Funzee's Cozy Couch: REVIEW ~ Slave To The Rhythm by Jane Harvey-Berrick

Title : Playing in the Rain

Author : Jane Harvey-Berrick
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Rate : 4 heart-warming stars
First post on Goodreads.

Read in July, 2014

- See more at: http://funzeeplayground.blogspot.co.id/2016/02/playing-in-rain-by-jane-harvey-berrick.html#sthash.7EQS3u0W.dpuf

Title : Playing in the Rain

Author : Jane Harvey-Berrick
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Rate : 4 heart-warming stars
First post on Goodreads.

Read in July, 2014

- See more at: http://funzeeplayground.blogspot.co.id/2016/02/playing-in-rain-by-jane-harvey-berrick.html#sthash.7EQS3u0W.dpuf

Title : Playing in the Rain

Author : Jane Harvey-Berrick
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Rate : 4 heart-warming stars
First post on Goodreads.

Read in July, 2014

- See more at: http://funzeeplayground.blogspot.co.id/2016/02/playing-in-rain-by-jane-harvey-berrick.html#sthash.7EQS3u0W.dpuf

Title : Playing in the Rain

Author : Jane Harvey-Berrick
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Rate : 4 heart-warming stars
First post on Goodreads.

Read in July, 2014

- See more at: http://funzeeplayground.blogspot.co.id/2016/02/playing-in-rain-by-jane-harvey-berrick.html#sthash.7EQS3u0W.dpuf

I danced and the world stopped.
All the pain, all the bitterness, lost in the music.

Title : Slave To The Rhythm

Author : Jane Harvey-Berrick
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Rate : 5 ++ Stars
Also posted on Goodreads.

Read February 2016

Title : At Your Beck & Call

Author : Jane Harvey-Berrick
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Rate : 5 ++ Stars
First post on Goodreads.

Read from May 31 to June 11, 2014

- See more at: http://funzeeplayground.blogspot.co.id/2016/02/at-your-beck-call-by-jane-harvey-berrick.html#sthash.wW14XkRv.dpuf

Title : At Your Beck & Call

Author : Jane Harvey-Berrick
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Rate : 5 ++ Stars
First post on Goodreads.

Read from May 31 to June 11, 2014

- See more at: http://funzeeplayground.blogspot.co.id/2016/02/at-your-beck-call-by-jane-harvey-berrick.html#sthash.wW14XkRv.dpuf

Blurb :

DANCE. Guns.

MUSIC. Bullets.

RHYTHM. Pain.

Music in my head, dance in my body, the rhythm of my heart.

How far can you fall in just one month? How quickly can the human spirit be broken? Where does evil hide in plain sight?

Ash wants to dance. Needs it. To leave behind a life of expectation and duty, to set his soul free.

But life is never that simple. Every step is a journey on a new road.

For every action, there is a reaction.

Every choice has a consequence.

And when you meet the wrong person, all bets are off.

Laney tolerates her limitations, pushing quietly at boundaries. But when Ash crashes into her world through rage and violence, it sets off a chain reaction that neither of them expected.

- See more at: http://funzeeplayground.blogspot.co.id/#sthash.4uq1ZiuH.dpuf

DANCE. Guns.

MUSIC. Bullets.

RHYTHM. Pain.

Music in my head, dance in my body, the rhythm of my heart.

How far can you fall in just one month?

How quickly can the human spirit be broken?

Where does evil hide in plain sight?

Ash wants to dance. Needs it. To leave behind a life of expectation and duty, to set his soul free.

But life is never that simple. Every step is a journey on a new road.

For every action, there is a reaction.

Every choice has a consequence.

And when you meet the wrong person, all bets are off.

Laney tolerates her limitations, pushing quietly at boundaries. But when Ash crashes into her world through rage and violence, it sets off a chain reaction that neither of them expected.

♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪♫♪

**********WARNING**********

This book contains scenes that some readers may find distressing, and is not for anyone under the age of 18.

The criminals in this story are NOT men who love their mothers, put family first and are noble villains, but monsters who traffic in human misery.

******************************

My name is Aljaž Novak and I'm a dancer...

I was 23 and I’d lived three lifetimes...

The time before...
Las Vegas...
And then my life beginning again with her.

Each one had sculpted me, and each one had changed me.

I leave Slovenia, my homeland, to pursue my dream as a dancer on a big show in Vegas.
But then things happens...

All my world went dark.
They took away my dream in a brutal way...

Dance was my passion, but it came from inside me. If my passion was gone, what was left?

Dancing was everything to me and I’d lost count of the times I’d danced through the pain. That’s what I had to do right now— dance through the pain. Survive.

My life hadn’t been all sunshine before , but I hadn’t been afraid of it. Everyone dies. Everyone. But today, I’d thought it was my turn. That was messing with my head. I barely knew who I was anymore. All I wanted was to feel something other than numbing fear.

But then...
I meet her....

Her smile lit the dark corners inside me.

She’d seen me. Really seen me— at my worst, at my weakest —and she’d helped me.
Saved me...

She was my sunshine — Moj sonček.

With her I’m born again...

So from now on, I would dance for her...

