The Real Housewives of Romance: Who He is by Shanora Williams

Purchase on Amazon Who He Is (FireNine #1)

Synopsis:
Eliza Smith has never been the one to seek a relationship. She’s never dated a guy in her life, never even hugged a man (outside of her father/manager of the hot and popular rock band, FireNine) but when she decides to spend her summer on tour with FireNine, it all changes. Eliza really gets to meet Gage Grendel - her former crush from high school and the lead singer of FireNine - and witness sides to him to which she’ll begin to truly despise.
She’ll ignore him, she’ll dislike his ways, she’ll do anything to try and stay away from him until Gage finally gets her to slip up and give in. She agrees on a casual fling with Gage, but soon they’ll both see how the fling will blur into something they can’t control and when it’s finally time for Eliza to go and accomplish her own dreams, she’ll know there’s more she took from Gage than she ever thought possible.

**Excuse any typos.. this is actual conversation and filled with them!

It's TWOSOME TUESDAY!!! And, that means you get Housewife commentary following TWO awesome reviews of Who He Is!

Reviews:

Heather's Review:

3.5-Ride a cowboy Smooches!

I cried out repeatedly, digging my fingernails into the carpet with thick tears streaming, hoping soon I would numb to the pain. I did eventually.

Eliza has a difficult past that she is still trying to put behind her. She has been living with her father, Ben for a few years and he has been trying to help her move on and enjoy life. Ben manages a band called Fire Nine and convinces Eliza to join him and the band on tour, for the Summer. He wants her to get out and have some fun.

Gage, the lead singer of the band is Eliza’s high school crush. The mutual attraction is evident from the start and you could cut the sexual tension with a knife! Gage is a man-whore and has a girlfriend, Penelope. This does not stop him from hitting on Eliza and being extremely jealous and possessive of her.

I couldn’t understand Gage. He was flirting with me, dancing with me, but he had a girlfriend. A hot girlfriend.

“All I need is for you to say yes, and I swear you won’t forget how good I made you feel.”

Eliza fights her attraction. She knows that she could never have anything with a guy like Gage. He has a girlfriend and sleeps around. She wants forever and any dating that doesn’t lead to that is pointless.

I was truly disgusted by what I saw, but I shouldn’t have expected anything less from someone like him-someone who made girls feel like they had no value.

I could never figure out how someone could be so flawless and gorgeous yet so cocky and rude.

Eliza and Gage decide that they will be friends. She wants nothing more. He is incapable of a real relationship and she doesn’t want to risk her heart.

“Just know, Eliza, that if you’d like to add something a little extra to this little friendship, I’d be more than willing.”

His whoring around really bothers her and her flirting with his band mates and other guys drives him insane.

“Let’s just settle this when we get back to the buses. Maybe it’ll get you to stop denying me. And I think it’ll make you happy, just like it did whatshername in there.”

Every time we’d go out, he’d have a different girl on his arm-making out with her, holding her, nuzzling her neck. He’d do it right in front of me. I tried ignoring him but after a while I realized he was running into me on purpose.

“Why can’t you just flirt around with me like you do with Montana?”

I stifled a laugh, pulling away from him. I wonder if he realized how desperate he sounded.

After a lot of cat and mouse, their friendship status changes to friends with benefits.

As she gets to really know Gage, it is obvious that he has had a pretty messed up past as well.

“Sometimes it’s the ones closest to us who can destroy us most. Sometimes it’s friends…family. It’s not always a romantic relationship that can leave us with a broken heart.”

Gage always had a little sadness behind his eyes. He tried to cover it up with joking around, messing around, and other minor things, but I could always tell.

They both develop stronger feelings for each other than they ever intended. So many obstacles are put in their way; Gage’s “girlfriend,” Penelope, a few of the band-mates extreme dislike for Ellie, and their own insecurities.

“If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be mad right now. If you didn’t care, that stupid dance with Penelope wouldn’t have gotten you this upset with me. If you didn’t care, we wouldn’t be standing in this Goddamn room, Eliza. I’ll tell you something, though… I care. I want you. I’ve wanted you since day one… You piss me off, make me smile, bring me up, aggravate me-I feel all these damn emotions when you’re around, and if you can do that to me, then it means I care… maybe too much… there’s no way in hell I can care this much-that I can adore you this much-and you not feel the same way. There’s just no fucking way.”

