Rifts and Refrains by Devney Perry

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Title: Rifts and Refrains
Author: Devney Perry
Series: Hush Note #2
Published by: Indie
Release Date: September 29, 2020
Format: Kobo Book
Pages: 288
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

From the moment Quinn Montgomery sat behind her first snare and cymbal set, she was destined for fame and glory. As Hush Note’s infamous female drummer, she sets the rhythm for the band’s chart-toppings hits. When people tap their feet to their music, it’s to her pulse.

Quinn is content to live in a world away from her family and the cage of her youth. Her only regret is leaving Graham Hayes behind without a goodbye. No matter how many sold-out stadiums she plays, no matter how many crowds sing her songs, his voice haunts her when the music stops.

When a family tragedy forces her to return home to Montana, she plans to leave the second she’s paid her respects. But seeing Graham again turns her life upside down. As a boy, he wasn’t able to make her stay. As a man, he might be her future.

If they can mend their rifts and find solace in the refrains.

My Review:

4 stars — I’m not sure what I expected from Quinn’s story, but apparently this wasn’t it.  And I don’t mean that in a bad way…or a good way.  Just an unexpected way.  There were certain aspects of this story that just dragged me in and wouldn’t let me go…but there were other parts that felt a bit slow moving to me.

I love the concept of Quinn being this badass drummer…and in some respects she totally is — mostly the musical way.  I loved seeing how talented she was, but she wasn’t arrogant or cocky about it.  Just self-assured.  I could respect that.  The story of her past was both crazy and not crazy.  I didn’t expect all the familial angst, but I actually really enjoyed how that played out in the end.  I thought what Quinn learned over that first week at home really helped her to grow.  It was satisfying to see a situation where people had made mistakes and behaved badly, and while it took WAY too long to come back to one another, when they did they managed to breakthrough.  I think that was one of my favourite aspects of the story, the little ways in which Nan played a hand in putting things to rights.

But I guess I found Quinn to be…tamer than I expected.  She has this bitch persona she can put on, and maybe I got the wrong impression from Jonas’s story…she just didn’t really end up being anything like that.  I guess she was more reserved and had a wall up.

Graham was a pretty great hero.  There were some things I loved about him, but at other times I felt like he was a bit bland.  I don’t even know why, so it could just be me.  I did love how great a father he was to his son, and how he worked hard to do his best by him.

I think I got frustrated with the two of them as a couple.  The story sort of fell into the trap of not seeing the obvious middle ground, and after awhile that just annoys me.  It’s not that they didn’t have chemistry, but they were going through a lot of angst without even trying IMO.

Loved that we got to see more of Nixon in this one — and I appreciated the friendship that you could so clearly see between the band members, even if we didn’t get much of them together.

I also really loved Colin.  He was a pretty kickass kid.

I think in the end the strength of this story for me was Quinn’s journey with her family and her past…that made the most emotional impact.