Broken Chorus Road to Rocktoberfest
m/m, metal rock
Desolate Press
10/22/24
Kindle
320
Amazon
Amazon Link: amazon
Change has never come easy for Aaron, even when it’s been for his own good. He avoids it when he can, rebelling against anything the least bit uncomfortable. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to prevent the implosion of his band. Now he must decide how to deal with the fallout.
Quit?
Or help his best friend and former bandmate build something new?
He wished the choice was easy, but there are too many triggers buried in his head and old memories dredged up when ghosts from his past reach out to him.
~~~
Hawk loved making music. A life of travel and performing was the only one he’d ever pictured for himself. When an accident left him the guardian of his brother’s three children, he was forced to make some tough decisions. The ripples sent shockwaves through his band and decimated friendships in the process.
His choice gave him an instant family.
But does it have to cost him the man he loves?
Hawk might be on his way to the grocery store while Aaron heads for the desert, but there are many roads to Rocktoberfest and many ways of uniting a family.
Review By Ulysses Dietz
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Amazon Link: amazon
I’m not sure how tightly-knit the Road to Rocktoberfest series is, but I have to admit that I rather love the idea of romances linked to rock bands. In Broken Chorus, we drop in on the Rocktoberfest world in the aftermath of a band’s breakup. When Blissfully Immune fell apart because their front man, Hawk, had to leave to care for his late brother’s three children; they also lost two other key members of the band. That left Aaron, Hawk’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, and Kelly, increasingly bitter and angry over his successful group’s dramatic demise.
The image of a hardcore rocker becoming a full-time single parent to three small kids is both horrifying and adorable. Less adorable is Aaron’s mental meltdown, his upset over the loss of Blissfully Immune merging with his deep feelings for Hawk. The crux of the trauma/romance is in both Hawk’s and Aaron’s deep family issues. An essential trope in this kind of story is wounded men, and Broken Chorus dishes that up in spades.
But author Layla Dorine gives us extra layers of emotional complexity to observe and embrace. The two best-qualified candidates to rebuild a new band, Declan and Micah, both carry baggage of their own, and Aaron finds both of these talented young men triggering—but won’t confront the reasons why honestly.
So the story is broadly divided into Aaron’s personal issues with Hawk; and his deeper issues with Declan and Micah. For a protagonist, Aaron is sort of a jerk—but we come to understand why, and that helps us love him (because that’s the reader’s job). Fortunately Hawk, while overwhelmed by trying to be a perfect parents to Dani, Liam and Ella, is the most mature of the crew. His gentle, flustered personality is a great foil to Aaron’s neurotic mess. The surprise is that Aaron is an intuitive and brilliant parent. Therein lies the key to salvation.
I should say that this book is a hot mess; but it’s really a warm, fuzzy mess. The pain is real, but the love is palpable, and that’s what matters most.
Oh, I almost forgot: this is about musicians and singers. Talent matters a lot, too, but the author lets all that surprise us at the right time.