A is for Alpha B is for Books : *** Blog Tour, Excerpt, Trailer, Review & Giveaway *** Jag by Stevie J. Cole

Title: Jag

Author: Stevie J. Cole

Genre: Rocker Romance

Publication Date: September 12, 2014

Add to: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amazon UK / B&N /

Synopsis

"My name's Jag Steele. I’m the lead singer and guitarist to the band Pandemic Sorrow and I have a drug problem – well, I mean it's not really a problem unless you count the fact that I almost made my heart explode from all the blow I shoved up my nose a few weeks back."

That was my introduction during my first stint in rehab. I'm a fuckup. If you ask anybody who I am there’s a list they will go down: Famous, rock star, legend, drug addict, womanizing man-whore… but if you asked me, I wouldn't have the first idea of what to say because I don’t know who Jag Steele is. Really, I’m living every other damn person's dream, and all I want is reality.

Roxy Slade, that girl was my reality. My brutally flawed and beautifully broken reality. And she fucking hated everything I stood for. To her I was just one of “those guys”, and she’d rather be buried alive with poisonous snakes than give someone like me a piece of toilet paper to wipe their ass with. Brutal - Life. Is. Brutal. And it is just a giant pain in the ass, which is why I chase after anything to make it numb, anything that can fill this void. I just want anything that can make me not feel.

My Review

Oh. MY. GOD. Jag… I’m so confused on my thoughts and how to form the sentences to articulate my feelings about this crazy wonderfully fucked up story without sounding crazy myself.

This is not your average Rocker Romance, frankly speaking this is one of the most honest, gritty and straight up messed up reads I’ve read in a long time.
I honestly loved it and felt a bit addicted to it as I read it. It was like crack for my soul!!!!!

For me, Jag was one of those “ok I need a break, I ‘m gonna throw my ipad, I cant read this story it’s too much (puts ipad down….)

Then 5 minutes later…

"umm no no, I need to know what happens, I can’t stop thinking about it…(picks ipad up and reads it in 1 day…yup 1 day!).

Crack I tell you.

This is the story of the man formally known as Jagger. Jagger, who is unable to cope with all the fame, fortune and demands of being a “Rock God”. At the beginning we see how the transformation happened. How Jagger looses his true identity, as he is swallowed up by the fame and is spit out (thanks to a certain asshole’s influence) into living the life of a completely fucked up, addict and rocker now known simply as, Jag Steele.

“ Snorting that line had been the moment that had changed everything in my life” -Jag

I really did love Jag’s story sooo much, I felt like I was privy to his life experiences and from the flashbacks I felt I gained insight and understanding as to why Jag became the way that he did.
How he was clean, then relapses, the need for numbness, why he chooses drugs, his thoughts, his feelings, his anger and all the emotion in between.

With chapters so vividly written it was easy to get sucked into his lifestyle and I could almost see why Jag had no choice but to sacrifice Jagger to the lifestyle he had chosen.

Mrs. Cole writes of a person who has first hand experience with addiction and from the way she pens Jag's tale its obvious how hurtful and cruel drug addiction truly is. I honestly feel she does an incredible job.

I swear this story will touch your soul and leave you pondering about it long after its end.

I really struggled to compartmentalize my emotions while reading this book, I was angry, sad, disgusted, tearing, then strangely cheering! And there were seriously parts where I kept questioning whether I could keep on reading.

So many times I found myself tearing up and just feeling so much empathy towards Jag, his self-loathing killed me! I kept asking whether things were ever going to look up for him, and Jesus, how much lower can this guy get?
I just need him to have some sort of light in a never ending tunnel of gloom.

But like I said, I was completely addicted to the story, drawn like a month to a flame, I needed to see where this was going. And let me tell you Jag’s journey has so many WTF?? moments that I cant even point which affected me the most as a reader.

From an argument with his dad, to a shocking run in with his first love, to being introduced to drugs by a mentor, coupled with nights of loneliness and sex with countless women… no wonder Jag is all kinds of fucked up…

But of course I read on because honestly, I LOVED HIM!! And again this book is Crack and
I’m 100% ADDICTED!!!!
There is just something with the way his character is written, you just can’t help not to love Jag!

Jag is simply all kinds of messed up and above all just really needs someone to care, to just love him! Someone to see through all his issues and rock god bullshit…Someone to support and help revive he who was once was simply… Jagger!

“ I had a person to handle every damn aspect of my life, except there was no one to handle me” -Jag

Enter Roxy... I FUCKING LOVE HER!! Right from the beginning she’s calling him on his shit and could care less about his fame and fortune! Roxy is not the fall down at his feet girl like the rest. Despite having her own messed up past and demons to battle she’s incredible! I love every second she’s around in the book. Roxy is the game-changer….the one Jag needs before he looses himself to addiction completely.

Their relationship is chalk full of beautiful ups and gut-wrenchingly low lows, its so very tumultuous.

But OH. MY. GOD do these two exude raw passion and love!

Their emotional journey to be together had me on my knees I swear! I have never needed a fictional couple to be together as much as I needed Jag and Roxy to just be and stay together.

The battles over drugs, lies, insecurities and making the right choices is such a strong part of what made me love them, but when its just Roxy and Jagger I swear it’s the most amazing thing.

From hot, raw all consuming sex to tender moments with revelations shared and a trust like none other being built, the relationship they form is nothing other than a beautiful ray of light in such a raw and gritty read.

As much as Roxy is truly Jagger’s salvation, I honestly I feel he is hers as well.
Still I sit and write thinking about them and get tears in my eyes! I LOVE THEM!!!!

“There was some part of her I felt belonged to me, and for the first time, possibly in my life, I felt like part of me could belong to someone else.” -Jag

I have so much more to say, but I’ve decided to stop here. I could go on and on, and keep adding quotes, I’ve highlighted so much of this book it’s insane! So my advice…

GO BUY THIS BOOK NOW!

This book is truly an incredibly written story and I felt so many crazy emotions and thoughts while reading it. I honestly think Jag is going to give me one of the biggest BOOK HANGOVER’s I’ve EVER HAD! Honestly, one of my top 2014 reads for sure.

Thank- you Stevie J. Cole for giving (me) and the book loving world Jag.

Reviewed By Gillian Grybas

★★☆ BEYOND 5 this BOOK is like CRACK Stars ☆★★

Buy it

Read it

Love it

Excerpt

“Well,” she said, “you’re clean now. That’s amazing. You’ve been clean for – how long now?”

Just talking about those drugs had made my mouth water. Every fiber inside my body was twitching, thinking about how good it would feel to just get something in my system. My heart was banging against my chest with anger, with the need for something that would cut the pain of being sober right out of my life.

Forcing a smile so it would appear I really was proud, I said, “Six months.” I knew I was lying, I knew it had only been two weeks ago that I had gone through an eight ball of coke, and I had just drank myself into a stupor the night before, but other than those two times, I really had been sober – I think.

Brittney beamed, relieved that part of the interview was over with. “That’s awesome, Jag. You are such an inspiration. Addiction is a hard battle to win, and to see you doing it is wonderful. I’m sure many of your fans find strength hearing you say that.”

I hated hearing that. I despised that somehow, for some unknown fucking reason, people still looked up to me. No matter what mess I got into, people still wanted to be me. Liars like me shouldn’t be role models, but that’s what happens when you’re a celebrity – regardless of how worthy you are, you become an idol.

I was too weak for fame, but she didn’t care. She broke me, and I tried to let drugs mend me. While it numbed the pain and may have held the pieces together in a nice little package, I was deteriorating on the inside, and it was only a matter of time before it would all crumble to a pile of shit. In the beginning I’d thought fame was as close to being a mortal god as you could get, and in some ways I was right. The thing I had no idea about was my ability to handle this fucking double-edged sword. I like to think of fame as a metamorphosis. You get all wrapped up in it, almost like a cocoon, and the way I emerged from it was like that moth from Silence of the Lambs, with the stamp of death and destruction all over me. I had no idea how to handle fame, so, unfortunately, fame handled me.

Check out this Awesome Book Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=880vX6u5-Gs

About the Author

Oh, what to say?

I love writing (obvious since I'm on here, right?) I don't have a specific genre - I just write whatever story manifests its self inside my brain.

Writing is like therapy. There is nothing else that I can lose myself in the way I can a book - the way a well written story can take you away from reality and leave you in a dazed state once you've finished... that is unbelievable. I can only hope that whoever reads my work will be sucked into the little world I've created on the pages.

Aside from writing, I love sloths and mythology. I kind of have a thing for vampires, because let's face it, something about the fact that they have to fight the urge to bite your neck and drain the life from you is rather sexy. I have an irrational fear of the zombie apocalypse. I honestly cannot imagine a more horrifying way to go than by being ripped to shreds by a mass of mumbling, decaying, and oozing corpses with clicking teeth. Ugh! I just shuddered typing it.

Now the boring basics: I grew up in the south listening to a ton of grunge rock (I'm sure if you read my books you'll be able to guess who my favorite bands are). I wanted to major in theatre and creative writing but my parents refused to let me. They told me those weren't "reliable professions". Reliable? I'd just rather do something I enjoy!

When I hit 30 I decided to start a bucket list and publishing a book was on the top (followed shortly by meeting a certain celebrity). Proud to report I've accomplished both.

So, here I am with my first novel and working on the second one. The journey of writing Bound to the Fallen has been amazing and allowed me to meet many wonderful individuals.

I hope if you read my work that you will enjoy it. After all, writing is the most amazing magic trick of all... it puts the reader in the mind of the writer (kind of creepy if you think about it).

I hope you love my little world as much as I do.

Xx- Stevie J