Missing Dixie
Neon Dreams, #3
by Caisey Quinn
Published:
Oct, 27, 2015
Publisher:
William Morrow PB
Source:
eARC received from publisher in exchange of a honest review
Synopsis:
Fighting for redemption…
I've lived most of my life in darkness, beneath the shadows of secrets and addictions. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt the only girl I'd ever loved-the one who brought me into the light. In my entire life I'd made one promise-a promise I'd intended to keep. I've broken that promise and now I have to live with the fallout. Dixie Lark hates me, and I have to tell her that I love her. I also have to tell her a truth that might destroy us forever.
Can she love me even if she can't forgive me?
Learning to move on…
Gavin Garrison broke his promise to my brother and he broke my heart in the process. I may never love anyone the way I've loved him, but at least I won't spend my life wondering what if. We had our one night and he walked away. I'm finally beginning to move on when my brother's wedding and a battle of the bands brings us back together.
Our band is getting a second chance, but I don't know if I can give him one. How do you hand your heart back to the person who set it on fire once already?
Neon Dreams, #3
by Caisey Quinn
Published:
Oct, 27, 2015
Publisher:
William Morrow PB
Source:
eARC received from publisher in exchange of a honest review
Synopsis:
Fighting for redemption…
I've lived most of my life in darkness, beneath the shadows of secrets and addictions. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt the only girl I'd ever loved-the one who brought me into the light. In my entire life I'd made one promise-a promise I'd intended to keep. I've broken that promise and now I have to live with the fallout. Dixie Lark hates me, and I have to tell her that I love her. I also have to tell her a truth that might destroy us forever.
Can she love me even if she can't forgive me?
Learning to move on…
Gavin Garrison broke his promise to my brother and he broke my heart in the process. I may never love anyone the way I've loved him, but at least I won't spend my life wondering what if. We had our one night and he walked away. I'm finally beginning to move on when my brother's wedding and a battle of the bands brings us back together.
Our band is getting a second chance, but I don't know if I can give him one. How do you hand your heart back to the person who set it on fire once already?
Book Excerpt:
When Dixie finishes, she takes her place across the altar and I can’t tear my stare from her. Her sapphire eyes shine like diamonds with the promise of tears.
I wish I could give you this.
Right as I’m about to look away, her gaze collides with mine. My heart swells in my chest. I have so much to say and no words to say it.
I’m sorry.
I’m trying.
I love you.
She doesn’t even flinch at the turmoil I know is probably apparent on my face. She just gives me a confident smile and a knowing look as if to say, One day.
One day that will be us. A future.
A forever.
I fucking hope so.
I just have no clue how we’ll ever manage to get there.
My Thoughts:
The Neon Dreams series has given me back to back good reads! I love stories about musicians with an edge, and Dixie, Gavin, and Dallas have been fun to read about and get to know. The three of them grew up together since they were children. Dixie and Dallas lost their parents at a tender age, and were raised by loving and giving grandparents. Gavin had a horrible childhood, because he was raised by a heroin addict. Dallas and especially Dixie were the only light in his shadow-filled world.
In Leaving Amarillo, we got the first part of Dixie and Gavin's story. Missing Dixie is the continuation of their journey. Dixie loves Gavin with all of her heart, and she wants to be with him. Gavin doesn't tell Dixie that he left the tour with Dallas. She runs in to him after she's returned home from her three-month road trip, and she is hurt and angry with him for not telling her that he's been back in their hometown. Gavin has a lot of dark secrets. He is determined to become a better man for Dixie. He wants to give her everything that she deserves. However, his lack of communication, and keeping her in the dark, has Dixie assuming that Gavin doesn't love her the way that she loves him. Will these two be able to get their happily ever after?
Missing Dixie was more of an emotional read than I could have ever predicted. Dixie is like a beacon of light for all that know her. She has such a pure heart, and I wanted the best for her. She decides to give music lessons to underprivileged children. When she meets a stoic seven year old by the name of Liam, he reminds her of Gavin at a young age. Liam has been abused, is malnourished, and understandably reserved and untrusting. My heart broke for this sweet little boy, and made me think of all of the "Liam's" that don't have someone to rescue them, and make their lives better.
