!! NEW RELEASE !!
by Melissa Pearl
Author's Links: Amazon Page, Facebook, Twitter, Website, YouTube Channel.
Penned Series: "Time Spirit Trilogy", "The Elements Trilogy","The Fugitive Series", "The Masks Series", "The Space Between Heartbeats" and "Songbird Novels",
as well as "Mica & Lexy Series" (Co-Authored with Brenda Howson)
Book 10, in The Songbird Series
"RATHER BE"
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance. 338 pages.
Price: $2.99 ebook (at time of post)
- SYNOPSIS -
Love can last a lifetime…
Best buds in high school, Charlotte (Charlie) Watson and Nixon Holloway were inseparable…until the summer after graduation, when things in their relationship shifted and it all fell apart.
Four years later, their paths cross at a snowbound New York airport, and it doesn’t take long for them to realize that time and distance has done nothing to extinguish the flame between them. But life has moved on. Nixon has a girlfriend, and Charlie must face up to the lasting consequences of what she let happen that dreadful summer.
In a secret attempt to make amends, Charlie suggests a spontaneous road trip from New York to LA. As usual, Nixon can’t resist her persuasive charm, so they hit the road together. But as the duo make their way across the country, they are both forced to face some honest truths about themselves, their present lives, and all of the unfulfilled dreams they’ve let slip by.
Each of them can see the course their lives are taking…but is there someplace else they’d rather be?
And will they have the courage to fight for the person they would rather be with?
If you like a book that will make you laugh, shed a tear, and ultimately swoon…then pick up a copy of Rather Be and find out how Nixon and Charlie overcome the odds.
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My Rating: 
My Thoughts: There's No Place I'd Rather Be!
If you're a fan of the songbird series then this novel will complete you. To say this novel is the grand finale of this amazing series feels like an understatement for how wonderful ending this story turns out. The couple in this novel takes a journey from their friendly past to separated present giving us a glimpse of mistimed love and exploring what or who makes you truly happy.
Finding himself stranded in a New York airport due to snow, Nixon Holloway would have never bet he would have bumped into his old friend from high school, Charlotte (Charlie) Watson. The two of them were the best of friends always together earning them nickname "Chix". So when their relationship changed from friends to more Nixon thought their plans for life after were set, but then Charlie just up and disappeared on him. Crossing paths with Nixon 4years after that summer was something Charlie had only dreamed about. Nixon was only it for her but it's obvious she left him hurt. In effort to patch up old wounds and rekindle their relationship Charlie offers Nixon a chance to get home by doing a road trip. The physical trip itself isn't what Charlie and Nixon are worried about, it's the emotional journey into their past and exploring choices they made that may make or break Chix.
Finding himself stranded in a New York airport due to snow, Nixon Holloway would have never bet he would have bumped into his old friend from high school, Charlotte (Charlie) Watson. The two of them were the best of friends always together earning them nickname "Chix". So when their relationship changed from friends to more Nixon thought their plans for life after were set, but then Charlie just up and disappeared on him. Crossing paths with Nixon 4years after that summer was something Charlie had only dreamed about. Nixon was only it for her but it's obvious she left him hurt. In effort to patch up old wounds and rekindle their relationship Charlie offers Nixon a chance to get home by doing a road trip. The physical trip itself isn't what Charlie and Nixon are worried about, it's the emotional journey into their past and exploring choices they made that may make or break Chix.
Overall, such heartbreaking read and beautiful series ending. Charlie and Nixon were the perfect pair until pragmatic thinking, meddling and life separated them. I felt connected to both characters in seeing my wanderlust self in Charlie and then my responsible family first side in Nixon. It's truly hard to be both fancy free and grounded in life, so having the liberty to live in like they do in the end is a dream I'd love to live especially with my future husband (whom ever he may be). Now I think the other amazing aspect of this novel is how all the previous songbird characters were able to make cameo appearances. It was great to read about a pregnancy, wedding, a proposal and our past favorites getting on so happily ever after. I'm truly going to miss the songbird family, but super happy to have the novels to read again and again at my leisure.
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EXCERPT
EXCERPT
Chapter 7:
I blinked and checked out the landscape to my left. The sun was rising behind us, the golden light hitting the clouds and turning them all shades of yellow, orange and pink.
I checked the rearview mirror and distracted Charlie with it.
She looked over her shoulder and gasped, then yanked out her camera. I was given a short reprieve from having to admit that since she left, my passion for the written word had kind of died. I just couldn’t get into it. All those classes had done was remind me of everything I’d wanted to do with Charlie. In the end I quit them and started taking classes that had nothing to do with writing. Dad suggested a bunch of different things and I just kind of followed along until I found myself heading for law. It wasn’t so bad. I didn’t know what the hell else I wanted to do, and I liked that following in his footsteps made him so proud.
