by Garett Groves
2.5 stars
A jaded singer. A guitar prodigy.
A rock 'n' roll romance.
Jamie “Blaze” Cameron has seen
and done it all. As the frontman for the hard rock band HEX, he’s toured the
world for the last 20 years — and as a result has managed to avoid coming to
terms with his troubled past and the one thing he’s spent his career singing
about: love.
At 25, Darren Greene’s ambition
and skills at guitar playing have led him to do more in the world of music than
many musicians twice his age, but it hasn’t been enough to put his name in
bright lights. Without a big break, he’s terrified he’ll wind up stuck in his
hometown with nothing but his broken dreams.
When HEX’s guitarist is removed
from the band unexpectedly right before the first leg of their 20-year
anniversary tour for their first record, Blaze and his bandmates find themselves
in dire need of a replacement. The band holds open auditions and Darren rocks
their socks off — and his life hits a high note when HEX hires him.
As the group adjusts to
performing with their newest addition, Blaze and Darren realize it’s not just
their chemistry on stage that’s making their hearts sing. Can the two navigate
fame, unresolved grief, and their growing feelings for each other to bring the
band into a new, golden era? Or will their budding romance and the controversy
it stirs up in the media push them off the charts?
Hmmm, we actually don’t know where to start with the one. We love Garett Groves, and Rockstars, so
think this should have been a big win for us, but it really left us scratching
our head. They were together, they were
apart, and so much angst…….
What did we enjoy?
- The Band: We liked how the
book shied away from the crazy rock star lifestyle and instead focused on the
band.
- May/December Romance: This is
a great example of a May-December romance that works.
- The beginning: The beginning
of this book was so good. It is
fast-paced and engaging. But somehow it just
looses it’s magic. The second half drags
and we lose the momentum of the first half.
And although it is only 285 pages long it feels so much longer.
What was the not-so-good?
- Blaze: We are not Blaze fans.
He runs hot and cold. He worries
and internalizes so much, that we actually started skipping his internal monologues. He loves Darren, hold on, does he just love
the idea of Darren and loves love? Ugh.
So much back and forth, round and round.
We were no fans.
- Angst: Kind of mentioned in
the above, but the angst. OMG so so so
so SO much angst.
- The sub-plot: So there is a
serious subplot of Blazes sexuality and a magazine article that’ll be released outing
him, but with all the build-up in the end it is anti-climactic. And don’t get me started on the sub-plot of
Darren and his dad?
- Falling in Love: I get insta-love,
and I guess that is what this was, but we missed the journey into love. All of a sudden Darren and Blaze were life
partners in love. Maybe we missed the chemistry
between them?
We so wanted to love this book, but Blaze was a major problem for us,
his attitude, his internalizing and really just him. There were lots of ideas that started but
never really came to a conclusion, and it really left us scratching our
head. Sorry to say this but all in all,
we felt that Rock my Heart was a big miss.
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