Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Beneath the Stain Part 7
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 106 pages
BLURB:
The one lesson that Trav’s learned with the band’s return to Tyson is that it should be hard to say good-bye.
Mackey, Kell, Jefferson, and Stevie have to say good-bye to the person who helped make them and break them. They have to say good-bye to their bitterness and anger, and they have to say good-bye to lingering hope that one of the best parts of their childhood can be with them always.
But in the last two years they’ve grown a lot—and maybe they’ve grown enough to say good-bye to the past without forgetting it, and to embrace a future that they won’t regret.
REVIEW:
My thoughts are so scattered right now…. I finished this part last night, fairly late, then couldn’t get to sleep. I’m trying to focus and write this review with a book hangover. I’m feeling that perfect combination of serious crying, laughing, and staying up too late.
This is the seventh and final part of Beneath the Stain. I am very sad it’s over, both as an individual book, but as a serial release. For seven weeks I’ve been with these boys and followed their story. I will miss them. I’ve said in past reviews of a couple of the parts I wasn’t sure about the serial release method, but now at the end I think it worked for me. It forced me to slow down and enjoy the overall story, I couldn’t rush through it like I tend to do with favorite books and authors. It gave me time to think about each part, especially as I’ve been reviewing them as they have come out. I really got a deep sense of this story and these people. I will probably reread the whole thing at some point, to see how it reads as one complete story.
Let me talk a bit about this one, while trying desperately not to give anything away.
The boys of Outbreak Monkey are home in Tyson, the little shit hole town that birthed them. Something horrible is happening that none of them can control, no matter how much Trav wants to. They are together as a family, actually coming together even more, which I didn’t think was possible. Trav and Mackey spend a night apart which seems like it isn’t good for either of them, but actually reaffirms their commitment to one another. Promises are made and kept. We see more of Grant’s horrible family than we want, the f-word (and I don’t mean fuck) is used too much, there is hatred and a betrayal we all suspected comes to light. A REALLY painful thing happens, proving again to me that Amy Lane makes me cry more than any other author. The ending of the story is perfect. The extra bit at the end was even more perfect. That is all I’ll say about the plot.
So this book was written as one big long book, but broken in to these small episodes with a weekly release schedule. As part of this plan, Amy added “DVD extras” to the end of each release. The extras have only been included in the individual releases and will not be in the full ebook or the full print book. This makes me sad, they added so much to the story. Especially this final piece, the extra part was absolutely fantastic. I laughed after crying earlier, it was exactly what was needed to wrap this story up.
I don’t know what more I can say about this book to make someone go buy it. If you have read an Amy Lane book, you know how fantastic she is. Her plot, characters, writing, every damn thing is perfect. She writes song lyrics for Outbreak Monkey songs. She uses existing songs that will now mean I can’t listen to them ever again without crying. The emotional connection she creates between Mackey and Trav is beautiful. Not to mention the connections that form, break, and heal between the other characters. I am continuously blown away by her books. Every one I read I think “this is the best thing she’s ever written”, then her next book comes out. Now I sound like I’m just sucking up, but I swear I’m not. I’ve read her books for four years, some more than once, some only once. I’ve loved them all, some more than others. I have never, ever disliked one of her books. Parts have been hard (cough*Adrian*cough), but I have loved every single one of them. Some are easier, some are harder. But all are fantastic. I wish I was able to use fancy words to describe her writing style, but I don’t have the words or the education to do that. I just know that I love her books every fucking time I read them. Beneath the Stain is it. Perfect. Awesome. Amazing. I laughed, I cried, I hurt, I was mad, I don’t want it to end. But it has.
This review will post after the final part has released, but you will still have time to buy the individual parts. This should be done. On October 17th the individual released parts, with the extra bits will be gone. The full ebook and print book will be available at DSP, Amazon, and ARe, but will NOT include the extra parts that were included at the end of each release. While these extra parts were not critical to the story, they added so very much. If you are at all interested in buying this story, I highly recommend you buy the individual releases with the extra bits. Don’t wait until the full release on the 17th, please. I don’t actually know what the cost difference is, but seriously, you want the extra parts. I don’t want to discourage anyone from buying the ebook or paperback, but I personally loved the extra bits and think they added a lot to the overall story. I’ll be buying the paperback to a have a signed copy, but when I reread this, I’ll be doing it using the individual parts with the extra bits. However you choose to buy it, just DO IT!
This was the best book I’ve read in a long time…
Here are my reviews of the first six parts:
RATING: 
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