THE MOON AND BACK, by Ginger Scott

Second chance, football, and rockstar, all my favorite tropes!  I was delighted to read this book and indulge in my favorite tropes, and then I find that the music permeates the whole book and made it more enchanting.

Brynn and Johnny are childhood sweethearts, he was a football jock and she was a band nerd.  Although he was good at football, he turned out even better at music.  She opened this world for him and it brought them together.  Even more, she gave him family, as in her parents and bestie Teddy.  Living with an abusive father, it was like a refuge where he could recover and nurture his creativity.  He went on to be a famous rockstar, leaving behind a broken girlfriend and a best friend.  Then ten years later, on the bottom of a downward spiral, completely broken, he comes back and cries for help.

The book is set in two times, when they were teenagers and the present time.  Both sides are necessary to understand what happens and why Johnnie is so broken.  It’s super slow burn to the point of frustration but it’s also relentlessly angsty and romantic.  The family and friends and school environment that surrounds the story is wonderful, it felt like it was full of music notes and a loving vibe.  I felt the love from Johnnie all the time but it felt constrained by a terrible secret that only comes out in bits and pieces.  I wanted to slap him silly and make him tell all, because it was hurting Brynn so much. 

Even though the pace was slow and the romance was such a slow burn, it was necessary because Johnnie had so much to process and to heal.  His mother is such a gentle presence in the book.  I loved the soulful and musical feeling of the book, loved the steadfastness of Teddy, the gentleness of Beth, and the sometimes clumsy and inarticulate Brynn.  Brynn’s parents are supportive and sometimes irritating, so typical of good parents.  Beautiful and poetic!

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About the author 

Ginger Scott is a USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon-bestselling author from Peoria, Arizona. She was also nominated for both the Goodreads Choice and Rita Awards. She is the author of several young and new adult romances, including recent bestsellers The Fuel Series, The Varsity Series, The Hard Count, A Boy Like You, A Girl Like Me, Cry Baby, This Is Falling and Wild Reckless.

A sucker for a good romance, Ginger's other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. She has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for a hella long time. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at http://www.littlemisswrite.com.

When she's not writing, the odds are high that she's somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son hit bombs or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork 'em, Devils).