Reviewed by Cinnamon

TITLE: Stage Two

SERIES: Lexington Lovers book 3 (Dreamspun Desires #33)

AUTHOR: Ariel Tachna

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 224 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 1, 2017

BLURB:

Lexington Lovers

Love has a steep learning curve.

Assistant high school principal Blake Barnes has everything he wants—a chance to help troubled students and an outlet for his passion for theater. Well, almost everything—he still goes home to an empty apartment. Then his high school crush explodes back into his life, the unexpected guardian of two boys in Blake’s care.

Thane Dalton has always been a bad boy through and through. Not much has changed, including his mistrust of authority figures, and no amount of institutional bureaucracy will keep him from protecting his nephews from the bullies terrorizing them. If that means butting heads with Blake, so be it.

Blake and Thane have lessons to learn: that they both have the boys’ best interests at heart, that the tension between them isn’t just confrontational, and that sparks can fly when opposites come together.

REVIEW:

Stage Two was a wonderful surprise for me. I picked it up because of my mood and I wanted something sweet with lots of love and when I saw the next installment in the Dreamspun Desires series was coming, I knew I had to read it.Please don’t judge this book by the cover. It might be just me but this image has nothing to do with the story. The writer is absolutely new to me and I have no idea how I managed to miss her up until now. I need to remedy this situation cos the writing style and the character building with the plot-line hit all my happy spots. We have two sooo different but absolutely real and lovable MCs with their flaws and quirks, two teenagers burdened with some personal tragedy on top of adolescence, an old crush, some sizzling chemistry mixed with a bit of miscommunication and the inevitable conflict. All these add up into a fun, entertaining and very heartwarming story.

I wanted to get in the story and smack Thane on the head a couple of times, but what I really like about him is that he gives his best no matter what and he sees when he made a mistake and actually feels sorry and apologizes. No matter how surly he was he has a big heart and he is honest to a fault with his foot in his mouth at times.

The only thing that was missing for me was a bit more background information about Thane and Mr. B. We get a bit of explanation why Blake is single but not a beep about Thane. I wonder about his romantic history or the lack of it.

The pages just flew by in a minute and I didn’t want this story to end. We needed that bit of conflict, I don’t mean myself personally cos I would have been good without, but I know most readers love that bit of excitement and how our guys get out of it. It wasn’t too much even to my no-angst loving heart and I had a great time reading this book. If you love theater, enjoy remembering your high school years  and if you have ever thought about meeting your high school crush as an adult this is a perfect read for you. Enjoy.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon