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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Clever, funny and sweet. Just what I needed as a break from [b:Indulgence|8305102|Indulgence|Jack Llawayllynn|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|13154109].
ETA: Weeks later, scenes from this books still keep popping up in my head at odd moments. I'm upping the star rating.
ETA: Weeks later, scenes from this books still keep popping up in my head at odd moments. I'm upping the star rating.
Very sweet. I loved the footnotes, which made me laugh many a time. I'm not sure it's my fav. m/m rock story, but it's def a good addition to the sub genre. Def. worth a read.
The one thing I wanted growing up and, in fact, if I'm honest with myself, I still do, is musical talent. Any kind of talent, whether it's playing an instrument and reading music or being able to sing and have perfect pitch. Unfortunately, I'm a complete and utter musical dud. Luckily for the guys in 'American Love Songs' they are not and the way the author wrote about the music and their part in it allowed me to feel as if I were right there experiencing it with them. This is my first book by Ashlyn Kane but I do not believe it will be my last.
Jake, Chris, Jimmy, and Kylie comprise Wayward Sons, a start-up band featuring them as bass guitar, lead singer, drummer, and lead guitar, respectively. Unfortunately, Kylie accepts an offer to study overseas and get her degree leaving them without a lead guitar. In steps Parker to fill that void and he and Jake become the best of friends. Seems Parker is from South Dakota, originally, but for some reason he can't go home and he's just ended up here, eighteen hours before he meets Jake, actually. Funniest part? He didn't even know about the audition. He was carrying his guitar but he stopped to ask Jake for directions and then he ended up in a band and with a place to live as Jake's new roommate after Kylie left. As Jake said, it was "serendipitous"!
Wayward Sons gets picked up with a recording contract and thus begins their rise to fame, which was really fascinating to watch. Particularly with some things, like finding a production manager, since Chris, lead singer, has an ego beyond control, so they needed a woman, but not one who would sleep with him. It was actually kind of funny the whole interview process. And Jake was right in the choice, Allanna turned out to be a godsend. I loved how the author showcased what was going on with the band and their lives by using Jake's (and occasionally Parker's) blog posts on the band's web site, comment footnotes, and even magazine articles and interviews. It was a genius way of getting to know everyone while still using basically only one person's point of view.
Jake and Parker become best friends and roommates. All the while Jake is trying to get some more background on Parker but he's remarkably closemouthed about family, his home, and why he can't return there. It's not until the second tour that Jake realizes he's got a case of the unrequited lust going for Parker. It's partly Parker's fault though, as at the end of their last tour, Parker got drunk and high and kissed Jake. Being guys and in a band together, they never spoke of it. So now they're back on tour and sharing hotel rooms and a tour bus. Hmmm. I wonder what will happen now?
I fell in love with Jake and Parker. Jake is smart, funny, shameless, and has no filter between his brain and his mouth. He also knows how to love and how to take care of the people important to him. Parker is a musical genius, sweet, shy, and having survived a conservative right wing religious upbringing, Parker is remarkably gentle and loving. The fact that their relationship began as a very strong friendship before moving on to a loving partnership was a wonderful change of pace to what can be the norm.
This is a fantastic book and as I mentioned previously, it's not the last Ashlyn Kane book I will read. I can highly recommend this as a great story.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Jake, Chris, Jimmy, and Kylie comprise Wayward Sons, a start-up band featuring them as bass guitar, lead singer, drummer, and lead guitar, respectively. Unfortunately, Kylie accepts an offer to study overseas and get her degree leaving them without a lead guitar. In steps Parker to fill that void and he and Jake become the best of friends. Seems Parker is from South Dakota, originally, but for some reason he can't go home and he's just ended up here, eighteen hours before he meets Jake, actually. Funniest part? He didn't even know about the audition. He was carrying his guitar but he stopped to ask Jake for directions and then he ended up in a band and with a place to live as Jake's new roommate after Kylie left. As Jake said, it was "serendipitous"!
Wayward Sons gets picked up with a recording contract and thus begins their rise to fame, which was really fascinating to watch. Particularly with some things, like finding a production manager, since Chris, lead singer, has an ego beyond control, so they needed a woman, but not one who would sleep with him. It was actually kind of funny the whole interview process. And Jake was right in the choice, Allanna turned out to be a godsend. I loved how the author showcased what was going on with the band and their lives by using Jake's (and occasionally Parker's) blog posts on the band's web site, comment footnotes, and even magazine articles and interviews. It was a genius way of getting to know everyone while still using basically only one person's point of view.
Jake and Parker become best friends and roommates. All the while Jake is trying to get some more background on Parker but he's remarkably closemouthed about family, his home, and why he can't return there. It's not until the second tour that Jake realizes he's got a case of the unrequited lust going for Parker. It's partly Parker's fault though, as at the end of their last tour, Parker got drunk and high and kissed Jake. Being guys and in a band together, they never spoke of it. So now they're back on tour and sharing hotel rooms and a tour bus. Hmmm. I wonder what will happen now?
I fell in love with Jake and Parker. Jake is smart, funny, shameless, and has no filter between his brain and his mouth. He also knows how to love and how to take care of the people important to him. Parker is a musical genius, sweet, shy, and having survived a conservative right wing religious upbringing, Parker is remarkably gentle and loving. The fact that their relationship began as a very strong friendship before moving on to a loving partnership was a wonderful change of pace to what can be the norm.
This is a fantastic book and as I mentioned previously, it's not the last Ashlyn Kane book I will read. I can highly recommend this as a great story.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
This story was absolutely phenomenal. It's the story of four guys - three of whom have been friends forever and one newcomer - who take their small time back to the top. It's funny and such an easy read, but it also has all those heart-clenchy moments that truly make a book so sweet in the end. This book is homoerotica - meaning boy on boy love, so if that's not your thing, you might want to skip this one. But if you are even remotely intrigued, seriously give this book a read.
Way back in the fall of 2012 I bought a book about boys who love other boys. I wasn’t the m/m romance reader that I am today, honestly the only boy love action I had read was part of an erotica series. BUT I was interested and I had a thing for boys in bands so I bought American Love Songs. For reasons, so many that escape my mind at the moment and reasons I am quite frankly doing a major face palm for, I kept putting his book aside. I will be the first in line to kick my ass for not reading this sooner.
The book starts out with an adorable blog post from our narrator Jake Brenner as he tells us he is in love with his band mate, Parker McAvoy. I kinda love stories that start this way; starting you off in the present and taking you back to where it all started. Granted, this felt a bit too similar for me and the similarities are one reason I put off reading this back in May BUT then again, the similarities are what also drew me to the story and maybe it was all meant to be? I don’t know but I can tell you that I adored the hell out of this story.
Jake is the bassist for Wayward Sons and the resident blogger for the band who keeps the fans updated on all the goings on. When their guitarist Kylie bails on the band to go to school, they desperately need a replacement. In walks Parker , well Parker walks up to Jake as he is sitting on the porch lamenting the loss of Kylie and Jake sees Parker’s guitar and asks him to play one of his favorite songs - Parker’s response is one of my favorites, “To play or to listen to?” Ugh. Yeah, total music nerd here so I fell for the boy right there before he let one calloused finger touch a string on his guitar.
This story was so damn adorable! I have many highlights and moments where I hugged my Nook because the boys were either so overwhelming BOYS or they were so into each other and swoony (Parker crawling into Jake’s bunk because he was cold) that I couldn’t stand it. I don’t always need the overtly sexual scenes in books, when you have the emotional pull and intimacy you can have me in a puddle with kisses and the first kiss between these boys was so good and the second was even hotter and I won’t even go into the shower. *fans self*
I loved the serendipity of their meeting, it was unexpected but fit these two so well. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this was a slow burn to the lovers stage and that burn felt so good as it melted away into the lull of pleasure. Ugh. These two were so damn good together. Sure, it took them some time and I kept wondering when they would actually talk about things but I kept turning the page and that in itself says something to me.
