Can't Let Her Go by Sandy James is a good fit for readers who enjoy contemporary romance novels with a focus on down-to-earth characters finding love amidst their differences in the world of country music.

Book 2 in the series, but the first I've read. This has Ethan and Chelsea's story. He has baggage and she has grief, but together they find a way to balance each other out. A good read overall, but did find myself skimming a bit here and there as I had trouble staying connected at times. Not sure why. Still though, kept my interest to the HEA and would recommend.

I was really enthralled with Can’t Let Her Go. Sandy James pulled me in with this story and I didn’t come up for air until I was finished. I, honestly, couldn’t put it down. The drama, from beginning to end, with Ethan was fascinating and I couldn’t wait to see how he was going to overcome his feelings and fears that the Nashville community instilled in him. It was going to take one hell of a woman to get him out of his own head, off the horse farm and into a recording studio. He met his match in Chelsea and now it’s time to face the music.

Ethan had his reasons for hating the paparazzi. Ethan had his reasons for hating the Nashville music scene. Ethan had his reasons for not wanting to give-in to Chelsea’s request. No matter what she did, what she said, he would not sing a duet with her. Yes, she showed him that she was a true country girl, that she could handle just about every situation. But, she loved the spotlight, loved her fans, loved social media and he can’t stand any part of that. Add to that that she wants him to sing a duet with her of his parents biggest hit … no, just no. Even if it is just for charity, he’s not putting himself front and center again. He’s not putting his heart on the line for a country music star. He’s not leaving his ranch.

Chelsea suffered a great loss and the only way she knows how to bring herself some solace is through singing. Her idea of an album to raise money for cancer was brilliant. Now, she has just one problem. How does she get Ethan to sing with her? She knows that he hates the limelight. She knows that he hates being referred to as the son of Nashville Royalty. She knows he loves his bar, Words and Music and his horses. She also knows that he will turn her down flat but she’s willing to try and will do just about anything to get his melodic voice on her album. With some help from Russ, Savannah and The Hitman, a mutual love of horses and some cajoling, Ethan relents and agrees to the duet.

As this relationship grew from friends to lovers, I couldn’t help but fall a little bit in love with Ethan. I understood his hatred of all things celebrity but also understood Chelsea’s want for this album to be made. Watching them fall in love and then have it all blown to hell by an ignorant wanna-be, hurt my heart. I loved the story line, the wedding, the island. I hated the angst caused by jealousy. But, in the end, I cried and wished for more.

Sandy James wrote a wonderful story. She brought her characters to life and gave us a glimpse into the lives of Nashville’s stars. She wrote beautiful secondary characters that just added to the love story. She gave us an unbelievable ending that brought me to my knees. I truly enjoyed this new-to-me author and am looking forward to more of the Nashville Dream series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and I am voluntarily reviewing it.

This is author is new to me but she blew me away. This was awesome. I totally was into this story from the first. The characters were so realistic and believable. I hated to put this book down. Each side of their story was so understandable. The way they opened up to each other was authentic. The miscommunication that they suffered from was SO REALISTIC; that as an outsider (reader), you just want to slap them. Seeing miscommunication like this in real life is heartwrenching and happens often.

This story deserves more than 5 stars!! I highly recommend this.

I loved this story by new to me author Sandy James. Chelsea is a country music star and comes up with a great charity idea, sing duets with other children of country music stars. Ethan is the son of two country superstars and he hates the idea and turns her down flat. He comes off as a jerk at first, but at the story continues, you find out why he hates the business so much. He owns a country music club in Nashville with his two good friends and would rather be there or with his horses. Chelsea is persistent and the sparks fly. She is a good and kind down to earth woman with a good heart and doesn't put on phony airs. Ethan slowly begins to see things in a different light, but a misunderstanding almost causes the two to lose their HEA before it barely starts, but Ms James talented writing saves the day. I can't wait to read more in this series. This is book #2, but I just found this series, so I have some catching up to do!

This was my first title by this author, and it is not going to be my last. I enjoyed the characters, I thought they were realistic and they seemed like people. The writing was even and there were not any places where I felt the story was too rushed or too slow. There were a lot of references to a previous title, which did at points make me feel like there was info I didn't totally have, but this was filled in enough that I did not feel that I was lost.

Ethan is the son of country music legends, and briefly was a teen star (or on the road to being one). Chelsea is putting together a duets album with herself and the children of former stars. She can't understand why he says no, repeatedly, to her requests...so she decides to enlist his assistance in purchasing and boarding a horse. Is it a ploy? Yes. Does he see through it? Also yes. But, it gets them together and in one another's space...and the sparks fly.

I enjoyed this title. I really liked Ethan, and I really understood the reasons he was so reluctant to have anything to do with the press or the spotlight, and why a relationship with Chelsea would be tough for him, no matter how much he cared.

I recommend this title.

Such a beautifully written book. Loved It and would highly recommend.

LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED

This book was just amazing!!! Usually stories involving one famous person and one common person tend to put the famous person as the male character. In fact this was the first book I've read where it was reversed and that the female character was famous. Ethan was famous to a degree, but he wasn't hounded and followed by the press the way Chelsea was. Every so often his name would come up in an article online but for the most part he was forgotten by the press. That all changes though when Chelsea walks into his life.

A great story about Ethan trying to come to terms with his past and what happened to his parents while falling in love with someone who has to deal with everything he hates. Loved their immediate connection; it felt like they had known each other for years. Loved how Ethan fought himself over what he wanted and what he thought he wanted from life.

5 stars

Synopsis: Ethan is the son of two famous country singers. When he was a child, he never felt as though he had a life of his own, that his parents were always on display, and so was he. When his parents were killed trying to get away from the paparazzi, he became more reclusive and just wants to train his horses and run his bar.
When Chelsea, a country superstar, comes in to his bar trying to get him to sing one of his parents' duets with her for a charity album, Ethan says no. The cause is really important to Chelsea, though, and she is determined to get Ethan to do it. She buys a horse and has the horse homed at Ethan's ranch, so they see a lot of each other away from outside distractions.
Ethan is attracted to Chelsea, but he really doesn't want to live life in the spotlight, and when they are outed, they have to decide how they will deal with it.

What I liked: the build in relationship between Ethan and Chelsea. There was attraction, but they get to know one another before they act on it. They are both strong individuals, with strong views and personalities, and watching them learn to deal with each other was interesting. I liked that they communicated with each other and didn't let things fester. Even if they didn't entirely get where the other person was coming from, they still talked about it. The secondary characters were interesting, and there was good chemistry between all the characters. I liked the fact that Chelsea quickly forgot her plan to get close to Ethan, and enjoyed being around him just to be around him, and I liked that Ethan let go of his control a little and took a chance on having a relationship.

What I didn't like: I wanted to ask both Ethan and Chelsea if they had ever heard of the word compromise, because their biggest problem wasn't that they didn't communicate (thank goodness!), but that they thought it had to be completely one way or completely the other.

Overall impressions: the characters felt real, with human reactions and foibles. I was impressed with the editing and the tone of the story, which flowed nicely.

*I received a free copy through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

I enjoyed this book the story was really enjoyable and I didn’t want to put it down once I started reading will be reading more from this author

I love celebrity/musician romances. This contemporary romance by Sandy James did not disappoint. I love Ethan and Chelsea as a couple. This story really spotlighted the stress that celebrities face when dealing with the information hungry press and public. I enjoyed their circle of friends. I plan to go back and read book 1 and continue with this series.
Thanks to Forever Yours Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars--CAN’T LET HER GO is the second instalment in Sandy James’ contemporary, adult NASHVILLE DREAMS romance series focusing on three friends who own and operate Words and Music-a bar in Nashville, Tennessee: Brad Maxwell, Ethan Walker and Russell Green. This is reluctant, former teen singing sensation Ethan Walker, and country singer Chelsea Harris’s story line. CAN’T LET HER GO can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Chelsea and Ethan) CAN’T LET HER GO follows the building relationship between former child star Ethan Walker, and country music celebrity Chelsea Harris. Ethan Walker is the progeny of country music’s hottest couple but when his father tried to outrun the paparazzi, our hero was left an orphan with a great disdain for everything music and celebrity represents. Enter rising country music star Chelsea Harris-the woman with whom Ethan would fall in love. Chelsea is hoping to release a charity album of duets featuring the children of former music stars, and Ethan Walker is her only hold-out. What ensues are the contemptuous relationship between Chelsea and Ethan, and the fall-out when their friendship and association becomes fodder for the tabloid press.

Ethan Walker is content to work on his ranch, and sit behind the bar serving drinks to his friends and customers but Chelsea Harris’ persistence as it pertains to a duet with our story line hero pushes all of Ethan’s buttons including the buttons that stir up too many memories of his parents and the past. His behaviour and reluctance to help is fuelled by the loss of his parents, and a loss of power over his life as a singing star but I have to questions his lack of maturity on too many occasions. Chelsea is determined to release a charity album in honor of her father, who passed away, an album meant to bring awareness and raise funds for cancer research.

The relationship between Chelsea and Ethan begins acrimoniously as Chelsea persists in her attempts to bring Ethan on board. Ethan is determined to remain out of the music business having had to deal with the fall-out of fame and paparazzi at a very young age. The $ex scenes are intimate but mostly implied.

