Review: Nicely Strummed!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2014
This is the third book in the Replacement Guitarist series following the relationship of Blaze and Jason. I was hoping that this would be the final book but there is a fourth one to come later this year, so yes there is a WTF ending for now and no HEA yet. Oh and what a shocker of an ending which didn’t even leave me with a HFN, because I wasn’t happy for now, I want to know what the eff is going to happen, NOW.For those who have not read the first two books – The Replacement Guitarist and Home for the Holidays – please ensure you read them first.It has certainly been a journey and finally we get rid of the awful Cassie….oh hang on… nope, the biatch is back to cause trouble again between the gorgeous duo. At the end of the last book, Cassie had sacked both Jason and Blaze, so the next stage of their story finds them moving on with Jason finding out new avenues for Blaze to continue with his talent as a rock guitarist. This in itself brings forth some uncomfortable interludes, especially in Texas. But finally a breakthrough is made when Jason helps an up and coming band who now need a replacement guitarist. That would be Blaze then.However throughout all this Blaze is just worried this new stage of his career could take him away from Jason, which causes him to doubt his talent and the path he was yearning for. Thank goodness Jason helps to steer Blaze back on course.Blaze is the younger of the pairing and often rants his mouth off before his brain is engaged but I just find that more endearing. I like though how he has grown in his confidence and this new bossiness he has over Jason. In deflection of this Jason can sometimes over think things and be over cautious instead of just going with the flow. Blaze is comfortable in his own skin and with his sexuality. As such he wants the World to know Jason is his and for them both to come out seeing as both their families were so supportive when they did with them. Jason on the other hand is not so sure and is conscious of the damage this can have on Blaze’s new found fame with the band. This was the main part that caused the friction between the pair and lead to some serious cases of self-doubt and jealousies.Jason frustrated me at times but then on the other hand I totally got why he did what he felt he had to, especially in relation to Cassie. Being the better person he went along with his conscious but not realising how this would appear to Blaze.In some ways I didn’t get the conflict with them ‘coming out’ as I’m sure Jason had said in the past to the press about his ‘relationship for the last year’ to the journalists at the beginning. I maybe need to go back and re-read that part. It was a battle to understand the reasoning at times with Jason.However I still love the storyline and to see how it progresses with each book.There were some areas where it didn’t flow as nicely as in the previous books and I felt it jumped from one thing to another with no link in between.I would definitely recommend this series if you love your m/m romance set amongst the music industry and with some seriously hot and smoking loving going on! I give this a four star rating and a ‘hurry up’ for book four shout out!