As a fan of rockstar romances I always celebrate when a new book with this theme is released. Today is a day to celebrate as Lexxie Couper's sixth book in her Heart of Fame series, Blame It On the Bass, is released! Keep reading to get a taste of this book, along with my impressions of it, and then add it to your shopping list. So let's give a big cheer to this newly released m/m (with a sizzling ménage added) read.......
After a horrific accident robs rock legend Levi Levistan and his long-time partner, Corbin, of their dream of becoming parents, Levi is lost in a sea of grief. Until he runs into an old high school flame and their chemistry reignites. Corbin Smith is intent on bridging the chasm between their hearts. But witnessing his lover’s steamy onstage kiss with a woman jolts him to the core with sexual arousal. And he realizes the key to their healing is standing in Levi’s arms. As an erotic romance editor, nothing much unsettles Sonja Stone. She’s not even surprised at her body’s powerful reaction to Levi’s kiss. But when Corbin approaches them, eyes smoldering with hunger, his suggestion shakes her to the core.Sensing their unspoken wounds, Sonja agrees to take a chance on a threesome. Their union is explosively perfect, but something is holding Levi back from sealing their searing emotional connection. Something that could destroy their love once and for all…
EXCERPT:
“Are you going to tell me what’s bugging you?”
Levi Levistan dragged his stare from the crystal glass in his hand, currently a quarter full of Chivas Regal scotch whiskey, the same liquid currently burning a path down his throat.
He grimaced at the man sitting opposite him. “Not much to say. Corbin hasn’t said a word to me for over a month. We haven’t slept together since the funeral. Haven’t touched since then either. To be honest, I don’t even know where he is at this very moment in time. Could be back in the States." He shrugged, raised the whiskey to his mouth and swallowed the last of it in a single gulp.
He grimaced again. Yep, there’s the burn all right.
Nick Blackthorne raised his own glass and drained it with equal speed before wiping at his lips with the back of his hand. “The funeral messed you both up, Levi.”
Levi stared at his now empty glass. “You can say that again.”
In the background, Nick’s baby daughter—now a healthy two-month-old and well on her way to emulating her daddy’s phenomenal voice if the protests she made at having her nappy changed earlier were anything to go by—cooed happily.
The sound tore at Levi’s heart. He knew Nick was doing his best to keep Chloe away from him. Knew Lauren, Nick’s wife, had taken the babe into the back guest room of Nick’s sprawling home to spare Levi the pain of seeing her, but at every healthy, happy gurgle he heard—no matter how faint—his gut clenched. It seemed he was a masochist in his grief.
Every time little Chloe made a sound, he strained to hear more.
Ached to hear more.
Ached for what should have been.
Levi placed his glass on the coffee table between him and the man once considered the greatest rock star in the world and then reached for the bottle of Chivas. He didn’t drink in excess. Hadn’t done for years. Not since the band’s wild days. But with the way life had fucked him over these last two months…
Burn the pain away, mate. Burn it away.
A heavy prickling sensation on the top of his head told him Nick watched him. Silently. It was the singer’s way. Not say much, observe. Take it all in. Levi was the same. It was one of the reasons he and Nick had connected when they’d first been introduced by Walter Winchester, Nick’s long-time record producer in a recording studio in Melbourne close to twenty years ago. Levi was never meant to be Nick’s permanent bass player, but they’d clicked straight away. From that point onward, Nick had refused to perform with anyone else on bass.
“You think I’ve had enough?” he asked, pouring himself another drink. His third? Or fourth? He didn’t really know.
“I didn’t say that.”
Nick’s calm response scraped at Levi’s frayed state of mind. He picked his glass up and settled back in the armchair, staring at the amber liquid within in. “Didn’t have to.”
Silence greeted his response.
Levi let his head fall back against the chair, moving his gaze to the window behind Nick.“Remember when Jax cracked his head open the night he fell off the stage? In London?”
The sound of ice settling in his glass punctuated the silence. “Strings called me a coldhearted bastard, remember that?”
“Because you told us to continue the show without him.”