I want to be inside this book, so I can feel what it would be like to dance like that, to be swept away, to float, to glide, to move through the music, to dance...
The dance I would never have...
~ Me

I remember that day, when - out of the blue - I told Jane about a scene that been playing in my head for months.

It's about a guy with tattoos and a woman in a wheelchair. The women was sitting alone in a cafe, and the guy had been watching her from a far with curiosity. There's something about the woman that caught his attention in a strange way. Her smile...
Her smile was like morning sunshine to his dark world.

I want them to have a story to tell, so I told Jane about them.

Jane first reaction was "This is SO WEIRD!"

Then...to my surprise, she sent me the very first rough draft about a new story she'd been writing on.

I read the draft with huge curiosity.
And then...I started to cry...

The scene was about Laney when she met Ash for the first time, at the nightclub in Vegas!

My first reaction was "What the...?", well of course complete with 'jaw dropping' scene.

What a weird-amazing-coincidence!

When I first told Jane about "the visions", I never thought that at the same moment Jane had start her new story about this "Ash-guy" and the girl with a smile like sunshine.

So, when we both found out about this coincidence, it amazed us in most strange way.

Even until I finished read the story, we both still can't believe with how many "coincidence" we found in the story.

Jane then make me promise not to tell anyone about this 'strange-amazing-coicidence' and keep it until 'the time'. And since that day it become 'our little secret'.

Once a while I'll ask Jane about Ash.

"How is Ash ? Is he telling a lot's story to you ?", a very simply questions.

And Jane answered was like, "He's been having a bit of a rough time of it lately."

We both spoke as if he's not just a fictional character from a book, but as a real person.
Because for us, he's real, moving, breathing and living.

I started to love Ash even before I know about his whole story.

Waiting for months for Jane to build the story and put a soul to it.
So when it finally done. Can you imagine what I feel?

Excited and nervous at the same time!

Actually, I'm totally nervous and bit afraid too, because I took this story way too personal since the beginning, I'm afraid it not fulfill my over growing expectations and ended by have to tell the truth that (maybe) 'I don't like it'. But then I'm relieved that what I'm afraid of did not happen because...

Yes! Jane did it again.

I drowned instantly right from the very first page and can't put it down.

I usually put myself to one MC side to immerse myself into the story, to be in the story, but not this time.
Jane had made me hard to choose which side I must put myself, and I ended drowning in both Laney & Ash head, switching from each POV to another POV.

Both Ash and Laney gave me different sensation each time I'm in their head.

With Ash, I could dance through his pain, feels the emotion he put in every move.

Since child, one of my dreams is become a dancer. Sometimes, I did some choreography to the song I listened in my head just to fulfill my desire to dance.
The dance that I could never have...

Ballroom dance and jazz contemporary were some dance I love. So, I can picturing Ash dancing to James Bay or Hosier's song very well. His move, his facial expressions. I even cried when Ash recreating the emotional dance from the first time they met while performing "SLAVE"...

It as if I was there...
Watching the performance...
Live...

I can feel the emotions vibrates through the theater hall and crawling under my skin, give goosebumps sensations all over me...
It's so beautiful....

Painfully beautiful!

And like what Laney's said, "With Ash, I could dance" ~ literally.

And Laney...

There's so many times Laney amazed me in amazing way. There's a time I even questioning myself, "Is this Laney's mind who speaking....or is it me?"

Because at some moment she speak what's in my mind very clear, as if she's here....in my head.
With Laney, I could only be "just me" ~ (again) literally.

I feel a lot déjà vu while I'm reading this book. And each time it hit me, I can only say "Whoaaaaa!!!"

Well, I won't give any spoiler about the story because you need to read it to feel what I feel, the up & down, the emotional part, the angst and the love.

Let yourself have a dance with both Ash and Laney and their emotional journey to find happiness & love through the rhythm of their music, feels the love in a simplicity.

Let me love you, like a gust of wind that makes you dance in my arms.

~ funzee

Another a must read book from Jane Harvey-Berrick, a story with sense of realness that will steal your heart.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

About The Author

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to write. Perhaps it was growing up in a village well known for its mystery and folklore, which sparked my imagination as a child.

I enjoy writing in several different genres, and I've just published my first romcom, 'Dazzled'.

All my books have a little me in them, and I'm inspired by the personal stories of those around me. It's often from a simple discussion overheard in the train ('Exposure'), in a café, or in the street, where ideas for characters or scenes come to me.

I fell in love with both Sam ('The New Samurai') and the eponymous Sebastian in 'The Education of Sebastian' and the sequel 'The Education of Caroline', and missed them desperately once I'd finished their stories. I love writing dialogue and always try to include touches of humour in the most poignant stories.

Whether you like adult romance novels, new or young adult writing, thrillers, or fantasy, I hope you'll enjoy the journey through my stories.

- See more at: http://funzeeplayground.blogspot.co.id/#sthash.vS01bHIO.dpuf

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to write. Perhaps it was growing up in a village well known for its mystery and folklore, which sparked my imagination as a child.

I enjoy writing in several different genres, and I've just published my first romcom, 'Dazzled'.

Whether you like adult romance novels, new or young adult writing, thrillers, or fantasy, I hope you'll enjoy the journey through my stories.

Author Links