Awesome

Great book, kept my attention all the way to the end, amazing audio delivery, loved it. Will be reading again, every chapter was received amazingly do recommend you give it a read.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Loved It!

This is the 3rd book in the series and I'm as hooked as I was when I read the 1st book. They are all well written and wonderfully narrated. This series is definitely worth listening to!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

My favorite so far

It was great though heartbreaking to know Drake's backstory. As always this was really hot and i enjoyed both narrators

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

❤️🖤

As always, another great story. The readers for the other two books were perfection as were these. On to book 4

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

surprisingly the best in the series

Drake is very unlikable in the other books, but he redeems himself here. You can actually feel for him. Sterling is painted as a villain, but we never really witness him do anything bad to anyone. I like them together they're 2 a-holes that found each other.

The narration is really good. Alexander Cendese has a frat boy quality that I prefer in sports stories, but I didn't mind him here. and his accents were good too.
I'm not familiar with the other guy, but he was good too.

There wasn't much of a story beside the MCs getting over the past and admitting their feelings. the flashbacks were well done. and the sexy times were much better than the other books. I was entertained.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Fun book, but with dark undertones

This is a re-read for me by audio. I initially first read this series by text and really enjoyed it. I skipped the second book’s audiobook and jumped to this one after listening to the first book.

Philip Alces is a new to me narrator and I was worried at first since this series has been both great at times and sometimes also a fail when it comes to picking narrators. But I liked him a lot as Drake! Drake is British and I think his performance for the character was lovely. I certainly look forward to finding and listening more audiobooks by him after this.

Alexander Cendese is…Alexander Cendese. I feel like you either love his narration or you don’t? His narration is very brusque sounding. But I liked his performance as Sterling. I think it matched Sterling’s personality.

I think with this book, because the story is told in alternating POV chapters, the same characters (like those in the band) do wind up sounding different depending on who the narrator is at the time? It’s not a HUGE bother, but it is noticeable.

I think the audiobook production overall was really enjoyable for this book, and this is definitely something I would re-read through audio the next time I’m in the mood for a kinky rock band romance!

Like I said in my audiobook review for book 2, Collaring Chaz, I will unfortunately be skipping out on the audiobook for the next book with Saint and Danny in Saving Saint. The way this series was handled was super weird with new narrators for each book, and I’m just not a fan of either narrator enough for book 4 to give it a go.

***The rest of this review is from my initial review of the book when I read it as text***

I’ve been waiting for this book, and it was just as addicting to read this book as it was to read the first two books in the series!! There were some moments that I kind of question, and the ending was a bit disappointing, but overall, this was a decent book with Drake and Sterling.

This book is NOT a standalone since the characters are introduced in the previous books and the relationships between the other couples makes much more sense read in order.

The author does provide some really thorough trigger warnings at the start of the book but I will add that blackmail is a huge part of this book as well. TWs from the author: Drake uses drugs, and rehab is not a theme in this book, so some readers may consider that an unresolved issue. Sterling is very dominant, and the “encounters” between the two men tend to be rough, especially in Sterling’s dungeon (however, Drake is never injured). There is also mention of past parental and relationship abuse, such as an older ex grooming a young man and having a child with him. (The abusers are not in the picture anymore.)

We’ve met Drake as a competent, but sometimes distant, manager of Dante’s Infernal in the previous books. Drake is Dante’s father and Drake’s biggest rival is a man named Sterling at an opposing music label. We find out the exact type of relationship Drake and Sterling have had throughout the years, and it’s a doozy.

I’m usually not a fan of time jumps between chapters of the characters past and the present. But surprisingly, it works here. We learn more about the relationship between Sterling and Drake, as the sadist Dom and masochistic sub and how they came to know each other even years before their kinks came into the picture. The timeline, unfortunately, does get confusing if you try to piece it together because it’s not clear when everything takes place or how much time has passed, past or present.

One thing missing for me is the reason really behind their bickering and animosity for one another. Is it just because of Sterling’s competitiveness and his hate that Drake gave it all up when they were younger? Is it because Drake always saw Sterling as being one step ahead and having it all? The “enemies” part of this “enemies to lovers” is too vague to me to really FEEL the reasons of why they hate each other unfortunately.

I will say that I did like all the sexy scenes and all the moments when Drake and Sterling are just in the same room with one another. But is it enough to save the plot holes and the plot itself? I would say, not really. And that’s really unfortunate, because I love the characters but it just feels like something is missing from this story.

There weren’t any big angst moments, but it still felt a bit surface level of feelings. Like, we know Drake’s drinking and cocaine use doesn’t get addressed at all, but what’s Sterling’s feelings on that? Just all a part of being in the business? We see it being addressed with Dante but with Drake it’s just not a big thing because he’s a high functioning alcoholic ready to kill his liver? Their angst towards one another never felt real for me, the confessions and love declarations, while sweet, never did either.

A side note that while there’s moments and hints of some BDSM, a lot in this book is on the tamer side so there’s not really any heavy BDSM scenes as some readers might expect. Condoms, even while they knowingly have sex with other people, is apparently not a thing in this book.

One of the biggest things that bothered me in this story is that there’s really no women in this story. There was a potential for one when the news that Sterling’s label was merging with Drake’s and Sterling had a band with a woman in it who was lovely (we met her briefly in the last book) but she’s very conveniently out of the picture in this book.

The only other woman mentioned is Dante’s mother, who is Drake’s ex and who was his manager once upon a time. It’s been a hot minute since I read the previous books, so if this was mentioned before, I’ve long forgotten. But this woman groomed Drake at a very, very young age (since he was TEN), then she got pregnant and had Dante when Drake was SIXTEEN and she was THIRTY. She’s a sexual predator and I’m glad she’s not in the picture at all. But even here, Drake’s relationship with her is sidestepped most of the book even though everyone around him tries to address it and point blank told him that he was sexually abused as a child.

It’s sad that there’s basically no female characters in these books and the ones who ARE mentioned is between an ex-bandmate, Drake’s alcoholic and abusive mother, and Drake’s sexually abusive ex.

Moments I did like in this book are the times with the band and meeting the new bandmates, Saint and Danny, who will be the fourth book in this series. We’ve met them before and while I do like Danny, I’m not a big fan of Saint just yet. So, it’ll be interesting to read his book, I guess.

The ending felt extremely rushed to me and I don’t like the new direction the band is going, even though I guess I technically understand it? For that particular character’s sake at least. It just feels sad to me though so for the sake of the band, I didn’t love that decision.

This book was a quick read and I loved returning to this world and seeing all the band members again. There definitely could’ve been more depth to the story, but I still look forward to reading the next book when it comes out.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Love

Loved the book it was a great love story I am hoping the rest of the series is just as good.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I had to skip every other chapter

I bought this book because the sample was Philip Alces, one of my favorite voices. And as always, he does a wonderful job. If the sample had been Alexander Cendese, however, I would have saved my credit. No matter what the character is saying, Cendese makes it sound like a dudebro waxing enthusiastic about football. Casting should have just had Alces do the whole thing.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Love this

So much better than book two, i loved the book, i loved the performance even more.
A good performance really brings books to life

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I wish I hadn't bothered

I could not listen any longer. Sterling has no redeeming qualities at all. Not as a character and certainly not as a Dom. No spoiler here, but what he does to Drake about 2 hours from the end was all I could take. Second return for me from this author so I think it will be my last try. Excellent narration nonetheless.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful