A twist of fate proves wildly explosive in New York Times bestselling author CD Reiss’s smart and sexy Hollywood romance about the cost of running from your past to get to your dreams.
Cutting all ties, Kayla Montgomery drives cross-country to Los Angeles. New start. New life. And an unexpected new job: assistant to Justin Beckett.
The Justin Beckett.
The boy band rebel with the cocky attitude … Beckett.
The boy band rebel with the cocky attitude and dreamy bed head who casts a spell over his fans and tests the patience of his handlers.
Now at the peak of Mount Adulthood, he has to build a clean-cut, movie star image. It’s in his contract. No partying. No attitude. No groupies.
To tie it together, he needs a normal girl.
Suddenly, Kayla’s swept up in Justin’s glamorous world, and his arms. But the most dizzying thing is Justin himself. Sweet, generous, reliable, and as eager to shed his past as Kayla is hers.
About that…
Those ties she thought she’d cut? They’ve followed her across the country with her secrets in tow, and they’re about to test Kayla’s courage, Justin’s loyalty, and a love that wasn’t part of the deal.
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I am impressed!!! Usually books where star musicians or lead singers of a band find love stories because they all seem to read the same way but not this one. I felt it’s simplicity and romance in the words beautiful and sweet. Justin is the typical young star that gets a bad rep and needs to clean up his act!! Kayla is the hardworking, witty and well put together girl that’s running from an old life. They meet and at first she was no overly impressed by Justin but that didn’t last long. Their journey is endearing and I enjoyed it from start to finish and would whole heartedly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good romance and a genuine storyline.
I actually really enjoyed this book. I read it from start to finish in ONE DAY – so that is saying something!
Normally I’m pretty meh about Hollywood/Rockstar romances and out of the hundred or so I’ve read, I’ve loved maybe a handful of them. Lead Me Back can for sure be added to the list!
Justin and Kayla had a lot of chemistry and their story just sucked me in from the very first page. I loved how their personalities just meshed so well together too. The pacing was spot on and the storyline was perfectly executed, definitely 5-star worthy to me.
Kayla and Justin were fun to read. I didn’t quite feel the angst when dram rolled in, but I did enjoy these two at the end of the story. I wanted a bit more full story. This is a full novel, but I needed to be hooked in from the first few chapters. It just came a little late in the story. I love CD Reiss and her stories. It is still a story that you can smile with at the end.
I love it when C.D. Reiss brings out her oh so romantic toe tingling side and makes us feel all gooey and loved up. Lead Me Back does just that. Kayla and Justin are both captivating in their own way and complement each other perfectly. It’s a romance in every sense of the word. They both have problems that just won’t go away. Kayla finds herself tangled up in Justin’s and let’s face it why wouldn’t you want to be tangled up with him. He is gorgeous. The side characters in this book are more than engaging. I loved loved loved Louise she was fabulous. Not everything about these two is revealed immediately so as you read you’re left wondering what exactly went on with each of them. All is revealed and we get the HEA we love. As always beautifully written. A light, engaging romance that will leave you with a smile on your face.
Overall Grade:
I’m shameless…at least in writing. As the vaguely anonymous reviewer here, I can fan-girl over C.D. Reiss, and you can assume I’m shameless even when my cheeks are pink from my adoration for her brand of romance. Now, to be clear, I know her brand runs the gamut of tropes, and she can be as dirty as you want in a romance or she can be a bit more buttoned-up. If I had to characterize her newest book, Lead Me Back, it’s a bit more buttoned-up (not by much, though) than I’m used to from her. However, that seems so inconsequential when you consider the genius of her brain. Now, I’m SURE I’m going to overdo this review. I’m sure I’m reading WAY too much into Lead Me Back. For gosh sakes, I earned my master’s in English and Literature. I spent YEARS learning to read and read EVERYTHING into that reading, picking it apart and contextualizing it with literary theory…blah blah blah. BUT if I am going to take this review too far and if I’m going to read into Reiss’s newest book, so be it. I’m putting myself out there and who cares. Right?
