Title: American Love Songs
Author: Ashlyn Kane
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 6 hours and 49 minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 1st 2012)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Blurb: Jake Brenner has too many wild oats to sow to fall in love—or so he claims. Besides, he’s much too busy with his band, the Wayward Sons, to go looking for romance. His reticence has nothing to do with his embarrassing crush on Chris, the band’s lead singer and Jake’s erstwhile best friend. But that was before enigmatic wanderer Parker McAvoy signed on as the band’s new lead guitarist.
He can only deny his attraction to sweet, dorky Parker for so long before the urge to do something about it becomes impossible to ignore. The trouble is, Parker knows all about Jake’s philandering ways—and oh, yeah, he’s not gay. Or so Jake thinks until a string of related events provides encouraging new insight. Can he convince Parker to overlook his colorful past and give him a chance? Or will this love song fade out before it even begins?
Product Link through Dreamspinner: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3025&cPath=201
Product Link through Audible: http://www.audible.com/pd/Erotica-Sexuality/American-Love-Songs-Audiobook/B0087S9CFG?productID=BK_DRSP_000035
Reviewer: Tams
Review: Jake Brenner is a guitarist with the up and coming rock band, The Wayward Sons. He also runs the bands blog, so he is the voice for the other members of the band. The openly gay twenty year old college dropout is the glue that holds the band together. He’s held a secret crush for his best friend and lead singer, Chris, for as long as he can remember. The threesome has an odd and quirky friendship that is put to the test when Chris sleeps with Jimmy’s girlfriend. Said girlfriend is also their guitarist. Bros before Ho’s! So the band is in need of a new guitarist.
Parker is enigmatic and shy, but he is one hell of a guitarist. He stumbles upon Jake one afternoon and a case of mistaken identity makes Parker the newest member of TWS. Parker and Jake soon become roommates and best friends, and somewhere along the way Jake’s feelings for Parker grow into so much more. But Parker is straight, right? A heavy petting session and a kiss that curls Jake’s toes leave him thinking that Parker may not be as straight as he seems. When a secret from Parkers past is uncovered and Jake’s true feelings are made known, will their friendship withstand the aftermath?
The narrator’s high pitches and excitability as the character of Jake really brought him to life for me. Most chapters started out with a blog post, as Jake keeps the bands fans posted on their current whereabouts and escapades. The guys in the band bond over Xbox, beer and various relationships throughout the book. It was such a joy to listen to Jake tell the story of TWS as they fought their way up from a garage band to a major headliner and eventually award-winning band.
I was a little disappointed that it took Jake and Parker until damn near the end of the book before they seriously consummated their relationship. The fact that they were absolutely adorable along the way made up for some of my aggravation at the anticipation. Perhaps that was the authors point though. They do have a couple of extremely hot and sexy make out sessions before they finally do the deed. And when they do finally let themselves go with each other, it is utterly fantastic!
Fans of Rock & Roll love stories will adore this book. I’m saving this one to my iPod to go back and visit with these characters again.