Beneath the Stain – Part Six by Amy Lane

Title: Beneath the Stain – Part Six
Series: Beneath the Stain serial
Author: Amy Lane
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella (75 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (October 3rd 2014)
Heat Level: Mild
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts
Reviewer: Tams
Blurb: For as long as Trav Ford has known the Sanders boys, one name has haunted the entire band. Their first lead guitarist and Mackey’s first lover has left a stamp on the kids he’s known as a family, and now Grant has one last chance to hurt the people Trav cares for most.

Except Grant isn’t the monster Trav made him out to be, and coming home is harder on the band, and Trav, than he ever could have anticipated. When Trav is confronted with the reality of what Mackey and his brothers left behind, and with what they’re about to lose, he has to seriously reconsider if he’s strong enough to deal with everything that Mackey and Outbreak Monkey have come to represent. Fortunately for Trav, Mackey’s learned a lot in the past year, and one of his best lessons is how to hold on to the people he loves.

Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5313
Review: *Note. This review is of part 6 of the serial*
Trav and Mackey have been through a lot together whether it is on the business end, as a couple or as individuals. You would think by now Trav would have learned that they deal with issues best as a couple, but following Mackey and the band back to Tyson opens some doors that were probably best left shut. For starters, Grant is not the demon that Trav has convinced himself the man had to be. He deserted Mackey and the band, he lives his life in the closet, and worst, he hurt Mackey to a point that the scar will never heal. But seeing Grant at his most vulnerable state, so open, honest, and frail, shows Trav that he is just a man like the rest of them.

Then when the band holds a concert at the place where they launched their careers, the end result is a disaster, showing Trav exactly how hateful and ignorant the people who Mackey and his brothers grew up with are. In a moment of weakness brought on by confusion and utter exhaustion, Trav escapes and leaves Mackey alone with his family. It could have sent Mackey into a tailspin, but thank Christ, Mackey realizes how important his family, sobriety and Trav are to him. So he goes after the man he loves, determined to bring him back, kicking and screaming if he has to.

This wasn’t my favorite installment in this serial. It just didn’t have the same feel to me that the other parts have as I’ve taken this journey with Mackey, Trav and the band. But, that could be the purpose, Lane’s mind set for where she is going to take us in part 7. That being said, this is still a very well written and thought out story, and I’m so invested in these characters that I’m sitting here, waiting, with bated breath for the next installment!

If you like dark and dangerous stories that grab you, twist you up and make you crave more than this is a must read. Be sure to start with part 1, as each story is a continuation of the last. Only two more parts to go, I can’t wait to see where this ends. Will Trav and Mackey find a way to deal with the demons of the past, and build a future together? We shall see.
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *

Beneath the Stain: Part 5 by Amy Lane

Title: Beneath the Stain: Part 5
Series: Beneath the Stain serial package
Author: Amy Lane
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Serial (95 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (September 26th 2014)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Reviewer: Tams
Blurb: Mackey is great at taking a leap of faith into a crowd –but taking one into a relationship and a future is a totally different animal. When he and Trav decide to take a risk that Mackey’s healing can hold up to them together, they know it’s going to be a long, difficult road. Mackey proves he can handle the stress of performing on his own, but when it comes to the demons that broke him in the first place, that’s a whole other song.

The first time Mackey tries to go home, it sends him into a palm-sweating, stomach heaving anxiety attack, and Trav has to concede that Mackey is still on loan from the things that almost wrecked him when he was still a kid. When news arrives that affects the entire band, Mackey can either go home and face his demons, or let them haunt him forever.

Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5606

Review: *Note. This review is of part 5 of the serial*
In the last installment of this series, Trav and Mackey finally established themselves as a couple, loud and in living color. Mackey has a long road ahead of him before he or anyone else can declare his road to recovery a success though. He is emotionally shattered and a recovering addict and as much as he would like to think that Trav’s love is enough to get him through anything, he is at least realistic. As unintentional as it is, his reality sometimes hurts the man he loves.

Trav knows that Mackey is far from whole, but there is something about the battered and broken young man who is so beautiful to him, that he can’t help but love him. When Trav has to leave Mackey to go overseas for a few days to check on the upcoming tour, he worries how his lover will cope without him there to hold him together. As hard as it is to hear, Mackey is honest with him when he feels the urge to use, and strong enough for now to resist it.

Mackey is determined to be strong and stay clean. For himself, his band, his family and most importantly for Trav. While Mackey still struggles with his addiction and the pull to use, he manages to stay clean, for now. Some harsh news from home threatens his newfound sobriety, and just might push Mackey over the edge.

Each installment of this serial only ups the ante. The writing is intense, emotional and captivating, pulling me further in with every dark twist of Mackey’s story. My fear now is that his relationship with Trav has become so intense that it could implode around them, and take out everyone they love in the after math. Then on the other hand, I don’t see how either of them couldn’t be right for each other, because I don’t think they could be right for anyone else. Mackey doesn’t do anything half way, and loving Trav is no exception. There love is equal parts frantic, insane and endearing.

I’m seriously sitting here biting my nails right now in anticipation of part 6. I have a few days to brace myself because I have a feeling the shit is about to hit the fan, but I’m holding out the hope that Mackey and Trav make it through this field of land minds together.

* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *

Beneath The Stain: Part 2 by Amy Lane

Title: Beneath the Stain part 2

Series: Beneath the Stain Serial

Author: Amy Lane

Genre: Contemporary

Length: Short (71pgs)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (5th September 2014)

Heat: Moderate

Heart: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Reviewer: Tams

Blurb: Trav Ford doesn’t like strings and he doesn’t like messes. Coming off of a messy breakup, Trav is grimly determined to keep his life absolutely pristine. When Trav is asked to take over the management of Outbreak Monkey, his first order of business is to clean up their act- and that includes shipping the youngest, most troubled member off to detox and rehab before Mackey Sander’s life choices kill him.

But Mackey didn’t become an addict overnight, and it’s going to take more than one trip to rehab to fix him up. When an act of violence destroys Mackey’s struggling equilibrium, Trav is going to find that messy isn’t so hard to escape – not when it’s wrapping its mess around Trav’s heart.

Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5490

Package Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5314

Review: In the first instalment of this serial, Mackey and his band had hit it big and were on their way to LA. Unfortunately the cost of his success was their guitarist and Mackey’s long time lover, Grant, who chose to stay behind. Mackey only made it so far with the flashbacks of fame before Grant stepped in and helped him. Now he has to fend for himself in the big, bad, ugly town that chews up and spits out rock stars for breakfast. Mackey isn’t fairing so well.

Trav Ford is an ex MP and current hard ass in the entertainment industry. His boss describes his attitude best when he tells Trav, “I think the reason you became an MP is to give people a valid reason to hate you immediately.” Fresh out of a breakup, Trav throws himself into his new job as the new manager for Mackey’s band. Learning that young Mackey is gay isn’t nearly as shocking as Mackey’s current appearance and state of mind. A diet of booze, pills and coke (and I don’t mean the cola!) have left Mackey’s already thin frame looking fragile and sickly. The only thing keeping him sane right now is the stack of journals full of his songs that balance precariously next to his unkempt, stained sheets.

Trav takes charge, ships Mackey off to rehab and lays down the ground rules. When Trav first meet Mackey and the band he was indignant with how they lived. But Mackey has a way of getting under your skin, and soon enough all Trav wants is to see him get better. And Mackey seems to understand the need to stay clean, but trouble is just around the corner, trouble Mackey may not bounce back from this time around.

This series is going to be the death of me! Lane’s Stain is very raw and intense, showing the darker side of one young man’s journey to fame. I went from wanting to ring Mackey’s neck, turn him over my knee and spank the shit out of him (and not in a good way!) to screaming NO at my kindle with that ending. It’s quite hard to wait a week in between each part of this serial. And that ending! I’m pretty sure what is coming next, but Lane is a master story teller, so she could very well take a complete one eighty from what I’m envisioning is about to happen.

I almost want to tell you to wait until you can read this one in its entirety, but that is over a month away. Better to get your weekly dose of insanity with Mackey and the band than wait it out. Either way, I’m hooked, I’ll be sitting here with bated breath until next week when I get to see what happens in part three!

Tag: Beneath the Stain serial

Beneath the Stain – Part Six by Amy Lane

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