At the most basic level, I loved Lead Me Back. This book is more of her Hollywood series, so there are characters from earlier books who show their faces which is fantastic, wonderful, everything you love about Reiss. Additionally, her heroine, Kayla, is a ballsy broad for lack of a better term. She takes no prisoners and she gives back to Reiss’s hero (which he loves) what he deserves for his entitled self. Kayla is the person you want in your corner when you must slay your dragons. She’s honest and insightful when she isn’t self-flagellating over past choices. And Reiss’s hero, Justin…ahhh…hold on to that name as it clues you in to her inspiration for him, is layered. At first glance, you don’t see it. In fact, there were times when Justin made me a little crazy by his actions. When your life is driven by others for so long, you tend to lose yourself, and Justin has fallen prey to this. I think this is typical of Hollywood, and Reiss does a fantastic job of showing that struggle, but it also makes him frustrating at times. However, as we know, romance needs moments of conflict to keep the readers engaged or they will lose interest and close the book. All of these qualities make this book worthy of a read. No question.
But…but…but… here is where I can’t help but want to believe what I suggest to be Reiss’s writing genius. And yes, once again, I may be reading into this, but please bear with me. In the story, Justin has been cast as Mr. Darcy in another iteration of Pride and Prejudice (honestly, what a miscast but he does well apparently). If you’ve ever read one of my favorite books of all times, then you know, or might know, that Pride and Prejudice illustrates the consequences of misperceptions. And for this book, C.D. Reiss, takes that idea and creates an allusion to P&P within Lead Me Back. She doesn’t recreate P&P; she carefully crafts its truths into her story in a way that feels like it could be a different version of it. Again, I might be reading this idea into her story, but there were moments that felt like a parallel to Austen’s story. And if I’m right, then, in my mind, Reiss is a genius. Yes, I know writers do this all the time, and yes, I think they are geniuses too especially if they write it as nuanced as Reiss has. But for Lead Me Back, it works, and it works well.
Along with that level of genius, Reiss interweaves the story with pertinent social issues: the #metoo movement is in this story, mental health issues are here, the dangerous specifications of the fashion industry and the relationships that support it find purchase in Lead Me Back, etc. If you think Reiss left the heavy lifting for another book, she didn’t. If you think this is simply about a former boy bander turned actor romancing a future fashion guru, you’re wrong. The qualities of Reiss’s storytelling that make it important reside in Lead Me Back hidden behind the facade of Hollywood, and it makes this book nerd silly. My fangirl flag is flying once again after reading one of her books.
If I haven’t sold you on the characters or story or $exiness of C.D. Reiss’s Lead Me Back, then I have not articulated myself well enough, and you should one-click it anyway. You can trust Reiss to tell stories that will titillate, challenge, and steam your glasses. Lead Me Back is more of that with the added depth of story that makes Reiss’s romances feel necessary.
Lead Me Back by CD Reiss is the story of Kayla Montgomery and Justin Beckett.
Justin along with his band is very famous which happened at a early age. That fame has lead him to be gossiped about to the point he needs to regroup and put out a more serious grown up persona. Kayla has deiced she needs a life change after some bad experiences so she head to L.A to work on getting her dreams fulfilled. Kayla ends up getting a new phone to go with that life which leads her to meet Justin’s grandmother which in turned had her meeting Justin. Kayla isn’t star struck by who he is but somehow she ends up helping him each time he tells her to do something which finally leads her to working for him. Both are trying to move forward away from their past by trying to create something new but they may be finding they do that better together. Enjoyed this book. I do hope to read more by this author soon.
This was more a 3.5 stars for me. Not bad but it was hard to fully connect to Justin and Kayla relationship. It was a slow burn between these two and I must admit it was hilarious how they met and how she didn’t care for him. His way with words was a turnoff at times but yet funny. They both had issues from their past that they had to deal with and things that can end their careers especially Justin since he was very famous but he didn’t care. When it came to Kayla he had no limits. And she also wasn’t a doormat she was feisty and stood her ground. They were completely different but good together.
A solid 4 stars. I truly enjoyed this book. Kayla is trying to escape her “old “ life in New York’s fashion industry, so she moves across country to LA where her sister lives in addition to connect with her estranged Dad. As part of shedding her old life, she gets a new cell phone and number, which is when she gets a very strange request. She decides to help the woman on the phone out (who thinks she is her grandson’s assistant) and drops off roses to the address she was provided. She comes to find out her new number is the former number of Justin- the bad boy rockstar who is in all of the gossip papers. Justin is trying to figure out the mess his life has become, in addition to finishing staring in his first movie. He wants Kayla to let him know if anyone is calling his old number so he proposes a deal- let him know if anyone calls and he will get her a job helping with the costume alterations in the movie. I liked that Kayla didn’t let Justin get away with the typical egotistical attitude in addition that Justin shows her the “real” person he has to hide from the world. I also enjoyed that characters from the 2 Hollywood A list books make appearances in the book. This was a fun bad boy read with some steamy scenes but it also deals with an important issue that sent Kayla to LA. Definitely worth the read.
