Blog Tour: Behind the Bars, Brittainy C. Cherry
Behind the Bars, the first beautiful and emotional standalone in the all-new Music Street Series from Brittainy C. Cherry is available NOW!
When I first met Jasmine Greene, she came in as raindrops.
I was the awkward musician, and she was the high school queen.
The only things we had in common were our music and our loneliness.
Something in her eyes told me her smile wasn’t always the truth.
Something in her voice gave me a hope I always wished to find.
And in a flash, she was gone.
Years later, she was standing in front of me on a street in New Orleans.
She was different, but so was I. Life made us colder. Harder. Isolated.
Caged.
Even though we were different, the broken pieces of me recognized the sadness in her.
Now she was back, and I wouldn’t make the mistake of letting her go again.
When I first met Jasmine Greene, she came in as raindrops.
When we met again, she was the darkest storm.
I took her hand into mine. “I like you a lot, Jazz…more than music.” She nervously laughed. “Don’t lie.” “I’m not.” “But you really like music.” “Yeah, and I really like you.”
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He took one off his keychain and handed it to me. “This is a spare key to my family’s house. You should keep it.” “Why?” “So you know you always have a home to come back to.”
A couple of years later, Jasmine is back in New Orleans and the first thing she thinks about is Elliot. She looks for him, and when she finds him Elliot isn't the same boy she used to know. He's hidden behind a wall of muscle and loneliness as way to fight off his demons. Jasmine wants the old Eli back, and so does everyone else who loves him. But Eli doesn't want to let anyone in.
I don't know if I've said too much or too little but you won't want to miss this book. Pick this up, because this is one of the most beautiful stories I've read this year and it is a must read.
Review
I'm not even quite sure what to say here. I'm afraid I won't be able to write words that will live up to how great this book was. Because seriously, this book was everything. EVERYTHING.
I took her hand into mine. “I like you a lot, Jazz…more than music.” She nervously laughed. “Don’t lie.” “I’m not.” “But you really like music.” “Yeah, and I really like you.”
I remember starting it and only reading the first chapter, and just knowing right away that this book was going to absolutely break my heart. And it really did, right from the very first chapter my heart was already hurting so much for these two characters. And with each chapter I read, it just kept on breaking a couple more pieces.
Let me give a little run down of the story, without actually spoiling anything. There's a boy and there's a girl who have extremely messed up lives for different and equally fucked up reasons. They meet when said girl, Jasmine, starts going to the same school as the boy, Elliot. They don't start talking right away, but circumstances bring them together, and they develop a deep and beautiful friendship. But these circumstances that brought them together keep getting worse and worse, until they manage to bring them apart, for years.
“You’re my favorite person, Jazz,” Elliott told me in such a low voice, I wondered if I’d heard him right. I loved that he called me Jazz, because it was his favorite kind of music to play. Yes, Ray was a great musician, but no one could play a saxophone like Elliott could. “You’re my favorite person, too. I’m going to miss your music.” “I’m going to miss your voice.”
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He took one off his keychain and handed it to me. “This is a spare key to my family’s house. You should keep it.” “Why?” “So you know you always have a home to come back to.”
A couple of years later, Jasmine is back in New Orleans and the first thing she thinks about is Elliot. She looks for him, and when she finds him Elliot isn't the same boy she used to know. He's hidden behind a wall of muscle and loneliness as way to fight off his demons. Jasmine wants the old Eli back, and so does everyone else who loves him. But Eli doesn't want to let anyone in.
Once again, circumstances are what brings them together, being there for a mutual friend somehow helps them rebuild their friendship. Slowly, bit by bit, Eli starts allowing himself to get back some of the things he used to love before everything happened.
Jasmine Greene was my something good.
“It’s hard to be around you sometimes,” he whispered. “Why’s that?” His eyebrows knit together and he lowered his voice. “Because you make my heart beat.” “And what’s wrong with a beating heart?” He slightly shrugged his shoulders. “The more they beat, the easier they break, but that’s the thing about you, Jasmine—I’ve been dead for six years now, and then you show up and remind me how good it feels to be alive, what it feels like to breathe again. Don’t you see why it’s so important that you exist? Don’t you see why the world needs you? Why the best decision your mother ever made was having you? You’re the music in a mute world, and my heart beats because you’re here.”
I don't know if I've said too much or too little but you won't want to miss this book. Pick this up, because this is one of the most beautiful stories I've read this year and it is a must read.
There aren't many authors that write angst quite like Brittainy does. She's a queen in that department, and I don't know I feel like this one hit me really hard. I thought the Elements series had hit me hard, but this book woah, just no words. I think I went through about every emotion possible. I was a mess of feelings and tears. Boy, were there tears.
If the rest of the series is gonna be like this book or better, I'm not sure my heart will survive.
I loved this story, these characters, the music. I live for these kind of books, and gosh this one just really made me feel. so. much. ´
It's pretty rare and the most amazing experience, when someone can break your heart into tiny thousands of pieces and somehow put them all back together, even the bits that turned to dust, with just their words. It's astonishing.
“No. This won’t be the last time. The next time we see each other the first thing I’m going to do is kiss you for everything we missed. The next time I kiss you, it’s going to mean forever.” “Promise?” “Promise.”
Rate: 10/5 jazz notes
Excerpt:
By the way, what happened to Todd’s nose?” I asked.“I broke it,” Elliott said matter-of-factly.
“What? How? Why?”
He shrugged before turning to look out the window. “He called you a bad name.”
“What was it?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Eli,” I started.
He turned my way and locked his hazel eyes with my browns. “Jazz…” He shook his head. “It wasn’t true.”
I swallowed hard, a big part of me certain Todd’s words held some form of truth.
Elliott saw it in me—my fear. He kept shaking his head and whispered, “I don’t feel sorry for you. Sometimes you look at me like you think I feel sorry for you, and I want you to know I don’t. I think you’re perfect the way you are.”
I quietly laughed at him repeating the words I’d told him earlier. A few tears rolled down my cheeks. “I’m a little messed up.”
“I know.” He nodded. “That’s why I like you.”
He went back to staring out the window, and I kept staring at him.
And there it was.
So small, so tiny, so real.
Love.
It wasn’t love, but it was the beginning of it.
I knew I was young, and I knew it was stupid, but in that moment, I began to fall in love with the quiet boy who quietly cared for me. The boy who was scared and still strong. The boy who stood up for me when he was surrounded by reasons not to do such a thing. I hadn’t known much about love. I hadn’t known how it looked, felt, or tasted. I hadn’t known how it moved, how it flowed, but I knew my heart was tight and currently skipping a few beats. I understood the goose bumps covering my arms. I knew this stuttering boy who was sometimes so scared was someone worth loving. He was worth being the first one I gave my heart to.
I knew Elliott Adams was love.
And I was falling into him so fast.
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