blub

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review

I highly recommend reading Just Playing before reading this book. This book is written in the same format as the first book and continues a bit after the first one left off. Pax is really getting their feet off the ground. Jamie and Michael are still fighting their attraction to each other but this time the stakes have gotten bigger and the record company is on them to keep away from each other. They try to keep away but it's kind of ruining the band and messing with their creative spark. Taking advice from a fellow band member they try to put up a front of being straight. Talk of a fake marriage is brought up and so Jamie manages to talk a groupie name Sapphire, whom in book one he had relations with, into acting as a beard for them. Jealousy and pain ensues from their decisions.

I was a bit disappointed with the way the Jamie and Michael handled the situation. There didn't seem to be an outcry against them among their fans. I know it was 1976 but I thought they could have done things differently instead of entering into a loveless marriage with the expectation of having kids (a bit of a common thing to do to hide). Jamie still came off as a bit of a wishy washy jerk in this one and I hated that he let others control his actions and took their criticism seriously; allowing fear to rule his love for Michael. Michael I still wish he would grow a back bone and stop being so passive aggressive. It frustrated me to no end but it was realistic and the author did well in portraying relationships in this time period.

I loved Cal for trying to mend the band when he saw everything was going south. I wished readers got to see a bit more of him. He was just an awesome character for always supporting Jamie and Michael and for being a bit of a mother hen to the band members. The confrontation among everyone was awesome to see. Seeing Jamie and Cal call Sapphire out had me gleefully rubbing my hands. Michael finally losing his cool at Zolton had me mentally laughing (in a good way).

The story ended with a nice little punch and seriously finally had me sighing in happiness at the evolvement of Michael and Jamie's relationship. I'm really looking forward to the next installment in the series just so I can see more of their journey together.