Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Strike a Chord

SERIES: Replay #4

AUTHOR: K.M. Neuhold

NARRATOR: Kenneth Obi

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 6 hours, 56 minutes

RELEASE DATE: December 3, 2019

BLURB:

“You want to fake date me?”

Music is my life, my band is my heart and soul, and it’s all falling apart before my eyes.

A plan hatched from desperation as we both watch our careers burn down around us. Dating my best friend’s twin brother, Paris, who just so happens to be a gay icon at the moment seems like the perfect plan. And if we have a little fun along the way, where’s the harm in that? The band is spiraling, his football career is going up in flames, and the more the world falls down around us, the easier it is to get lost in each other.

But are stolen moments during our own busy schedules and hurried kisses hidden behind social media posts the basis for a real relationship, or is this just another thing that’s going to turn to dust in our hands?

Strike a Chord is the fourth and final book in the Replay series. This series can be listened to in any order.

REVIEW:

Strike a Chord marks the end of the Replay series. And for the past four books we’ve followed each member of Downward Spiral. We’ve watched (some of) them crash and fall, seen them turn it all around again, finding the lost pieces of themselves – but also the special someone’s that completed them. This time it’s Benji’s turn.

Compared to the rest of the band, his story is way less angsty and he has things under control. For the most part, Benji is worn down to the bone and needs the break that was offered. A break he chooses to spend in his hometown catching up with his best friend London – and his twin brother Paris. The twin brother he’d had a crush on since they were teenagers.

Both Paris and Benji are at a crossroads with their careers, Benji is not hopeful the band can recover and is thinking of other ways to have a career in music. A shoulder injury is keeping Paris from his football career and if it doesn’t heal right it might just put a stop to his playing altogether. Add in a cheating (ex)boyfriend and it all adds up to a mess he rather not think of. To help them both with the public’s opinion they device a fake relationship. A relationship that doesn’t feel fake to either of them – considering they’ve both had a crush on each other for years.

Benji and Paris were refreshing in a way. There was not much angst, sure there were issues but not in the addict/self-harm or trauma kind of way we’ve had in the previous books. It was warm and sweet filled with tension and longing and hoping for something more. These two made sense, they were right for each other. It was never a question if they’d end up together, only when and how they’d get there.

I’m a Kenneth Obi convert. I absolutely loved his narration – or rather performance of this book. I lived in this story while listening and the rest of the world just didn’t exist. I love how he had different voices for all the characters, it made it easy to always know the narrator or speaker and keep track of what was going on in any given moment.

Obi also added much feeling to his performance and made you feel what Benji and Paris did. Especially the longing they had for each other, present day and as teens. Especially from Paris’ side, thinking that Benji and his brother London were a couple and in love. Obi made you feel his pain watching the two of them, wishing it was him instead. Which I also have to give huge credit to Neuhold for. This set up has all the markings for becoming a melodramatic and angst love-triangle with anger and jealousy and resentment. But that never happened here, she never went down that road and I for one will be forever grateful for it.

Strike a Chord was the final instalment in this particular series. However, going by the doors that opened in the end of the book, I wouldn’t be surprised if Neuhold decides to go down the spin-off road. Time will tell.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible

Amazon