Review: Smitten by Lauren Rowe

Alessandria – shy and quirkier musician. Sister to Georgina. Student at the Berklee College of Music

Matthew “Fish” Fishberger- bass player and back up vocals for popular band 22 Goats. 

A chance meeting at a party and 2 souls find their missing piece…

This was something amazing and enchanting with the story of Fish and Ally.  Both Ally and Fish have found or will find success without the other.  But both seem to have this emptiness where they need something. It just happens that vastness can be filled by just being with the other.  I love a story that really allows us to get to know the characters and who they are together and part.  The way that we witness their night of talking during the party and the countless video chats when life is keeping them apart you are falling in love right along with me.

Fish should be on everyone’s book boyfriend shelf! It was more than Fish being this amazingly truly nice guy.  He is just that lanky kind of dorky guy that we all are rooting for.  A guy like fish is so used to being the supporting character in his friends’ lives he isn’t sure how to be the star of his own.  But the attraction to Ally and loving her helps him figure out how to be the star. That he has so much to give the world and needs to stop hiding behind others.   I love that!  We can all relate to being a supporting character in our own lives but sometimes it is nice to shine. 

Ally is such a sweet girl.  She is young but she does seem to understand who she is and where her talents lie.  It was also great that she recognized that she lived in the shadows of her own life but is ok with it and realizes she will have her moment. She was a very thoughtful character.  Sometimes in Rockstar romances you don’t always get a girl who isn’t all about the fame, either in a good or a bad way, but with Ally her attraction to Fish was because of who is as a person not what he does for a living. 

For a Rockstar trope this was not a typical storyline, no big blow ups, no missed connections, no misunderstandings with fan girls which made it a unique and refreshing read.  I also enjoyed that we got to know the characters through their dialogue (I am a dialogue junky). It gives you the opportunity to feel right along with them and to fall just as much in love.   While this is a bit of slow burn once they get their chance, they bring all the steam.  Their story has passion and sweetness. 

I fell in love with Rowe and her characters when I read the Reed River Trilogy, it was nice to have some small glimpses into those characters. 

I am a huge fan of Lauren Rowe.  I love her writing.  Her characters are some of my favorites. No two of her characters are the same. They each have something special that makes them unique.  If Rowe writes it I am reading it.  This is a New Adult Genre done perfectly. These two characters rise above their age and show wisdom and maturity in their approach and choices to situations.

Smitten is a 5/5 star read for me.  I loved every emotional and swoon worthy moment.  I can’t wait to see what is next!