He had my heart and I didn’t even know I’d given it to him.

Okay so that is as much as I am going to give! Gage is messed up and all kinds of sexy. Eliza is broken and hard-headed. So many secrets come out toward the end of the book. Not only about Gage and Eliza, but some of the supporting characters as well. The end of the book PISSED me off and I loved it! For much of the book I felt that it was missing a big climax. Well, that is because it all goes down at the end and what a shit storm it is. I don’t know who I am more pissed at right now and I cannot wait to read book two and sort that shit out!

There are some great supporting characters in this book. Gage’s band-mate Montana is adorable. He is funny and charming and becomes a very good friend to Ellie. Her dad, Ben is a sweetheart and so much fun. Deed and Roy, the other band-mates who don’t like Eliza, have even grown on me. I cannot wait to pic up with the whole gang in Who We Are later this month!

Great job Shanora!

Who He Is, is book one in a two book series. The second book, Who We are, comes out on 9/24/2013!

Selene's Review

4 Rodeo Barbie Smooches!

Eliza is twenty-one and on the road for the summer with FireNine … a rock band her dad Ben manages. Before going to live with Ben, Eliza had a rough life and because of her past, she is very guarded and perfectly content doing her own thing - drawing, reading and painting. Not only has she never been in a relationship, she’s never kissed a boy or even held hands with one.

Gage is a twenty-four year old rock god. He is the lead singer of the band that Eliza’s dad manages. Because of his past, he’s perfectly content hooking up with girls on the road all the while having a girlfriend. Gage takes wham, bam, thank you ma’am to a whole new level … the words man whore definitely come to mind. Thanks to Gage, I will always think of him when I see a Cracker Barrel.

Even though Eliza is extremely attracted to Gage, his man whore ways completely repulse her. She’s pretty funny too when she voices her disdain of his lifestyle.

“Well, dirty isn’t my thing. I like clean men”

“Rockers are selfish and filthy fuckers.”

Tell us how you really feel girl!

As she spends more time with him though, she slowly begins to see another side to Gage, one that makes her question everything she believes about him. The sexual tension between these two is HOT and there is so much angst as Eliza fights her attraction … I just wanted to reach in the book and slap some sense into them both.

“I’ve spent too many nights with you that it would be impossible for me not to fucking care. You piss me off, make me smile, bring me up, aggravate me – I feel all these damn emotions when you’re around, and if you can do that to me, then it means I care… maybe too much.”

For a man whore, he really does say some sweet things!

They finally agree to a “no strings attached” fling for the rest of time Eliza will be on the tour. They become inseparable and despite her best efforts to keep emotions out of it, Eliza falls in love with Gage. While in New York during their last week together, Gage takes Eliza out on an amazing date. He writes a song for her and sings it to her right in the middle of Times Square.

“She was a single dove, a beauty,
A miraculous love, truly,
A new addiction I’d fight for,
My addiction, perhaps my heart and more.”

** SWOON **

Gage seems to have fallen in love with Eliza too.

“I’ve known it since day one of the tour. You were different, unlike the rest. With the other girls, it’s nothing. … I love you. I’m in love with you. And tonight I wanna prove it.”

And boy does he prove it!

Gage wants to continue their relationship and Eliza is faced with a big decision. Stay on the tour? Go back to school and do the long distance thing? Walk away from Gage?

What's a girl to do?

I will admit, it took a while for Gage to grow on me but once he did I was balls to the wall hot for him! And then there’s Montana, Gage’s band mate – HILARIOUS! I fell in love with him a little too. I hope there is a book with his name on it in the future!

The second installment in the FireNine series is Who We Are and it picks up eight months after Who He Is ends. All kinds of shit hits the fan at the end of Who He Is and I'm really happy I won’t have to wait very long to find out what happens with Eliza and Gage ... Who We Are is due out later this month.