I was so convinced I would hate this story for so many reasons. The characters’ skew younger than I typically like. Meet too cute. The hero is steeped in boy bands and Justin Bieber. For any other writer, the Biebs as a muse would be a hard nope. But, this is CD Reiss. I had to see if she could manage to get me to finish it, let alone not hate it. So – long story short this started out as a grudge read.
Then, I met Kayla. And I fell in love. Wise, mouthy, and, sometimes to her detriment, kind. And on a journey I totally love. Not so much finding herself, but being herself with no apologies, and no baggage from her past. Then Justin drops into her life at the worst possible time in his. A hot mess douchebro, and headache that Kayla doesn’t need. Of course there was so much more to Justin than meets the eye. It wouldn’t be any other way.
Their story is so swoony and captivating in its simplicity, I couldn’t put it down. Love blooms like dandelions fighting through cracks in the pavement, unexpected and tenacious. It took no time at all to be genuinely swept away and invested in their emotional push pull. I shiver thinking about how much I loved this story.
It’s the sunny, sweet side of CD Reiss we too rarely see. The impeccably written, utterly delicious romantic escape we all need right now, whether the beach is open or not.
#TopReadsof2020
#perfectescape
„I want to be something good in your life.”
Lead Me Back is a refreshing book, definitely lighter than CD’s usual work. In this one Reiss takes us to Hollywood, where a celebrity falls for a regular girl. This story is a modern reflection on a fairytale, where rockstar/actor plays the Prince and a fashion designer embodies his love interest. The upgrade? Witty banter, steam and swoon-worthy happily ever after!
I have to admit that I needed some time to find Justin likeable. At first he seemed haughty and arrogant to me, but over the course of the story, I found in him qualities that changed my first impression and Justin proved that he was a good guy with a big heart.
Kayla is the type of heroine I like right away. She’s not impressed with the fame or money. She’s feisty and tough.
Their meet cute was hilarious and brought an opportunity from which they both could benefit. They formed a friendship that slowly evolved into something more. But to start fresh both professionally and romantically, they both needed to come to terms with the past and fix some mistakes.
Lead Me Back is a cute story. It’s low on angst and there’s a lot of banter and funny moments. Perfect summer read!
Did CD Reiss just make my loins quiver for Justin Bieber?
WHAT!
You have to picture him as you read Lead Me Back because Reiss’s descriptions of Justin Beckett sure seem to reflect the Beibs in all his tattooed, gold-chain wearing, “douchecore” jeans-sporting glory. The two Justins also hit their musical celebrity high as teenagers. This fictional Justin, however, also dabbles in acting, and he seems to be more mentally stable than the real thing.
In Kayla, Justin finds a worthy partner. She doesn’t take his fame seriously; in fact, she doesn’t take him all that seriously. Freshly relocated from NYC, she’s in LA to begin anew and to prove herself. The two meet cute, their connection instant and problematic. Thanks to their individual controversies, the last thing they need is an emotional connection. As CD Reiss shows so well, though, their emotional connection is too strong to deny.
As I write this review, it is early July in the midst of a pandemic. I opened this book expecting an angsty, fraught, sexually-centered story of an alpha male and his lady, and what I got was hilarious, heartfelt heat.
I’m also a sucker for Hollywood romances, so Reiss checks a lot of my boxes in this book. I’ll admit that there were times I questioned Justin Bieber as a muse, but it works in this book. You understand how this guy achieved his fame, you understand how he’s maintained it, and you understand how he might lose it. Kayla’s backstory may have more notoriety, which makes her need to establish herself professionally all the more urgent.
I enjoyed this book so much, and I like seeing the softer, friskier side of CD Reiss. She’s shown it before, but I think it clicks better in this book.
When you read this one, let me know what you liked about it. Were you, too, surprised that you could get hot for Justin Bieber?
Lighthearted fell good romance that bright about a few laughs.
I was quickly immerse by this Hollywood romance. The chemistry and banter was well developed, snarky and hilarious. He’s a douche canoe, and she’s a native New Yorker!
