Review: Give Me Love by Kate Mccarthy

Our 4 star review

“It means not giving myself to someone else at the cost of who I am. Not allowing someone else to define me. It means letting go of personal misconceptions so I can be a better person…not just for me but for others. “
 
Kate McCarthy’s first attempt at writing is very impressive.  Give Me Love is a novel centered on the relationship of Jared Valentine and Genevieve “Evie” Jamieson.  Jared is the brother of Evie’s best friend Mackenzie “Mac” Valentine who manages the band Jamieson.  Evie is the lead singer of the band.  Their two families have interwoven over the years, Evie’s brother is partners with Jared as consultants in a security expert firm and his brothers and friends are involved one way or the other in the band.

Jamieson is on the cusp of greatness, that period where a band is just about to be discovered by the thousands instead of the hundreds. All her adult life Evie has played it safe in her romantic relationships, having had her heart broken a couple of times. She knows these relationships are going nowhere, which is part of their appeal.  Jared and Evie share chemistry, but have danced around each other under the guise of just being good friends.  Jared has no problem letting Evie know he is interested in more than friendship, but Evie pulls back at every turn.  When one of Jared’s investigations results in him being injured and unsavory character vows revenge, Evie finds herself being pursued as part of this revenge scheme.
 
“You think I don’t trust you? It’s everyone else I don’t trust.”

When it seems as if Evie and Jared will finally cross the line transforming them from friends to lovers, Evie’s career skyrockets, situations are misinterpreted and danger follows the pair.  McCarthy has managed to write a novel that contains both romance and suspense.  She throws quite a bit of humor into it as well (especially the text messages between the two).  As she is an Australian writer, there are Aussie terms that I found to be confusing. Vegemite sandwiches I was familiar with, thanks to the band Men at Work, but I had to look up “breakie” for breakfast and esky for a picnic cooler. The story itself moved along smoothly, with only a few parts that seemed to have too much overlapping action. It is almost two stories in one, Jamieson trying to make it big as a band and the intrigue with Jared and the psycho out for revenge. McCarthy has done a fine job with her debut novel. I look forward to reading more of her work. 

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