We are reintroduced to Ethan’s business partners Russell Green, Brad Maxwell and Savannah Wolf (Can’t Walk Away #1), as well as introduction of Chelsea’s agent Addie, her mother Betsy , and Chuck Austin, a man who sets out to destroy the building relationship between Ethan and Chelsea.

The world building focuses on two things close to the author’s heart: horses and cancer research. We are up close and personal as Sandy James takes the reader into the world of raising horses, as well as the struggle with which many families have to deal-losing a loved one to cancer.

CAN’T LET HER GO is a story of friendship and family; of betrayal and loss; of letting go of the past and moving forward with life. The premise is engaging and thought-provoking; the romance is hindered by memories of the past; the characters are colorful and charismatic.

Copy supplied by Netgalley


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I really loved this story. It's real and has all the emotions front and center that a great book has.
I'm cutting the blurb, you read it so moving on.
Ethan, the child of country star parents who has a pure hatred for anything related to the music field especially the press. He blames the press for his parents death. When he meets Chelsea, who is a star as well and has a huge fan base, they struggle with it and things seem to go well until they don't.
Ethan loses his mind over something that would likely have popped up numerous times, but this one really pushes his buttons. Enough to make him snap. Ethan wasn't an easy man to like. I loved Chelsea and her friend Addy. Chelsea seemed to roll with things and didn't lose who she was.
Ethan was an immovable object. It was black and white and with him honestly mostly black.
There relationship was hot and totally flammable, the spark was there and so obvious to everyone. Except maybe the bonehead. Oh he got the spark part but damn his selfish backside and when he pulled his last little hissy I was just about done with his sorry behind. I told Chelsea run the other way and don't look back.
Fantastic read and lots of emotion and ups and downs. It will keep you turning those pages and cussing at Ethan.

**arc from NetGalley and publisher**
*I received a copy of this book for review. The above is my honest review and any opinions therein are my own.*

Can’t Let Her Go was… a nice read. I didn’t love it but I didn’t not like it. It is full of country music (which I love), horses (which I’m not too fond of) and a cute relationship between a famous country star and a man full of baggage.

Chelsea is a famous country singer. She’s recording an album to raise money for charity. When she approaches Ethan and asks hims to do a duet with her, he turns her down flat. But Chelsea is not one to give up easily, she needs that duet for her album. So she sticks around, gets to know Ethan, buys a horse and maybe even… falls in love a tiny bit.

I wasn’t really invested in Chelsea and Ethan’s relationship. I loved Chelsea’s character but something about Ethan rubbed me the wrong way, I couldn’t for the life of me bring myself to love him. Because of that I skim read though some parts of the book and didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped.

Overall, I felt like this book was missing some emotion and/or passion since I love books that take me on insane roller coaster rides of emotion but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It is a cute read. It didn’t rock me to my core and it didn’t keep me at the edge of my seat but it is definitely something you should read if you are a hopeless romantic.

Usually with romances you can find a bit of yourself (or a bit that you wished was you) but this one was a little different. It’s all about dealing with the side effects of fame. Ethan experienced it thanks to his parents and decided it definitely wasn’t something he wanted. Chelsea sees it as just a by-product of her singing career. She’s worked hard to get where she is and understands that it is her fans that got her there … she just has to accept that it comes with paparazzi and people who think they have a right to comment on her private life. Obviously with two such differing opinions there is going to be trouble when Ethan and Chelsea fall in love.

While I have no experience to draw on to relate to either of them, James does a fantastic job of giving you well-developed characters so you understand where both of them are coming from. It is totally understandable why Ethan would do everything he can to stay out of the spotlight and ignore any press, but after seeing how the world is now, especially with the access of social media, people like Taylor Swift are the perfect example of why Chelsea feels the need to support the machine. When the trouble hits, I have to admit that I felt more for one of them than the other … both of them are stubborn and it doesn’t lead to an easy compromise but it seemed one of them tried even less than the other :)

With a totally awesome HEA moment and characters that I loved, Can’t Let Her Go is not to be missed.

Opposites attract in the heart of Nashville! With the second book in the Nashville Dreams series, we get Ethan's story. We met him in the first book and got a hint into his past as the son of music legends, and with this book we get details of how his childhood went down and why he chooses to turn away from it all and shun the spotlight on a daily basis. The characters are fun and the plot is interesting. Looking forward to more in the series!

Rising star Chelsea Harris is enjoying living the life as a country music performer in Nashville. The last few years have been extremely busy for her, so she's looking forward to a little time off of the road as she works on recording an album of duets for a charity project that is near and dear to her heart. She has one dream talent that she knows she just has to get to agree to do a song with her on the record ... it will make it a hit and raise tons of money for sure! ... only problem is, he's flat out saying no way.

Cowboy Ethan Walker has no interest in stepping into the limelight with Chelsea. He's lived his whole life trying to live down the stigma of being the only child of the King & Queen of Country Music. His youth was spent in a music career with a voice full of potential that he gladly walked away from once he was old enough to have his say. Give him the horses on his farm any day of the week for company and he's a happy man. He kind of let's his friends that he co-owns Words & Music bar with pester him into hearing her out and giving her a chance ... but he doesn't have to be happy about it! The more time he spends getting to know the girl behind the name, the more he realizes he likes her ... if she could just be happy out of the media circus, he could see himself happy with her. If only!

Sandy James writes to country music fans in Can't Let Her Go, the second book of the Nashville Dreams series. Chelsea Harris is putting together an album of duets to raise money for cancer research. Ethan Walker, partial owner of Words & Music and son of the King and Queen Country Music, would be the perfect addition to the album. However, much to Chelsea's disappointment he refuses to sing with her.

Chelsea devises a plan to get closer to Ethan but instead gets pulled into his orbit. As they bond over horses, Ethan allows Chelsea in bit by bit. Chelsea is a world class star and Ethan wants nothing to do with paparazzi and the limelight. On the outside it's like the two of them are the perfect match, except for Ethan's distrust of celebrities and their lifestyle. Ethan is a bit stuck in the past in regard to his experience with the press, but that doesn't keep him away from the top country music star who is open with her fans and stays on top of rumors from the press.

Through misunderstandings and genuine personal revelations, Chelsea and Ethan try to work towards a real and honest relationship. I love how these two put their hearts on the line even though they are at first unwilling to change for one another. To see them move past their insecurities and find what really is at the heart of their fears, and then deal with those fears, is amazing to witness throughout the novel.

Can't Let Her Go is a fun romance filled with passion and devastatingly real characters. Chelsea and Ethan have opened my eyes to a type of romance that I'll be seeking more of in the future!
*ARC provided in consideration for review*

This is a charming country romance. The characters are very likable and the story is interesting. This is the second book in the series but I read it just fine as a standalone.

Ethan had two business partner in his bar Words And Music they were Russell and Brad. Then Russell pointed out Chelsea Harris was in the bar. Ethan’s father had taught him to keep work and fun separate. Chelsea was the hottest thing to hit country music in the last five years. Chelsea had reached celebrity status from what Ethan can see. Ethan knew so much as chelsea lived her life in the open. Ethan couldn’t help but be attracted to chelsea. Chelsea came to the bar to talk to ethan she told him he had done well with the bar. Everyone knew of ethan’s aversion to ever being part of the country music scene was legendary. Chelsea wanted Ethan to sing with her as he had an amazing voice. Ethan hated that his parents had been Nashville stars, after walking away from a budding singing career years ago. Ethan hated anything to do with performing or recording. Ethan wanted to know wanted to know what Chelsea wanted when she didn’t answer he went back to work filling drink orders. Then to everyone’s surprise Chelsea went behind the bar and started making some drinks. She had tended bar before making it big. Chelsea was attracted to Ethan Chelsea’s father had died the year before from cancer and Chelsea wanted to do a charity album with singing duets with kids of former Nashville stars and she wanted Ethan cover one of his parents songs with her. Ethan said no way and walked away from the bar. Ethans parents had been killed in a tragic car accident trying to get away from a butt of a photographer. They were still running stories about his parents fifteen years later. Ethan had brought to the horse farm shortly after his parents deaths. Ethan was a player and Chelsea got under his skin and women didn’t do that. Chelsea and etan started to give being together a chance. Then word got out about Chelsea and Ethan and photographers were all over the place.
I really liked this book I loved Ethan and Chelsea together. I also liked how ethan and Chelsea took things slow and built a relationship before sleeping together- Chelsea was stubborn on that. I liked the plot and the pace. I advise you to read the other in this series first to pull everything together. I liked how Chelsea put Ethan first like no one had ever done before. This was a pleasant enjoyable read. I loved the character sand the ins and outs of this book and I recommend.

Can't Let Her Go, by Sandy James is a contemporary romance, and the second book in the Nashville Dreams series.

Ethan Walker has spent most of his life trying to escape the spotlight of his parents' fame in country music, yet Chelsea Harris is determined to include Ethan in her upcoming charity album. Ethan is satisfied working at his bar, which he co-owns with friends, and avoiding country music. However, he has a wonderful singing voice, and Chelsea needs him to complete her

Chelsea Harris is a country music star, and she's working on a new album for a charity cause close to her heart. In order to complete this album, she needs Ethan Walker's amazing singing voice. However, he's satisfied with working at the bar, which he co-owns with friends. Ethan has spent most of his life trying to escape the spotlight of his parents' fame in country music, yet Chelsea is determined to include Ethan in her upcoming charity album. This story is entertaining and sincere with plenty of drama.

Can't Let Her Go is geared towards those who enjoy reading contemporary romances.


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.