Young Adult Book Haven: Blog Tour: In Bloom (Brightside #1) By: Katie Delahanty, Guest Post, Review, and Giveaway!

Excerpt from Hailey Kattaden’s Elle Magazine interview with Berkeley Dalton prior to the release of Berkeley & the Brightside’s self-titled second album Brightside.

When I was told I’d be interviewing Berkeley Dalton, the notorious model-dating lead singer of Berkeley & the Brightside, I expected it would be like pulling teeth to get him to answer any questions. I figured he’d be more preoccupied with trying to charm our waitress than talking to me, and was anticipating one-word superficial answers. But to my surprise, I was wrong. He arrived at Tom Bergin’s—an Irish pub in Los Angeles—on time, and joined me at the bar for an Irish coffee. Casually dressed in ripped jeans and a t-shirt, he wore a Dodgers hat pulled low over his eyes, and the vanity I’d been expecting was shockingly absent. If it wasn’t for his astounding presence and the even more astounding blueness of his eyes, I’m not sure I would have recognized him. He’s remarkably grounded, polite, and private.

With only two weeks to go before Brightside, the much anticipated follow up to Berkeley & the Brightside’s debut album Dear Rose,, releases Berkeley is remarkably calm.

KATTADEN: How do you think Brightside will be received? Dear Rose, is so beloved—how do you follow that up?

DALTON: It’s hard to follow up something that was so successful. It’s a lot of pressure. With the first album we had to work so hard to find fans—we toured endlessly, playing for sometimes two or three people—we were so focused on just getting people to listen there wasn’t room for anything else. But now there are expectations. I try not to let the fear of the follow up get to me. I believe in what we wrote and I personally, love it. I think our fans will too.

KATTADEN: The first single is called “House”. What inspired it?

DALTON: I don’t usually like to say what a song means or where it comes from—I think that’s the beauty of music—that the listener puts their own spin on what a song means and then it becomes personal. It’s special for them in a way that no one else can understand. It means one thing to me, but knowing where it comes from can ruin it for someone else, keep them from making that personal connection, so I’d rather not say.

KATTADEN: If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?

DALTON: <Laughs>. I have no idea. Since the first time I picked up a guitar when I was fourteen I’ve thought of nothing else. Playing music is all I’ve ever wanted to do… But, if making this dream come true has taught me anything, it’s that anything is possible. The only career I can rule out for sure is “file clerk”. I did that after college and I’m pretty sure I was terrible at it.

KATTADEN: So maybe modeling, acting? Will we see Berkeley Dalton on the big screen someday?

DALTON: <Smiles and shakes his head>. You never know…

Title: In Bloom (Brightside #1)

Author: Katie Delahanty

Published: Feburuary 10th, 2014

Source: E-Arc provided for blog tour

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

Goodreads Summary:

My name is Olivia Bloom and I. Am. Free.
I left for LA with everything I owned piled into my old Volkswagen and dreams of becoming a costume designer. Little did I know I’d wind up designing for a lingerie company—yeah, not sure how I landed this gig—and taken under the wing of two young Hollywood insiders. The fashion shows and parties were great, but life really got exciting when the seriously hottest lead singer of my favorite band started to fall for me.　
How does someone like me, an ordinary girl from Pittsburgh, wind up in the arms of the world’s sexiest rock star—surrounded by celebrities, fashion, and music—and not be eaten alive? Berkeley is everything I've ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, but the paparazzi, the tabloids, the rumors, it's all getting a bit too crazy. My life has become every girl’s dream come true, if only I don’t blink and lose it all…

My Thoughts:

I was really excited to read this book, I will admit that I am biased and I love reading the romance of a normal girl falling for a famous guy, I don't know but I just really enjoy the story and everything that goes into those two people finding themselves. This book was definitely was everything that I was hoping for and it reminded me why these types of stories are my guilty pleasure. I could not put it down, I loved our main character Olivia Bloom and sometimes the female characters in these type of books are all the same but Olivia was so endearing to me and I couldn't help but want to be her friend and root for her in every moment throughout the book.

Olivia Bloom decided to take a chance and go for her dreams, she has always loved fashion and wanted to be a designer. When her boyfriend cheats on her and she breaks it off with him, it is just the push she needs to pack up her life and move to LA. At her new apartment complex she meets two new friends who have the inside scoop on Hollywood, Parker and Blair, who take her under their wing and are determined to teach her the rules of living and working in Hollywood. As fate would have it Olivia begins working for a lingerie company and as she lives her life she keeps running into the gorgeous lead singer of her favorite band Berkeley and the Brightside. Fumbling over words and being nervous every time she is in his presence she is determined to stay away from him as much as possible. But, despite all that Berkeley is intrigued by her and determined to get a date with her which begins their romance full of passion, love, rumors, and paparazzi.

I loved Olivia so much, with these type of love stories sometimes the ordinary girl tends to be a beautiful girl who doesn't know it and thinks that she is just a plain jane that nobody notices, I didn't feel that much from Olivia which made her character so easy to fall in love with. I related to her so much, I imagine that I would say and act the same way if I was every confronted with meeting one of the lead singers of my favorite band. I also loved seeing her relationship with her mom. Her mom was a little crazy and was obsessed with psychics, tarot cards and was always wanting to tell Olivia her future and yet she always refused to even consider it. She wasn't a completely weak girl who let Berkeley walk all over because he was a celebrity and I loved that. She was so endearing and I can't wait to read the next book.

Berkeley was a great love interest, I think I love the fairytale of it all the most meeting your favorite lead singer and running into him over and over until he convinces you to let him come over for dinner. He was just adorable and it reminded you that no matter how famous a person becomes they are still just like everyone else and although he made a few screw ups, he was perfect with Olivia and their romance was adorable, I could picture every moment the two of them shared and they had me laughing out loud, getting teary, and swooning.

Overall, In Bloom was everything I hoped for and more. It was one of those feel good books that I think everyone needs to read a time or two. It wasn't like all of the other books with this type of plot out there and I am dying to read more of the their story, I never wanted it to end, I definitely recommend this one!

Katie Delahanty Bio:

Katie Delahanty is a fashion designer turned novelist. She holds a BA in Communication Studies from UCLA and a Professional Designation in Fashion Design from FIDM. It never occurred to her that she was a writer until an economic-crisis-induced career shift from lingerie designer to e-commerce webmistress led her to start the company blog. Not being an expert in lingerie, she decided to write the blog as a fictional serial starring a girl named Olivia Bloom who worked for the lingerie line. And that’s when Katie fell in love with storytelling. She hasn’t looked back since. Katie lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

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Tour Schedule

Feb 10

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