The main characters couldn’t be more different from the other.
Yet they gave as good as they got!
This made for a an enjoyable read!
I have not been this impressed with a female lead in forever. I love, love, love Kayla’s character, and am a fan of her honesty, resilience, and grit. CD Reiss gives us something we didn’t know we needed-a story about hope and strength mixed with love and passion.
Justin took a little getting used to-I’ll be honest. Only because of his cocky facade and immature ways in the beginning. Maybe it took me a bit to get used to because of my age, but I grew to like his character with Kayla and their chemistry.
LEAD ME BACK by CD Reiss is everything you want in a romance. These days I find it hard to focus and when I picked up LEAD ME BACK, it hooked me from the first page. Kayla drew me in. But the storyline kept the pages turning.
CD Reiss is an automatic one-click author for me and I thoroughly enjoyed Lead Me Back. Kayla and Justin’s story had me hook, line, and sinker from the start. Their story was refreshing, something I needed in this world of craziness. Justin has met his match with Kayla and their witty banter, undeniable chemistry, and sexiness just made this story enjoyable!
Justin and Kayla are wonderful!!!! Definitely a swoony couple indeed!!! Loved this book from start to finish, as I do with every CD Reiss read!!! Lead Me Back is a five star read that will keep you hanging on from beginning to end!!!!
Kayla and Justin’s story was a great read. We have a fashion designer wanting to turn her life around and finds herself working for Justin, he is a superstar with a bad reputation he wants to clean up his act. They both find themselves challenging each other in different ways. I love Louise, she made me laugh a lot. This is a sweet celebrity romance that will have you immersed in the story until the very end. If you love celebrity romances make sure you don’t miss this one.
What I enjoy most about this story is the amazingly witty and fun banter between Justin and Kayla. Kayla comes across as maybe a bit quirky but also strong and resolute in her plans to put her past behind her. Justin, well….he’s just that boy band boy who maybe never grew up…but soon we find out there is WAY more than meets the eye there. He comes across as a playboy, party boy and disloyal to a fault but ….hold on…there is more. A wrong number puts them in each others paths and the ride that comes next is one both of them are maybe not willing to take or ready for but neither has a choice. A cameo by a favorite character from Bodyguard makes an appearance or two and still makes me smile
After months and months of being in a reading funk, this was just the book I needed to get back into enjoying reading again. CD Reiss blows me away time and time again, and this time I desperately needed it. An escape, and that is just what she gave me.
I simply loved everything about this story. The main characters, the dirty old grandma, the passion and chemistry between Justin and Kayla, and just the adventure I went on with the entire lot of them. It was witty, it was steamy, and it was packed with so much heart that I didn’t see coming. The emotions packed into this one story got me from the get-go, and I was so emotionally invested in all these characters so quick, that I am now finally out of my long-lasting reading slump! Thank you, CD Reiss for Justin, oh my goodness thank you! I am always curious when I see a Hollywood romance, how this one is going to stand out from the rest, but she knocked this one out of the park.
Fashion designer Kayla packs up and moves to LA for a fresh start in live. Justine is a Rockstar turned actor who needs to reform and clean up his bad boy image, and when he unexpectedly meets Kayla in his grandma’s house, he is determined to convince her to work for him as his assistant. Kayla does not fall for any of his nonsense and she challenges him at every turn. What will happen when past demons come back to haunt Kayla? This is a well written story which is a compelling and engaging tale with witty banter and leads to an entertaining and addictive page turner. I look forward to reading more from this author and I highly recommend her work for all readers.
4.5 Stars!
The one thing I really like about this author is that even though I’m not a particular fan of Hollywood stories, I’ve learned that her writing always manages to capture my attention and I find myself sucked into the book. I’m not even a big fan of the type of hero she has in this one and I still ended up loving him by the end of the book.
Nothing against Justin, just that he was young and arrogant and I tend to relate to the more mature characters. However, you do see real depth in him as the story unfolds. Behind the arrogance is a really good guy and he completely won me over by the end.
Kayla is a heroine that I adore. She’s tough, but not too tough. She didn’t fawn all over Justin even though there was that instant attraction. I respected her. I can’t say that about many heroines so when I find one it’s pure gold for me.
You won’t be too surprised by the storyline but I’m going to mention again the fantastic writing this author always delivers and that’s what really had me loving this book. In fact, I would love to see some spinoffs. There is some side characters that were pretty interesting.