Double Header Review: Star Crossed and Playing Dirty by Jennifer Echols

Title: Star Crossed (Stargazer #1)
Author: Jennifer Echols
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publish Date: February 26, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Wendy Mann loves her job rescuing celebrities from public relations scrapes. She grew up with nothing, and now she’s drawn to glitz, glamour, and a lighthearted lifestyle. She speaks her mind, so she’s just the tough cookie to tell stars the truth about how other people see them, even when they don’t want to hear it. But after six years at the top of her game, Wendy crosses the line. A star she was sent to save rebels against her and nearly gets her fired. To salvage her job, she must rehabilitate the career of a singing starlet with a penchant for posting inappropriate photos of herself and arguing online with her famous ex. Problem is, the ex is represented by Wendy’s arch nemesis from college, the hot and haughty Daniel Blackstone. And both stars are scheduled for a collision course on national television, broadcast live from Las Vegas.

Daniel’s uneasy when he hears Wendy Mann from his firm’s most hated competitor has been brought in to revive the career of his client’s ex-girlfriend. Daniel must win at any cost. And if he has to seduce Wendy to smooth the way to their partnership, he’s willing to sacrifice himself for the cause. But Daniel doesn’t count on the scorching heat between them—and when they get to Vegas, all bets are off."

My Two Cents:

"Star Crossed" is the story of hot shot PR guru, Wendy. After she messes up one job, she has to take on public relations for a starlet who just doesn't want to be tamed and Wendy is deeply afraid that this could be her very last job if she isn't successful. It's a fun romance by Jennifer Echols, an author that is already beloved by a ton of YA readers (I still need to read something by her!!!). This is a light read that I chomped through in no time at all!

I loved the romance between Wendy and Daniel. Wendy has known Daniel since college and has always sort of been intimidated by him. Now he just happens to be working for the ex-boyfriend of the starlet that Wendy is working for. They are rivals but they realize quickly that they can't keep things strictly professional.

This book is the first book in this very fun series. I know that I will be looking for in the future. I really liked the writing in this book. It's fun!

Title: Playing Dirty (Stargazer #2)
Author: Jennifer Echols
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publish Date: October 29, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "A public relations expert tries to prevent the breakup of a raucous country band and corral their wild—and very sexy—lead singer in book 2 of the Stargazer Series.

As an expert in public relations crisis management—that is, babysitter to the stars—Sarah Seville just spent nine months in Rio trying to keep rock singer Nine Lives out of jail long enough to record his new album…and barely succeeded. Now she needs a triumphant success so she can keep the Manhattan-based job she loves. Trouble is, her new assignment is to travel to Alabama to prevent the breakup of the raucous country band The Cheatin’ Hearts, headed by sexy Quentin Cox. As she edges closer to Quentin, she discovers layers of secrets. It seems Quentin is taking the spin doctor for a spin.

The Cheatin’ Hearts have stayed on top of the charts two years following three rules. Rule One, no drugs. Rule Two, no sex with other band members. Rule Three, no sex with record company spies. Quentin figures he’d better follow the rules, because he made them. And because if you break a rule, you’re out of the band. But he can’t resist the record company’s beautiful PR agent, and inevitably he breaks Rule Three with hot Sarah Seville. As he falls for her, he finds out that she has plenty of secrets of her own, and one of them comes knocking on her door: what really happened to her in Rio."

My Two Cents:

"Playing Dirty" is the second book in the Stargazer series. This book follows Sarah, another PR guru as she takes up trying to do PR for the out of control country group, the Cheatin' Hearts. You definitely don't need to read the first book in the series in order to understand this book just fine.

I liked the writing in this book as well. It definitely kept me reading! This book is light and fun and definitely a fast read. It would be a great pick for when you're looking for something that you can simply enjoy reading and don't have to think too hard about.

This book was still a really fun read even though I liked it a little bit less than the first book in the series, Star Crossed. This book had a lot going on and I found myself wishing that the focus had been scaled back a little bit. There was many different story lines. First, you have what's really going on with Quentin. He's he an out of control rock star or does he have other problems. You have all of the stuff that's going on between the band members. Then you have all of Sarah's issues, including the issues with Nine Lives. All of the story lines were good but I was just overwhelmed with the sheer number of them!

All in all, this series continues to be a lot of fun.