Book Review

 I’m proud to launch R&R Book Tours’ first official blog tour with Tani Hanes’ Before the Tempest (Book #4 Uk Crush Series)!

I have read the entire UK Crush series, (I have a connection, Shhhh) and it is soooo good! But, today is all about book #4, Before the Tempest.

Before the Tempest (Release Date: March 21, 2017)

Aileen Foster, poor, orphaned, musically gifted, never imagined her life could change so much, so fast, but getting a job as interpreter for boyband UK Crush pitched her headfirst into tumult and a glamorous life she never thought she’d have. Now, engaged to band member Theo Shelley, and having survived her audition to Hamilton Conservatory in Manhattan, she’s off to the Bahamas with the boys while they write their new album. Life has never been easy for her, but she’s trying.

Add to Goodreads

 My Thoughts…

Life has changed drastically for Aileen “Tinkerbell” Foster. Mainly due to her love affair with one of the most famous and coveted men on Earth, but also because Tink has grown into herself. She finally feels good in her own skin and with her sexuality. She’s learned how to love herself for who she is, and because of all this, she has never been happier.

This installment is all about Tink coming to terms with the good and bad parts of being in the spotlight. She’s nailed her audition, and everything she has dreamed of is finally coming into fruition. Life is sublime!

Unfortunately, just as Tink thinks she’s getting the hang of everything, maybe even enjoying the perks of fame, the worst thing imaginable happens and it changes her life forever.

This is a really great read! It’s very sexy like the others, but things are happening. The relationship between Tink and Theo has solidified and their plans for their life together are coming together. There are of course a few hiccups, but that just makes their story a little more dramatic for us. The writing is excellent, which I’ve now come to expect from the author and I really enjoyed this part of the series… that is, until I wasn’t anymore! Tink’s story takes such an unexpected turn, it’s quite shocking.

Tani’s series gets better with every book and even though, contemporary or new adult romance is usually last on my list, I’ve really enjoyed it. If you love romance, especially “rock star” romance, you have to read it!

Rating… A

Available on Amazon

Pre-order “Surviving the Hurricane” Book #5 Here

Q&A with Tani Hanes

How did you get the inspiration to write these novels?

I was a substitute teacher in a very small school district, and because of this, I saw the same kids, year after year, and got to watch them grow. We became very close; I saw them trick-or-treating, and at the drug store, all that good stuff. So when our favorite boyband (yes, I loved them, too!) decided to go on an extended hiatus, the kids were flipping, and told me so. Teaching would go out the window as we pondered, how, HOW were we going to get through this? In this world of social media, we were used to getting our fix every day, sometimes multiple times per day. So the kids (mainly girls, yes, but there were a few boys, too) said that, since I liked to write, I should write something for us, about a fictional band, and a girl who gets thrown into their midst. They had a specific list of requests, which I collected in a notebook: The boys would really, really love each other (the real-life band was starting to show a few cracks, which was painful), and really, really love the girl. The girl would be a normal, healthy weight, not supermodel skinny (no thigh-gap, what an odious term), and they wanted her to be accomplished in her own right, not just a reflection of the boys. And the boys would never, ever, go on hiatus lol!

And the UK Crush series was born.

Did anything change about the books after you began?

Yes. When I started writing, everyone was in high school. But after they got on paper, a funny thing happened: They came to life, and began doing things I didn’t plan for them to do. They swore a lot. Especially the girl. And they, um, got naughty. Busy. I wanted to be like John Green, and write about those things in vague, beautiful terms, but mine didn’t come out that way! So I had to go back and make everyone older. Not that there’s anything wrong with high schoolers getting busy, of course; I just wanted to take any possible moral judgements out of it. So I made everyone older.

In addition, some of the later books go to a very, very dark place. The things that happen to Tink, the main character, are certainly not on anyone’s fantasy wish fulfillment list! Again, after I started writing, things just kind of got away from me, the characters really took on a life of their own. I eventually had to take the rough drafts away from my younger readers, and leave it in the hands of my older students.

Who would you cast to play your characters if you were making a movie?

Well, I wrote this with certain people in my head, obviously. And like I said, I’m a huge fan of that boyband, so of course a couple of them made it into my imaginary movie! I mean, eye colors and family circumstances are different, and obviously their personalities are completely my own creation, but you don’t have to squint very hard at my book to see those boys.

Tink would be played by my daughter Rosie. She’s a senior in college, and a theatre major, so it could happen! And Tink looks like Rosie physically. Teddy would be Harry Styles, no two ways about it. And he’s an actor now, too, so who knows? Gethin has always been Jamie Bell in my mind; they both have that smoldering thing going on, with the humor. Ronan is Niall Horan, maybe because both are Irish? And Matthew, unfortunately, is made up from whole cloth, as he’s just too beautiful and perfect to exist in real life!

Who would enjoy this book?

This is kinda tough, because it’s about a boyband, so the logical answer is teens and young adults. However, like I said up there somewhere, these books get very explicit (naughty characters); so their parents might not be comfortable with their kids reading them lol! I know my high schoolers very well, though, and nothing I wrote surprised them at all. At all! Even the language, which some parents objected to, didn’t faze my students. This is how many young people talk and behave, though the adults in their lives might not realize this. I was with these kids every day, and it is so. And this was in a very small, very conservative, very religious town. Honest. My students were very comfortable around me, and my characters are a reflection of what I saw in them every day.

And, surprisingly, my friends, people my age, I mean, also enjoyed the books very much! Even though they’re about people in their early twenties, I think the themes of unconditional love, of overcoming horrendous events and hardships through strength and friendship, are universal.

About the Author

Tani Hanes was born in Yokosuka, Japan. She spent the first few years of her life traveling back and forth between Japan and the US, making the permanent move to the Central Valley of California when she was five. She visited family in Japan on a regular basis, and attended college in Tokyo for one year at ICU before getting her degree in Language Studies from UC Santa Cruz. She has two children, and was a substitute teacher for fifteen years. Hanes currently resides in New York City with her husband and cats, Moss and Lily.

Facebook | Tani Hanes | Twitter