Review: Jolyn Palliata – Connected

Twists of Fate:
 
Book 1:
 
Connected: Addison Calomino and Rhys Alexander
 

 
Order on Amazon: Jolyn Palliata - Connected (Twists of Fate)
Summary:
From goodreads.com
A rock group’s rhythm guitarist, Rhys Alexander, dies and finds himself bound inside the body of a woman he’s never met. Can she help him move on to the other side, or will he end up finding the love of his life…after his has already ended?
 
Review:
I am so glad I didn’t read the summary before I read this book, otherwise I may not have read this title. I picked this book up on Amazon purely from a recommendation of a Goodreads friend.  She had seen that I liked the Sinners on Tour by Olivia Cunning and told me I would love this title too and she was right! I did!
 
From the beginning you are sucked into the story. We start out in a haze where Addison’s energy meets Rhys’s energy in the afterlife. Rhys not wanting to be left behind grabs onto Addison’s energy as she leaves the haze and she takes his essence or soul back with her into life, well her into life, and him as a voice or essence in her head. Addison wakes up from surgery finding out that she had died and has a voice in her head. Of course she thinks she is going crazy, it takes Rhys a little while to convince her otherwise but once she is on the same page as him they really get entertaining.
 
Rhys is a total smarta$$, his comments will have you cracking up. Addison in the past wouldn’t have kept up, but something about Rhys allows her to let go and give as good as she gets. Being in each other’s head leaves little room for shyness and secrets so they get past normal boundaries really quickly. After a little while they learn to block each other but they mostly remain open to each other. This forced intimacy causes feeling to develop between these two that they have no business developing. Rhys is certain he is dead, so he doesn’t have a life to give Addison, but that doesn’t seem to matter.
 
We quickly find out that Rhys is actually a famous guitarist and a popular band, which adds a fun rock and roll vibe to this tale. I love when Rhys sings to Addison to help her sleep. When Addison is researching Rhys’s death for him, they find that his brother Xavier is planning on ending the band. This gets Rhys’s really upset, he knows that the band is his brother’s life and it would kill him to not have his music any longer. Rhys realizes that his brother is his “unfinished business” and sets Addison on Xavier to convince him to keep the band together. We meet Xavier and his heartache for his departed brother is tangible.
 
Towards the end of the book, I was literally crying! Addison and Rhys had me so tied up that I was moved to tears. This doesn’t happen often but when it does it shows me how much I had come to care about the characters and story. I am so glad I gave this story a try and I cannot wait for the next in the series. I hope that it comes soon and we aren’t left hanging.
 
Rating: