Blurb
When Jagged Ivory’s bassist, Benji Staffon, almost died of an overdose in the middle of their European tour, he knew that he had finally hit bottom. An outsider almost from the moment he was born, drugs had long been his way of coping with the loneliness and the fear. But he knows that he has to get clean now, because his Jagged Ivory bandmates are the only real family he’s ever had, and disappointing them again is simply not an option.
Fae Miller is an orphan. Her father died when she was young, and she watched her mother kill herself slowly because of the grief. Music is the only thing that kept her sane through it all. And her crush on Jagged Ivory’s bassist led her to pick up the instrument herself. Now, working the backline for one of the biggest rock groups on the planet, she suddenly finds herself thrust into Benji Staffon’s orbit and into his tortured life.
Can these two lost souls make a real and genuine connection, or will his addiction tear them both apart?
Review
Benji was awesome and Fae was even more awesome!
Though it was hard to read about how Benji hit rock bottom, he dragged himself back up by the skin of his teeth and I couldn’t have been more proud of him. Getting clean in rehab was the easy part. Being out in the real world and surrounded by people who still used and wanted him back as their drug buddy would be hard. Benji wanted to break so many times and he often panicked. Luckily, his bandmates, his brothers, were there for him. The drug use and Benji’s emotions weren’t glossed over, his trouble was very real, so kudos to the author.
Part of recovery is not to start a new serious relationship and to be careful with the relationships you already have. Stress is a key factor for falling off the wagon. All throughout the book Benji was like ‘my recovery comes first’. Bravo!!! The band and Fae understood that and went out of their way to keep temptation away from Benji. The guys of Jagged Ivory were so sweet and understanding, determined to see their brother clean. Benji didn’t have any real family (he was orphaned at the age 5 and ran away from a horrible foster home at 15) and he loved his bandmates so much.
Fae is Benji’s new bass guitar tech and she has a huge crush on him. As they get closer, they become fast friends and their relationship is totally platonic. Fae had a similar upbringing as Benji’s but it wasn’t as bad. She has two surrogate parents (a wonderful gay couple who took her in after her mom OD’d) and she couldn’t have been luckier to find Wayne and Dave. Her tattoos are beautifully described and I love the story behind them.
She’s more wild looking from the other heroines in the previous books (Mercy and Donna) and I think she was my favorite. I related to her very well. I loved her and Benji’s interaction, friendship and the sweet romance that slowly bloomed.
This was a tearjerker of a story. My favorite of the series so far and the one I was most looking forward to reading. I didn’t want this story to end.
I noticed more typos in this book than with the previous two in the series — little words were missing in a sentence, the wrong word was being used, misplaced commas, too many exclamation points when characters are whispering, etc. And of course the switching POV shifts irk me. Anyway, I still followed the book pretty well.
Normally, I would knock off a star for editing problems but I think this is the author’s style of writing (meaning the POV shifts), so I’m keeping it at 5 stars because this story is just wonderful and heartfelt. I’m so happy I got the chance to read it.
5 Stars.
— I’d love to know what you think of the book or my review. Please comment below.