Reviewed by Taylor

TITLE: Echoes of Us
AUTHOR: Teegan Loy
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 230 Pages
BLURB: Most people think falling in love is a wonderful thing. For Rylan Blake, love only complicates his life. After a disastrous trip home, Rylan and his best friend, Maggie, head back to Chicago to meet their new roommate, Jade Marin, and prepare for their final year of college.

Love is the last thing Rylan expects when he meets Jade. But as the two men get to know each other and discover their mutual love of music, friendship becomes more. They compose songs and, at Maggie’s urging, post their work on YouTube—where the videos go viral and a music producer discovers them.

But hitting it big isn’t always a good thing, especially when it comes with a price. When Rylan and Jade sign a deal with a big music company, they’re ordered to hide their relationship from the public and take fake girlfriends. At first, it’s a game, but as their fame grows, Rylan feels forced to choose: Does he stay and live a lie, or does he walk away from a life of fame—and from Jade?

REVIEW:

Rylan Blake has just returned from a disastrous trip home and he and his best friend, Maggie, meet their new roommate, Jade Martin.  It’s their last year in college, Rylan doesn’t do relationships, and he just wants to relax and have fun with his friends.  It’s not long, though, before Rylan and Jade develop feelings for each other and realize they share a love of music.

So this was cute and easy, and I think if you are fans of One Direction or shipping your favorite musicians, TV stars, movie stars, etc.; you’ll like this.  It’s a pretty straight-forward story.  A newly single Jade starts to explore his feelings and attraction towards men, Rylan is determined not to fall for Jade and keep people at a distance, and, yet; they fall in love over a guitar, a journal and singing.

Their friend Maggie uploads a video of them performing on YouTube and their popularity takes off quicker than either could believe and neither takes the time to really think about what they want out of their talents and lives.  They have the pressure of hiding their sexuality and attraction. Their manager forcing them to have Maggie and Rylan’s sister, Kelli assume fake girlfriend roles.  There’s the lack of privacy, the non-stop touring, the complete turnaround from their previous lives.  It would be a lot for anyone to take on, but it’s more than Rylan can bear at times.  He has to decide what’s more important to him.

So let me just say I LOVED the beginning of this and that first image of Jade against his car I could visualize it clearly and wanted that boy myself.  The initial bonding and late night chats were great, as well.  I even liked it when Rylan and Jade first realized they sounded great together and one was better at lyrics and the other writing the music.

But then it started to drag for me…majorly.  It was less relationship aspects and more the play-by-play of how two early 20’s something guys became famous and had lots and lots of girls after them.  And look, I ship people all the time, but the way it was described in here was so creepy and invasive and it made me kind of think about how it must feel from the other side…it was pretty gross to be honest. I know most people do it in fun and don’t take it seriously, but some…oh some.  NEwayyysss, so yeah, the plot started to drag but it definitely picked up in the last third.  I thought the way the author handled Rylan’s sanity slipping was done beautifully.  The reader can fully understand that no matter how much Rylan loves music and Jade, that everyone has a breaking point.  The lack of communication also played out superbly.  Most of the time lack of communication or The Big Misunderstanding drive me bonkers, but in this case, it all made sense.  It was pretty heartbreaking and the ending was all sweet kitten balls, so I’m happy.

A little side note: there was SO MUCH SEX in this book.  I get they are horny, young dudes and especially as they toured I understood that they were so frantic in their intimate moments because they got no time alone together or they were angry together, but it just felt a little too much.  I wouldn’t call this porn without plot by any means, but I could have done with less naked times.

Oh and Kelli and Maggie rocked, so kudos to nice females in a book.  The family plot line came full circle and was a very nice touch.

Overall, this is a cute story and I’m looking forward to more from this author.

Taylor rates it –

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press

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Taylor is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.

To read all her reviews, click the link: TAYLOR’S REVIEWS
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