Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: After the Final Encore
SERIES: Encore #2
AUTHOR: Scotty Cade
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
BLURB:
Sequel to Final Encore
Country superstar Billy Eagan’s career is soaring. He’s topping the charts and winning award after award. He and his manager and life partner, Ian Dillon, have been virtually inseparable for almost five years, solidifying their relationship as well as Billy’s skyrocketing stardom. After a secret kiss between the two of them at an awards show is caught on camera, a tabloid newspaper outs Billy and Ian as lovers, which could sabotage Billy’s career on the bigoted Nashville music scene. To make matter worse, an old adversary rears his ugly head and threatens to end everything Billy and Ian have worked for—including their lives.
REVIEW:
Oh man…. This book should have been a novella.
This is the continuation of Ian and Billy’s story, that was started in Final Encore. Billy is now a country music star, this book starts off with him winning several awards, and reaching the pinnacle of his career. Unfortunately a photographer catches a photo of them and a tabloid story is released, forcing them out of the closet. This actually causes some good stuff to happen, and made me very happy. I soooo wish the book had ended there! Billy and Ian come out, and live happily ever after. Fade to black. I would have given that story 4.5 hearts and been very satisfied and happy.
Unfortunately it didn’t end there.
So I had mixed feelings about the first book, I liked the story of Billy and Ian, and I loved the additional characters. What I really didn’t like about it was the whole introduction of Buck, the bad guy. That storyline did not work for me at all. I was very unhappy to see Buck brought back in to the story in this book, but in an even worse way. He is vile, and nothing about this worked, I didn’t understand his hatred and over-reaction in the first book, and it’s even worse in this one. I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but it’s hard. The whole second half of this book is totally different from the first half, and I did not like it at all. A bad thing happens, the police are involved, and the coincidences begin. The plot became totally unrealistic and I was over it. I won’t take up time to say what all my issues were, I’ll just say I didn’t like any of it.
But the first half was great!
I would also say there could be some issues with triggers for some people in this story, involving an almost rape. It made me very uncomfortable.
I think if you liked the first book you should read this one as well, it does have a good ending for Billy and Ian. But be warned, you have to get past a bunch of bad stuff first. Or maybe just read the first half and stop there?
RATING: 
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