Gavin bonded with Liam and could relate to him. He became a mentor, and as the story went on, I learned a lot more about his past, and why he was surrounded in shadows. Gavin had a lot to work through, and I was so glad that he had Dallas and Dixie in his corner. The love between Gavin and Dixie was put through the wringer. However, anyone could see that these two were destined to be together.
Music played a big part in this story as well. It brought Liam into Dixie and Gavin's life, and we had Dallas working hard to put Leaving Amarillo back together. The passion for music ran through Dixie, Gavin, and Dallas' viens. I loved reading Dixie's song lyrics, watching her pass her passion for music to Liam, and breaking out of her shell to shine! What a wonderful series. Music lovers, as well as romance lovers, will enjoy the Neon Dreams series!
My Rating:
Book Teasers:
Book Playlist:
About the Author:
Caisey Quinn lives in Nashville, Tennessee and is the bestselling author of the Kylie Ryans series and several other New Adult Romance titles. Her Neon Dreams series about a country rock crossover band paying their dues in life and in love on their rocky road to fame is now available from Avon/William Morrow.
Caisey Quinn lives in Nashville, Tennessee and is the bestselling author of the Kylie Ryans series and several other New Adult Romance titles. Her Neon Dreams series about a country rock crossover band paying their dues in life and in love on their rocky road to fame is now available from Avon/William Morrow.
A Note From Caisey Quinn:
When I look back on the year it took to write this series, it feels like a blur. A beautiful, bright, neon lit blur. I have to confess that I didn’t know exactly how the Neon Dreams series would end when I began writing it. I knew the band would finally make it big. I knew that they would never want to share their backstory but that it would be a story worth telling. What I didn’t know was how real their hearts and souls would become to me. While Liam may not be Dixie and Gavin’s biological son, I did learn this year that family truly does come in the form of people who love and support you in both the best and worst of times and that it’s not always comprised of people who are related by blood or marriage. Liam was born from that discovery.
When Dallas went on the road and Dixie stayed behind, some people were outright angry. I was. At both of them. I was confused about why this felt right. I didn’t know Liam existed yet. I didn’t know he was going to be wandering by an old house in the backside of Amarillo alone and afraid. I didn’t realize that Dixie had to be there giving piano lessons to other kiddos so that Liam would hear and be drawn to her.
Everyone was exactly where they needed to be—even when I hadn’t yet realized it.
So my first big thank you is for you, for those of you who read this series and allowed me to figure it out as I went. For each of you who leaves a review somewhere—anywhere—and tells a friend to read it, thank you times two. Times ten. Times infinity, as my daughter says.
My second thank you is to my editor, Amanda, who didn’t tell me to take a hike when Liam entered the picture and it meant a rewrite of the second half of the book and that I wouldn’t make my initial deadline. I love you. I thank God for you, for your always having my back and for allowing me to write the story I believed in, the way that I needed to write it.
Thank you to my agent, Kevan, for also not dropping the crazy lady who said “So . . . my life is a mess and I need this book to go a different way and I am going to hunker down into the bat cave until I get it right.” Promise not to do that again . . . at least not on purpose.
To the members of CQ’s Road Crew and the Backwoods Belles, you ladies have been my family this year. You have been my light in the darkness, pulling me out of one of the toughest and most devastating situations I’ve ever been in. I literally don’t know if I could do my job without your unconditional love and support. Scratch that. I couldn’t. I know I couldn’t. Same goes for the bloggers who share, review, post, and rant and rave about all the book things. I love y’all. To the moon and back and around again.
To the amazing authors I am blessed to call colleagues and friends, thank you. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, to even get to know you much less read your work and have my books read and loved on by you, but I’m glad I did it—whatever it was!
Lastly, to anyone who supports music and musicians in general, thank you for existing. Music matters. The epilogue from Liam is very much nonfiction in my world, and I have someone I love dearly that I believe was saved by music. You know that feeling you get when you hear that song—that one that causes you to step off the treadmill or pull the car over or freeze in place and hold your breath and strain to hear because it reaches that deep, dark, hidden place where your secrets dwell—it’s a real, tangible thing, that feeling. It connects us—especially when we are positive no one else in the entire world could possibly understand what we’re going through. And let’s face it, life is better with a soundtrack.
Thank you to every single person who had a hand in helping this series about a small-town ragtag band become more than I ever dreamed it could be.
Thank you for making my dreams come true.