“Yeah. We sent Brutal and Aslin to the hospital with him.” Levi scratched at his beard. It was due for a trim. He’d let it go since the funeral. Hell, now he thought of it, when was the last time he’d combed his hair? His gut twisted. “Do you think Strings was right?” he asked, looking at Nick once more. “About me? Do you think I’m a coldhearted bastard?”
“I think you deal with things differently than most. That’s all. This isn’t about Jax or Samuel though, is it?”
Levi snorted. Nick Blackthorne always did have a way of cutting straight through the bullshit.
“Is it, Levi?” the singer repeated.
Closing his eyes, Levi let out a ragged sigh. “He called me an unfeeling bastard.”
“Corbin?”
He nodded, raising his dry eyes to Nick. “The morning of the funeral. I was fixing his tie—he always gets it crooked—and he told me I was an unfeeling bastard.”
“Grief.”
Levi’s chest squeezed. Leave it to Nick to put the weight of the world in one damn word.
Swallowing, he opened his eyes and looked at his friend over the rim of his scotch glass. “It wasn’t the first time he’d called me that since we’ve been together.”
FIND ON GOODREADS here.
BUY LINKS: Amazon US | Amazon AU | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Samhain
MY IMPRESSIONS OF THIS BOOK:
My love of rockstars continues with this sixth book in Ms. Couper's Heart of Fame series. Just when things look to be going perfect for new couple Corbin and Levi tragedy strikes and the resulting grief pulls them apart. To reignite their connection it will take Levi's dealing with ghosts from his childhood along with a blast from his past who changes their relationship forever.
In their relationship Corbin has always been the calming influence, the one good with words and open with his emotions. Until tragedy struck he was willing to put up with Levi's inability to express his feelings and the perception of coldness this belied...but no more. He loves him too much to leave permanently but is willing to do whatever it takes to help them, and Levi, heal. Corbin never expected the healing to come in the form of Levi's former lover Sonja though. His life gets turned upside down by the energy and sexiness she brings to their relationship and he soon sees her as more than a temporary fix but rather a part of their future. Sexual and physical abuse by his father still haunts Levi today and has forced his emotions to be closed off. He doesn't want to lose Corbin but is scared to deal with his past. He has no choice though after reuniting with the one person who really knows him. She makes him feel alive again after the tragedy and her no-nonsense attitude has him opening up which makes their ménage even more intense and imperative to his and Corbin's relationship. Sonja's a breath of fresh air with her tell it like it is attitude. She never stopped loving Levi and her burgeoning friendship with Corbin quickly morphs into sexual attraction that's believable and super hot. She loves the connection she sees between Corbin and Levi and will do anything to see them succeed but soon wants more as their ménage starts to feel like a family.
Through its compelling characters, intense emotions, and numerous scorching sexual encounters I found myself fully immersed in these character's lives. Their hurts were mine as their grief and anger was palpable. While the crazed paparazzo was a bit too over the top in his actions and the ending too rushed and predictable, I still found much to like about this book. With its sense of healing and hopefulness hinted at in the final pages I'm greatly anticipating the next installment and highly recommend it to those who like scorching hot stories with substance.
My rating for this is an A-
*I received this book from the author for review in exchange for my honest opinion.
Lexxie’s not a deviant. She just has a deviant’s imagination and a desire to entertain readers with her words. Add the two together and you get darkly erotic romances with a twist of horror, sci-fi and the paranormal. When she’s not submerged in the worlds she creates, Lexxie’s life revolves around her family, a husband who thinks she’s insane, a indoor cat who likes to stalk shadows, two yabbies hell-bent on destroying their tank and her daughters, who both utterly captured her heart and changed her life forever. Having no idea how old she really is, Lexxie decided to go with 27 and has been that age for quite some time now. It's the best of both worlds - old enough to act mature, young enough to be silly.And silly she can be. Just ask her husband who frequently has to endure her bursting into song whenever the mood strikes her, feeling him up in public (one of her favorite pastimes), or rolling around in the sand with their dog - a large mutt of dubious origins who causes almost as much havoc around the neighborhood as Lexxie herself. Or squealing her way down the slide at the local park with her daughter! Lexxie lives by two simple rules - measure your success not by how much money you have, but by how often you laugh, and always try everything at least once. As a consequence, she's laughed her way through many an eyebrow raising adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment