chest in which I could store every single secret and trust implicitly with the key.'
I was glad that the book ended on a happy note (sans cliffhanger) and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series!
One of my favorite Lines:
"Noah Lockton came back like the ocean waves on the beach. And this time, I'm letting him carry me away"
'Noah!' she yells again. 'You have to spin for aunt Madeline, remember?'
It feels like so long since I saw Chloe laughing and something lifts from my shoulders almost instantly. Aunt Mads told us she and her boyfriend danced and span in the rain on the deck of a ship once, just because she'd seen it in a movie and always wanted to do it. Then, when it rained, she dragged us to her yard in The Bronx and we all span around till we were soaked and hysterical, doing stupid high kicks on the grass.
I can't take my eyes off her as she spins and spins and spins. And I feel it hit me. It smacks me hard; the thought that Chloe is the most beautiful creature I've ever seen, right here, right now, spinning like a figurine in a silver snow-globe.
She bounds up to me, giddy and still laughing. Raindrops are careening down her cheeks and her eyes are huge now. 'Come fly with me, Peter,' she breathes, reaching for the hand that isn't clasped around the umbrella. 'Or are you too grown up for that now?'
The wind picks up and clutches at her dress. I reach out instinctively to her face, run a thumb along her cheek, swiping at raindrops. 'You're drunk,' I whisper, but even as she frowns and rolls her eyes at me I have to smile because I see her; the kid who held my hand when my dog died, who gave names to the snails in her yard, who made me jump about her bedroom carpet like it was an ocean full of islands.
I see the seventeen-year-old who clung to me when her dad died. The secrets we left in the branches; the way our desperate lips searched frantically for some modicum of sense as we let our minds go out the window and fucked with more passion, more heart than I've ever experienced with anyone else in my life; even if she was drunk, even if we were grieving. It doesn't change what it meant to me.
Fuck. She's amazing. I love her. Why the hell did I let her go back to Cooper? Why the hell did I not just tell her sooner? Would it even have made a difference?
She's tugging on my arm and I realize I haven't spoken yet. 'Chloe...' I start. But the flash strikes us like lightning. I'd know it anywhere and it has nothing to do with the weather.
'Paparazzi,' we say in sync, and I grab her hand, pull her with me as we both break into a run.
Becky Wicks is a HarperCollins author going indie! Itchy feet has led her to live and work all over the world since leaving England at age 21, including NYC, Sydney, Bali, South America and Dubai. Right now she’s scribbling the second book in the HotFlush series in Vietnam, and will soon be in Vancouver if any hot Canadian men want to make her a cup of tea?
Becky has also written three funny travel books about her time in Dubai, Bali and South America (HarperCollins). Her first book, Burqalicious - The Dubai Diaries, her second book, Balilicious - The Bali Diaries and her third, Latinalicious -The South America Diaries are out now as ebooks.
Becky has also written a comedy romance with author Sarah Alderson under the name Lola Salt, called The Extraordinary Life of Lara Craft (not Croft) which should raise a giggle or two... think Bridget Jones if Jackie Collins had written it!
