Review: "Grounded by You" by Ivy Sinclair

Lights, camera, and passions flare when a small town boy gets the break of his career. As the lines of life and art blur together, can he also find a way to win the love of the girl who got away? Carter Samuel Groveson. His name is on the lips of every woman in the country who has a pulse. An actor plucked from obscurity to star in the most anticipated movie of the century, he’s an enigma to all. Everyone wants a piece of him. Except her. Amelia St. John isn’t about to follow the life plan that her father set out for her. She refuses to be tied down or commit to anyone. A year ago, she ran as far and as fast from Sam Groveson as she could. But when he reappears in her life and asks her to be the friend he needs to keep him tethered to reality in the midst of the chaos, she can’t say no. Unfortunately for Sam, his big break comes with expectations that threaten his career if he doesn’t toe the line. In this high stakes game of love, everyone is watching.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this novel.

This book is a follow up of sorts to Ivy Sinclair's "Where My Heart Breaks", which I also received via Netgalley and reviewed a few months ago.  While I was very impressed with the character development and plot of "Where My Heart Breaks", some of this seemed to be missing in "Grounded by You", and I can't help but compare the two.

"Grounded by You" was still a sweet read with good characters and a decent plot, it just wasn't nearly as good as "Where My Heart Breaks".  I think the main reason for the difference is in the characters.  Where Reed Black from WMHB is quite the bad boy with the reputation to match, Sam from GBY is the quintessential good guy.  Sam comes from a happy family in a happy town, and he's got the morals to match.  But...that makes Sam kind of boring.  Whereas Kate Spivey in WMHB is quite the spitfire, Millie from GBY is...not.  Actually, from what I remember of Millie from WMHB, she was quite the spitfire, too, but she changed in the year or so between the two books.  Although Millie is now asserting her independence with her family, she's also become more sedate and...dull.

Despite all this, I still enjoyed "Grounded By You".  Ivy Sinclair's writing is good enough that the book kept me reading straight through, and I am still interested enough to want to read the next installment in this series.

My rating: