Release Date: February 12 , 2015
Emily Portman loves her job. A writer for Breakout! Magazine, she shadows and showcases up-and-coming bands. When her next assignment takes her to Austin, Texas, she can’t wait to add the city to her map of places she’s visited. Places she’s left without looking back. Her plan is to keep moving on, and the last thing she needs is a man holding her back. She’s not going down that road again.
Tyler Macy is stuck in a rut. Despite his exceptional talent as a musician, he has chosen to take a backseat with his music and let others grab the limelight. Wounded and mistrustful, he doesn’t appreciate his friends’ efforts to bring him back to center stage. Emily comes onto the scene and sees his full potential, but he fights to stay in the shadows, shutting her out before she can add to the scars another woman gave him.
For Tyler to find his music again, he needs to accept the help that Emily and their friends offer. When he discovers that his muse lies underneath Emily’s skin, it is still not enough to keep her from walking away. Neither will admit what they really want until it is too late.
Emily is once again thrown in Tyler’s path when she is assigned to join them on tour. Despite the pain in his past, Tyler sees that she is worth it, even if she’s stolen both his heart and peace of mind. In order for them to be together, they both must discover whether the music and their passion are enough to overcome the obstacles that separate them.
Maybe finding love is worth the risk.
Walking toward him is like trudging through the deepest mud, but I hold my head high, my hands in my pockets and strides long. When I’m less than a foot away, his head turns toward me without lifting his chin, and he looks up from under his brows. The white smoke from his cigarette causes his eyes to nearly close before he pulls it from his lips and exhales upward into the air.
I’m struck by how incredibly handsome he is in black wool and new jeans. I want to know if his skin feels hot under his clothes and if his back feels the same when I scratch fingernails across his spine. My fists clench in my coat pockets at the thought. This is going to be so much harder than I’d been prepared for.
Robin’s Review
In July of last year, I received a recommendation from a trusted friend to read Puddle Jumping. I had never heard of author Amber L. Johnson, but I decided to read Colton and Lilly’s story after reading the synopsis. I found their story so refreshing! I loved it so much that I ordered a paperback copy as soon as I finished reading it – something I only do with my very favorite novels. Puddle Jumping also made my list of ten favorite novels of 2014, and I read 125 novels last year! I was very excited to be chosen to review a copy of Maybe, the newest contemporary romance from Johnson.
Emily Portman dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina, but her dream came to an end when she blew out her knee at the age of nineteen. It was a time of great loss for Emily. She had to reconsider her career choice. Emily now travels across the United States, shadowing and writing about up and coming bands for Breakout! Magazine.
Tyler Macy is an incredible musician, a gifted song writer and, until recently, the lead singer for his band. He could sing beautifully in front of a crowd until his muse broke his heart. Now he prefers to hide behind a drum set and struggles to write new songs for the band. He’s lost his inspiration.
Emily’s newest assignment takes her to Austin, Texas, a city well-known for producing talent for the music industry. Her company places her in a temporary apartment where a mysterious drummer in her building keeps her awake at night. That drummer is Tyler Macy, and he’s her next assignment.
Tyler and Emily have both been deeply scarred by past relationships. They are both scared of commitment. Afraid of being hurt again. Neither of them is looking for a relationship, but Emily and Tyler are undoubtedly attracted to each other. And with Emily, Tyler discovers music again. He starts writing beautiful songs. Singing. Gaining confidence. Emily has become his new muse.
Amber L. Johnson is a gifted writer. She uses her creative ability to write unusual and interesting stories. Puddle Jumping was no coincidence. I have also read two other novels written by Johnson, Beatless and Eight Days a Week, and I enjoyed them both. But it saddens me to say I was disappointed with Maybe. I found this story to be less polished than other novels I had previously read by this author. Maybe held my attention, but there were many occasions where I felt the writing did not translate what the author was intending to communicate. I had a difficult time identifying which characters were speaking, especially in conversations involving more than two individuals. Sometimes I struggled because the text was not descriptive enough. This made it hard to picture what the author was attempting to convey. I found myself rereading scenes in an attempt to understand what I had already read.
It is my understanding Maybe may have been written earlier in Johnson’s writing career and is now being published several years after it was written. If this is the case, it may explain the difference in writing quality that I have grown accustomed to from Johnson. Generally speaking, writing usually improves with experience. I really do think Maybe is a sweet and sexy contemporary romance. With further editing to clarify the text, I believe Maybe could be a 4-star novel. But as the story is now, the best rating I can give Maybe is 3 stars. This definitely won’t hold me back from more from Amber L. Johnson! I’m already looking forward to her next novel, For Authentication Purposes, which will be released soon!
A true child of music, Amber’s parents surrounded her with the loudest beats they could find, molding her into a girl who found inspiration and meaning in lyrics and chords. Raised on John Hughes movies, Luck Dragons, and pirate ships, she dreamed of love and adventure. When Amber began to create her own world, she envisioned a place where Happy Ever Afters do exist. Since then, she has authored several romance novels, all of which focus on songs and the way they can touch people’s lives. Music may not be able to fix a broken heart, but it can provide one hell of a soundtrack for healing.A full-time wife and mother with a full-time job, Amber finds her muse in everyday life and the people who bring her inspiration.
Saucy Southern Readers 
Thank you for taking the time to read Maybe and for being part of my blog tour!
xoxoxo
Amber