Book Reviews

Book Blurb

A rock star with a secret is injured in a freak accident. A single-dad Navy corpsman comes to his aide. Neither expected romance to bloom, but now that it has, will their secrets end it before it begins?

Billy “Brains” Brennan has achieved rock stardom in not just one, but two chart-topping bands, but events from his past have him convinced he’s living on borrowed time. Brains and his brothers-in-Hush are ready to take the last cross-country Warped Tour by storm...until the actions of two drunk dudes with bad attitudes set off a chain of events that leave him incapacitated...and face-to-face with a handsome stranger who inexplicably feels like home—and not the home Brains fled at sixteen.

Chief Petty Officer Paul McNally has spent his 25-year career as a Navy Corpsman responding to emergencies and caring for wounded soldiers. When fate has him in the right place to provide aid to a fallen rock star, it sends his life spiraling on a trajectory he never planned for. Instead of concentrating on his impending retirement and a second career, he’s now playing nursemaid to a fascinating younger man…and falling in love—a fact he can’t seem to figure out how to explain to his adult son.

A health scare, band drama, and pain from both their pasts threaten to end Brains and Paul’s fledgling relationship. Fate brought them together. It will take trust, honesty, and hope to keep them together.

 

Book Review

Wow! I really enjoyed this book. Age gap, hurt/comfort, single dad, and a man in uniform—what more would I want wrapped up in one story? Hmm, well-rounded and well-developed characters who grab me from the beginning and carry me on their journey to self-discovery and healing. This story has that too. Following the ‘Summer of Hush’, this story features the fallout from Brains’s broken leg and the band’s survival without him.

 

However, the story can stand alone as the author provides overlap by starting this one before Chief Petty Officer Paul McNally takes his son to the Warped Tour to see their favorite metalcore bands, including Hush. Paul is in place to help Brains when an accident occurs and Brains is injured. The first 20 percent of the book fills in Paul’s background and builds up to the meeting at the concert, so although reading the first book gives more weight to readers’ interest in the band, it’s not a requirement to enjoy this story.

 

This is a love story, pure and simple, with the slow build of the relationship readers can savor. Brains has a secret that affects his health, over and above his broken leg, and he’s reluctant to share that with Paul even after it’s evident they love each other. But Paul shows him that “some people are worth trusting and will stand by you when darkness is looming on the horizon.”

 

In the meantime, Paul, who is a planner to his core, cannot seem to plan beyond his rapidly approaching retirement from the Navy, and he’s finding that issue more and more worrisome. A take-charge guy, he’s happy to oversee Brains’s physical therapy, but he recognizes that it’s Brains’s decision to stay or to leave once he has recuperated. Brains has always been the “mother” of his motley mix of band members, and he hates the idea of missing the chance to go back, but he wants to stay with the man he loves. In a nutshell, all of these life decisions provide the push/pull of their relationship drama. 

 

This story has a host of secondary characters, playing an important role. Paul’s sister, Penny, a widow who lives in a duplex with him is a delightful character, and her two children add to the story rather than detract from it, something I appreciate. She’s solid, down-to-earth, and provides the voice of reason to balance his worries about Brains. Band members from book one make multiple appearances, all of which show the dynamic between Brains and his “family of the heart.” 

 

All in all, this is a very enjoyable read, and I’m super happy I was given an opportunity for review.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author via GRRT for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 344 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	24-August-2020
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Brains-Brawn-Summer-Hush-Book-ebook/dp/B08DC8VDT8/