Title: Jesse's Girl (Hundred Oaks #6)
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Source: ARC from Publisher
Practice Makes Perfect.Everyone at Hundred Oaks High knows that career mentoring day is a joke. So when Maya Henry said she wanted to be a rock star, she never imagined she’d get to shadow *the* Jesse Scott, Nashville’s teen idol.But spending the day with Jesse is far from a dream come true. He’s as gorgeous as his music, but seeing all that he’s accomplished is just a reminder of everything Maya’s lost: her trust, her boyfriend, their band, and any chance to play the music she craves. Not to mention that Jesse’s pushy and opinionated. He made it on his own, and he thinks Maya’s playing back up to other people’s dreams. Does she have what it takes to follow her heart—and go solo?
It should be no secret by now that any time Miranda Kenneally’s name appears on a book, I will read it. In the last few years, she’s become one of my favourite authors and I eagerly await each one of her new releases. It was no different with Jesse’s Girl and, no surprise there, I loved reading it.
Maya Henry has always been into music. In fact, she wants to make a career out of it. So when career mentoring day comes around, Maya says she wants to be a rock star. Everyone at school knows, the day is a bit of a joke and Maya never in a million years expected they would pair her up with an actual rock star. Well, country music star. It would all have the makings of a fantastic day if Maya were actually a Jesse Scott fan. But the more time she spends with Jesse, the more Maya realizes that the Jesse the world knows is not the same Jesse she’s getting to know. And the more she’s around him, the more Maya realizes that maybe she doesn’t need other people’s help to make her own dreams happen, that she’s capable of doing it all on her own.
In my books, Miranda Kenneally can do no wrong. Everyone of her books I read, I love and I will keep reading her stories as long as she keeps writing them. It’s as simple as that. So, yeah, I was totally excited about reading Jesse’s Girl. Though I was a little worried because Breathe, Annie, Breathe, Miranda Kenneally’s previous release, it pretty much my favourite out of all of her books and I was scared that whatever book would follow it just wouldn’t be as good. But I was worried for nothing. Miranda Kenneally just knows how to write a story that is both fun but also goes a little deeper than you might expect. And Jesse’s Girl was all of those things and it should go without saying that it absolutely did not disappoint me. I got sucked into the story right away. The music aspect of the story totally did it for me with this book. It was just so fun and I loved all the references to the 80s music Maya would make throughout the story. And like with any good Miranda Kenneally book, my favourite part was of course the romance. Jesse and Maya didn’t particularly like each other when the story started but it grew to be something more (obviously), and that’s one of my favourite tropes to read about it romance. So yes, the romance was exactly what I wanted when I read Jesse’s Girl.
I loved Maya Henry. And yes that last name should look familiar if you’ve read Miranda Kenneally’s other books, because she is Sam Henry’s little sister (more on that momentarily). Maya was interesting to read about. When you meet her one on one, she comes across as this super confident, comfortable in her own skin girl who knows exactly what she wants to do in life. But then you put her in front of a group of people and that all seems to melt away. It’s like she didn’t trust herself and her abilities anymore when she was in front of a crowd. So I loved seeing her growth over the course of the story, see her gain confidence and become more sure of herself when performing by herself. And that’s where Jesse comes in. Jesse was able to help Maya see herself in the way he saw her. And with Maya, Jesse was able to realize that he could still have fun while playing music, something he’d sort of forgotten about as his career got bigger and bigger. And they were just adorable together and they put a smile on my face. But as much as I loved Maya and Jesse, one of my favourite parts of Jesse’s Girl was how much I got to see Jordan and Sam. Every time they would make an appearance in the story, I would just get this goofy smile on my face, and five books later I still love them as much as I did when I first read Catching Jordan.
If you’re thinking that I loved Miranda Kenneally’s Jesse’s Girl, you totally guessed right. I got sucked into this story and didn’t want it to end. I loved getting to know new characters while also getting to reconnect with some familiar ones. Jesse’s Girl was the romance I was looking for and it absolutely delivered.
About Miranda Kenneally
Growing up in Tennessee, Miranda Kenneally dreamed of becoming an Atlanta Brave, a country singer (cliché!), or a UN interpreter. Instead, she writes and works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., where George W. Bush once used her shoulder as an armrest. Miranda loves Twitter, Star Trek and her husband.
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Great review, Emilie! I love how all the characters are either related or friends with the old characters in the other books. I can't wait to read this one and met Maya! I also love the whole music aspect! :)
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