Once the clicking was done and Charlie had checked out what she’d taken, she tucked her camera away and asked again, “So, the writing. You still doing it?”
I shook my head, unable to fight a glum smile. “I just don’t have time. Classes keep me way busier than I thought they would.”
Her forehead crinkled with sadness, her lips dipping into a soft frown. “Bummer. You were so good. I used to love reading your stuff. Those articles you wrote for the school paper were genius. Hell, you were the school paper, dude.”
I grinned. “Yeah, I remember. You took the photos and I turned them into a story.”
“I know that probably made us super nerds, but I felt so incredibly cool and empowered.”
Leaning forward with a carefree laugh, I tapped the wheel with my hand and enjoyed a few memories. Our small class in Mr. Sheffield’s cluttered room. We’d sit at our computers for hours. I’d been appointed chief editor and I put Charlie in charge of photography. Mae, Aubrey and Walnut (shit, I can’t even remember his real name!) were reporters, Chen and Izzy were the proofreaders and the girl with the bright red curls was in charge of layout.
“Who was the layout girl again?”
“Oh, Strawberry Shortcake.” Charlie nodded. “She was a cool chick.”
“What was her real name?”
Charlie paused, her eyes narrowing before her forehead wrinkled. “Susanna?” The way her voice pitched told me she was plucking the name out of thin air.
I snickered and shook my head at how useless we were.
Putting together the monthly school paper had been one of my favorite things to do. Man, we’d had some sway at the school the week before publication. All the jocks wanted to make sure their names were in there, and the drama kids demanded we write ad nauseam about their plays. The principal was always concerned that we didn’t take the whole “free speech” thing too seriously. And our advisors just wanted to make sure we got the damned thing out by our deadline each month.
We always did. And it was freaking awesome.
“Hopefully I’ll get back to it one day,” I murmured.
I couldn’t imagine it. Between studying, Shayna and my parents, I didn’t really have time for myself. Besides, my heart hadn’t been in it. According to my parents, journalism wasn’t a secure path to take. They were going to let me give it a try, but I knew they wanted something more stable for me. I was prepared to push and fight for it, but when Charlie left like she did, all the zeal went right out of me, and it was easier to just go along with what they suggested.
Our plans had been so huge that summer. Charlie and I spent hours talking about what we’d do.
And then it all fell apart.
I glanced at my friend, fighting a mixture of anger and despair. I wanted to hate her for changing my life so suddenly, but then I couldn’t. Because she was Charlie. And hating her was impossible.
“So, how are the travel plans coming?”
Her smile was tight. “Still working on it. Saving. You know how it is.”
“You were going to travel the world.”
“And I still am,” she snapped, then softened her defensive tone with a grin. “I’ll get there. One day. I will. I still want to see every country on this planet if I can.”
She stared at the dash, her lips twitching into a frown.
“You know, I always thought you’d gone without me. When you first left after the summer, and then never came back, I couldn’t help but wonder if you’d just… flown away.” I flicked my fingers through the air, trying to sound like the idea didn’t kill me.
Charlie’s face crumpled with a look I couldn’t determine. For a second I thought she was about to cry, but then she drew in a slow breath and looked out her window. “I went to my aunt’s place in Montana.”
“Yeah, I know,” I mumbled.
“She taught me a bunch of awesome stuff, really set me on the right path, you know?”
“So you didn’t go to college at all, then?”
“I, um…” She looked down and started tracing the checkers on her pants. “I enrolled for the second semester, but I hated it, so I dropped out to pursue photography.”
“But still no travel.”
“A bit. I mean, I’ve gone up and down the West Coast and back to Montana again. Just working different jobs and…” She shrugged. “But I’ve been in LA for nearly a year. A friend of mine lost her roommate so I stepped up, and the feeble business I started three years ago really picked up once I stopped moving around. It’s a good way to make some money… so I can travel. Because I’ll get there, Nix. I’m definitely going.” She looked at me, her hazel eyes bright with determination… and something else. I didn’t know what it was, but there was something deeper going on in that gaze. Because I was driving, I couldn’t look at her long enough to figure it out.
Facing the road again, I concentrated on getting us back to LA safely.
Because that’s where my real life was.
A girl who’d never break my heart was waiting for me.
And I had to get back to her before the girl beside me unearthed all the buried dreams and hopes I’d been squashing in order to survive.
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