What a fascinating book. I was impressed by the storyline and the characters were all well written and complex. Where there are complex storylines combined with intriguing characters the reader experience is magnified tremendously. To have a book that is well written as well as entertaining is a delight. Reading is about escaping your world and entering another one. The word building was phenomenal in this book. Here I forgot about my own life and was immersed in the world created by the author. I would recommend this book.

Pretty good read, enjoyed the fan and Hollywood starlet trope, definitely a page turner for me. Loved Heidi's writing

This was my first time reading from this author and it will not be my last! Heidi McLaughlin clearly shows her talent in this amazing book, Blow, taking us on the journey of a young celebrity dealing with the stress and pressure of life in the entertainment industry.

I absolutely loved watching Bodhi and Kimberly connect to one another. Albeit during the worst part of Bodhi's life, Kimberly was his touchstone to what life could be for him on the other side of his recovery. She exuded positivity and gave him the strength to want to be a better person. This was an emotional and at times raw read. I love angst and desperation and this book gives you that in the best of ways. I love a good strong heroine (though she has moments of weakness, naturally) that is there to uplift a man when he is vulnerable and needing strength. I love it when the woman has the power to be the savior in the story.

Their written chemistry is fabulous, moving, and hot. The physical and mental struggles that Bodhi experiences during rehab is believable and you really feel for him. Kim's insecurities and inner turmoil are very organic and it's easy to empathize with her. I would definitely be recommending this book and look forward to reading the next book in the Virtuous Paradox series, Bang!

reviewed by Sweet Spot Sisterhood

'I wasn’t hurting anyone but myself.' Words spoken by a true addict because it's far from the truth. This book is hard to read for anyone who knows what being around an addict is like. Bodhi doesn't think he was hurting anyone but himself when he was actually letting everyone down. He's the rockstar that was just using and could quit anytime. He lands himself in Kim's fathers rehab center. Their chemistry is instant and its wrong, or at least in Kim's eyes. She fights it tooth and nail because she is trying to be professional, especially while he is trying to recover. It's a rough road and not everyone wants him clean. Good book that takes you from low to high.

Not sure how i feel about this book. I couldn’t connect with the characters and i feel like Bodhi gave up one addiction and Kimberly became his new addiction.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this title. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to connect to the story. As I didn't completely finish this book, I will not be publishing a review. We do not feature uncompleted books on the blog. Although this title didn't work for me, I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

I really wanted to like this book but it just fell a little flat for me. Addiction is a very serious matter and I feel this book didn’t really do this subject justice. As for Kim, I was disappointed with her actions, she did basically sexually attack a newly recovering addict because she wanted him. However, when he first came into the facility she hated the rich spoiled brat addict and then in the next chapter she had some real feelings for him. There was a lot of sexual attraction between the two but I didn’t feel a real connection. Essentially, it was shown that Bodhi’s addiction just faded away and switched to addiction of Kim.

It just felt very unbelievable and the characters were not likable. I would like to see books on Bodhi’s band mates.

Have not had a chance to read the book yet. This will get updated as soon as I read the book. If this book is part of a series it will be included when all the books have been read.

I tried many times to finish this book, but it was impossible for me.
I finally gave up and called it a wash,

Hm... I work in the music industry and this was just such a glossy fantasy of anything that's really going on. Couldn't make it through the whole thing. Like a big fat chocolate cake with vanilla ice and lots of whipped cream - simply too much.

LOVED it! Hot, sexy, and completely addicting. I adore Heidi's books and this one did not disappoint!! This book was very well-written especially since the subject matter is a difficult topic. I was totally sucked into Bodhi and Kimberly's story. I highly recommend this book!!

This is my first book by the author and I was reall intrigued by the premise and was looking forward to an interesting story.

Unfortunately it didn't work out for me at all. The story was shallow and the characters acted like horny teenagers.
I never had the feeling that the chemistry was properly built up. The story is told from Bodhi and Kim's perpective, while we get to know that Bodhi is interested in Kim, we never get such feelings talk from Kim, until the two suddenly jump each other in the woods. The sex scenes really made me cringe and they were far away from being a turn on.
The characters got more and more on my nerves and I never had the feeling I was a dealing with a couple of adults. The music setting didn't work for me either: there was no band feeling with the other guys, and that Bodhi is hardly able to sing didn't make it better either.

The book is really a huge disappointment for me due to my high expectations. I might try another book by the author though.

I began liking the book but I couldn't get past the main female lead. I couldn't connect to her and stopped at 50%. I love the premise and Heidi McLaughlin but for some reason couldn't connect with this book's main character. The story plot is powerful and the writing is beautiful. I would recommend it to others though for it is a book with a message and I know that others would connect to the lead character. Her struggle is very real and written in a realistic and powerful way.

This is a tough one for me to review, since there are parts I really liked and an equal number of parts I didn't. I'm giving this book three stars because I figured that's the best way to express my like and dislike. I've heard great things about this author. She has a very dedicated fan base, and she's been on my list of authors to try for some time now. I know "Third Base" seemed to be well received at my library, as both a print and digital title, so clearly she is well liked. But I'm hoping this book is not a good representation of her other works. I put "Third Base" on hold, and my fingers are crossed for it to be better than this one - a solid "yay!" rather than a "hmmm.." if you will.

My biggest complaint is the insta-love. Though this is more an "insta-lust" situation. Yes, I definitely want the hero and heroine to lust after each other, but there's a difference between passionate lust, and.. whatever you would say is happening between Bodhi and Kimberly in the beginning. And maybe this is just me, but considering the whole overall plot of the book, I needed there to be way more drama/angst than what was actually present. The relationship just wasn't enough to really sell me.

I will be trying more by this author. I'm really hoping that just this particular book/plot/etc didn't work for me. There was plenty I liked about the author's style, so there's hope for the future!

Heidi McLaughlin has been a go to author since the Beaumont series. The storyline in this book was real and well-written. I just couldn't get over the insta love of two people in rehab, They were both there to heal themselves yet they find love for each other before they find love for themselves ... it kept me from loving this book by an author I love.

Bodhi, is an addict, and it is affecting his career, his music career. Now he has to go to rehab and get his act together, no distractions. A singular goal get better get back to being the famous rock star.
What he didn't expect was his counselor, Kimberly. When he meets her all bets are off and instead of getting better for himself. he wants to do it for her.
A sexy read about redemption, healing and love. Kimberly and Bodhi are sexy, passion brewing through out the whole book. A passion that is as addictive as the drugs he was trying to get clean of. Suspense of relapse of losing the one thing he loves, this book is a hard one to put down.

I loved this book I was hooked from the very first page and I couldn't put my kindle down while reading this. This was the first book that I have read by this author and I will be reading more from her in the future. I loved the chemistry between the two main characters and I also loved the two main characters as individuals.

I tried to like this book-the blurb was incredibly appealing. However, I was unable to connect to the characters in the story and was unable to finish the book.

Blow is the first book in the new Virtuous Paradox series by Heidi McLaughlin. I have really enjoyed past books from McLaughlin, but I have to admit that this book didn't quite hit the mark for me. I was a bit underwhelmed with this one, and hope that things get better as this series continues.

Bodhi is an addict, sent to rehab to get clean or be kicked out of his band, Virtuous Paradox. There he meets psychologist/counselor Kimberly Gordon. Though Bodhi finds it hard to trust, he also knows that he is drawn to Kimberly. As Bodhi tries to get clean, things begin to heat up between him and Kimberly. But what happens when Bodhi leaves rehab and returns to the world of rock and roll?

This was a definite case of insta-lust/love, and it didn't really work for me. While I did see the attraction, I never felt the connection. There wasn't a spark or any real passion to me, and it just didn't feel real. Bodhi was almost instantly better, and that didn't feel believable to me. Addiction is a process to overcome, and it felt like he never really dealt with that and it was just brushed aside as the focus of the story shifted to romance. I also felt like Kimberly acted in ways that didn't feel believable, and while this is fiction, it just didn't seem like how someone in her position would actually behave. I tried to let part of that go and just enjoy the story for what it was and the forbidden nature of their relationship, but without being able to really feel any connection or chemistry between them I just couldn't let some of that go.

Overall, I struggled with this book and really wanted to love it even though I couldn't. I did enjoy the fact that this was dual POV and we got to see both Bodhi and Kimberly's thoughts and feelings. I always love when a story gives readers both POVs because I think that it really helps to connect with the characters in a way that isn't possible otherwise. Unfortunately I never felt fully invested in this story and thought it was just okay when it could have been so much more. I am interested to see where this series goes, but I think that the next story will need to be a bit more realistic and give the reader more of a connection between the characters for this series to be one that readers love rather than just somewhat enjoy.

Who doesn´t love a good rock star book? This one is awesome!

Bodhi´s life is going down into a self destructive path. He needs help or he will loose everything.

As soon as he starts rehab he meets Kimberly. During his journey through recovery, he finds himself falling for her, something he didn´t expected. Something forbidden.

This book is about second chances in life, full of hope and love. I recomend it.