Grip by Kennedy Ryan

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Title: Grip
Author: Kennedy Ryan
Series: Grip #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: March 2, 2017
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 382
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Reading Assignment Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Big Summer Birthday Bash 2018
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

***This is not a cliffhanger.***

Resisting an irresistible force wears you down and turns you out. I know. I've been doing it for years.

I may not have a musical gift of my own, but I've got a nose for talent and an eye for the extraordinary. And Marlon James - Grip to his fans - is nothing short of extraordinary.

Years ago, we strung together a few magical nights, but I keep those memories in a locked drawer and I've thrown away the key. All that's left is friendship and work.

He's on the verge of unimaginable fame, all his dreams poised to come true. I manage his career, but I can't seem to manage my heart.

It's wild, reckless, disobedient. And it remembers all the things I want to forget.

Make sure you grab FLOW, the FREE prequel first! FLOW is chronicling the week of magical days and nights that will haunt Grip & Bristol for years to come. GRIP is the full-length conclusion of their story.

My Review:

4.5 stars — This is another review that I left for like a month with only a few notes, so it’s going to be disjointed and lacking.  Heck, at this point I don’t even remember if I’d wanted to round up or down!  :S  I think it was down, but honestly I need to get better at being on top of things.

I was so excited to start this one after reading Flow.  Bristol and Grip were both really intriguing characters, and the chemistry between them was amazing!  I was curious how their relationship was going to play out, especially considering this book was starting out quite a few years later than I had been anticipating.  For some reason I thought perhaps the story would start up again when Bris moved back to California, but it was even a few years after that.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.  I feel like I missed something in the interim…although a lot of that was my curiosity about Bristol’s twin Rhyson, and what happened with him.  I loved seeing that he got his HEA, but I kept wondering if he had a book, and if he did I really want to read it!

OK, so back to our main players.  I actually got really frustrated with Bristol quite frankly…  I definitely understood her reservations to a point, but it almost went on too long.  And poor Grip, he just wore his heart on his sleeve and didn’t get basically anything in return.  She done him wrong!  She punished him for her parents mistakes.  Again, I understand to a point, but…

Bristol was also really hard to love because she was so brittle, but I did end up loving her anyways.  And more than that, I was worried for her.  And not just wrt the creepy guy (whose name I have totally forgotten, whoops)…and dude, was he ever freaking creepy.  I know he was supposed to be, but wow.  But in a broader sense I was worried for Bristol.  I was worried she wasn’t going to figure things out and learn to love herself and be loved, you know?

As for Grip…can I just start off by saying he was hot AF?  Like SERIOUSLY.  Wow.  And I’m not just talking in a physical sense.  It’s just everything that makes him up.  How he holds himself, how he interacts in the world.  And most importantly, his inner self.  I LOVED Grip’s raps and his words.  They were SO effecting.  I also loved that he just wouldn’t give up on Bris.  Not that he didn’t have his dumb moments, and not that there wasn’t a point where he got fed up, but that doesn’t diminish the rest.  Though I will admit I got worried at one point, b/c I felt like Grip was almost victim blaming Bristol about her getting taken advantage of.  WAS NOT IMPRESSED with that.  It was just slight, but I’m sensitive to it.

But then when they FINALLY get together??  HOOOOOOWEEEEE!!!!  Dude.  That’s all I’m going to say about that.  Just, mmmmm….

One of the things I LOVED about Flow were the great conversations about race, and that continued to be one of my highlights in this book as well.  I really felt like I understand exactly what it would be like to be pulled over for driving while black.  Seeing it through Grip’s eyes made it so real for me.  I also enjoyed the conversations with Grip’s Mom, and the way the author showed the struggle of black women.  I thought that was explored tastefully and realistically.  However, I was a bit annoyed with Jade, even knowing what got her there…but I appreciated that she didn’t have some miraculous turnaround…just seemed to be trying.

Also, shoutout to Greg at the end for making me cry in public…good going Greg.  😛

I’m intrigued by what’s going to happen in the next book.  I apparently totally misread the top of the blurb and thought it said this book WAS going to be a cliffhanger, not that it wasn’t.  So I’m curious where Bristol and Grip’s story will go.  I need to get back and finish it!