So to keep this short and simple, for me at least, this was an adorable, fun, sexy, cringe worthy at times and just gooey type of read for me. I love that the words “Not yet but soon, okay?” from Parker changed in what they meant as Jake decided what he wanted and decided to take it and I love that the boys are where they are now. The only things that bothered me in the story were the footnotes; having to click on each one to read it and then go back to the text was distracting and I really wish we would have got what Jake wanted to say to Parker at the end but it’s all good. At least that is what I will keep telling myself and pretend they were said…
3.5 stars
The book starts out with an adorable blog post from our narrator Jake Brenner as he tells us he is in love with his band mate, Parker McAvoy. I kinda love stories that start this way; starting you off in the present and taking you back to where it all started. Granted, this felt a bit too similar for me and the similarities are one reason I put off reading this back in May BUT then again, the similarities are what also drew me to the story and maybe it was all meant to be? I don’t know but I can tell you that I adored the hell out of this story.
Jake is the bassist for Wayward Sons and the resident blogger for the band who keeps the fans updated on all the goings on. When their guitarist Kylie bails on the band to go to school, they desperately need a replacement. In walks Parker , well Parker walks up to Jake as he is sitting on the porch lamenting the loss of Kylie and Jake sees Parker’s guitar and asks him to play one of his favorite songs - Parker’s response is one of my favorites, “To play or to listen to?” Ugh. Yeah, total music nerd here so I fell for the boy right there before he let one calloused finger touch a string on his guitar.
This story was so damn adorable! I have many highlights and moments where I hugged my Nook because the boys were either so overwhelming BOYS or they were so into each other and swoony (Parker crawling into Jake’s bunk because he was cold) that I couldn’t stand it. I don’t always need the overtly sexual scenes in books, when you have the emotional pull and intimacy you can have me in a puddle with kisses and the first kiss between these boys was so good and the second was even hotter and I won’t even go into the shower. *fans self*
I loved the serendipity of their meeting, it was unexpected but fit these two so well. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this was a slow burn to the lovers stage and that burn felt so good as it melted away into the lull of pleasure. Ugh. These two were so damn good together. Sure, it took them some time and I kept wondering when they would actually talk about things but I kept turning the page and that in itself says something to me.
So to keep this short and simple, for me at least, this was an adorable, fun, sexy, cringe worthy at times and just gooey type of read for me. I love that the words “Not yet but soon, okay?” from Parker changed in what they meant as Jake decided what he wanted and decided to take it and I love that the boys are where they are now. The only things that bothered me in the story were the footnotes; having to click on each one to read it and then go back to the text was distracting and I really wish we would have got what Jake wanted to say to Parker at the end but it’s all good. At least that is what I will keep telling myself and pretend they were said…
3.5 stars
This book was just a fun read for me. I really enjoyed Jake, the narrator's point of view. The use of his blog and the footnotes gave me a lot of insight into him. The fact that he was so comfortable with his sexuality, not making any excuses or apologies for it was refreshing to me. Patrick was a wonderful character, talented, quiet and painfully shy, and I loved how Jake took him under his wing.
The secondary characters were fun and added so much to the book, and I loved that the female characters were so strong and didn't put up with any crap from their prospective relative or with the band members in the case of their road manager.
It's definitely going down in my favorites and will be one that I am going to have to re-read again.
ETA (6-13-13): Another re-read for me, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. I can see re-reading this time and time again.
The secondary characters were fun and added so much to the book, and I loved that the female characters were so strong and didn't put up with any crap from their prospective relative or with the band members in the case of their road manager.
It's definitely going down in my favorites and will be one that I am going to have to re-read again.
ETA (6-13-13): Another re-read for me, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. I can see re-reading this time and time again.
Re-read June 2022
It's been a while since I re-read this, and while I didn't fall in love with the guys the way I remember doing before, I did enjoy it. The whole vibe of the book is very fun and relaxed.
It's been a while since I re-read this, and while I didn't fall in love with the guys the way I remember doing before, I did enjoy it. The whole vibe of the book is very fun and relaxed.