Reviewed by Vicki
SERIES REVIEW: Lucky Moon books 1-3
AUTHORS: Piper Vaughn & MJ O’Shea
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
BOOK ONE TITLE: Moonlight Becomes You
LENGTH: 183 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 6th, 2014
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2nd Edition
Lucky Moon: Book One
Eleven years ago, Shane Ventura made the biggest mistake of his life when he caved in to pressure from his record label to kick his best friend, Jesse Seider, out of their band, Luck. To this day, Shane has never wanted anyone more, and all the sex and alcohol in the world can’t fill the void Jesse left behind. Not even the prospect of teaming up with Britain’s hottest band, Moonlight, for a massive world tour can get him out of his funk. Then he meets lead singer Kayden Berlin and falls into instant lust.
Kayden may act like he’s not interested, but Shane knows he feels the spark between them. Yet the harder Shane pushes, the more Kayden pulls away, until one explosive night leaves Shane with a broken heart. That seems to be his lot—lucky at everything but love. Shane still has one lesson left to learn, though: when it comes to love, you can’t always leave things to chance.
1st Edition published August 9, 2011 by Loose Id LLC
REVIEW:
AHHH!!! This story drove me nuts! My emotions were all over the place!
Shane and Jesse meet as high school students, when Jesse is tasked with tutoring Shane. The two just barely get along, but oddly, a friendship grows between them. Even more so once they realize they have music in common.
Most of what we know about the early life of these two we see through flashbacks. The story goes back and forth between now, following Shane as his band Luck is starting a tour with the Moonlight, another popular band, and then, when Shane was young and knew Jesse. For quite some time we don’t know what happened between Shane and Jesse, just that Jesse isn’t here now. Shane has now developed an interest in Kayden, the lead singer for Moonlight. But Kayden seems to hate Shane with a passion. Shane is stubborn and pursues Kayden, even though he keeps getting shot down. This is what drove me crazy! Kayden is such a shit to Shane, but Shane keeps going after him. I wanted to smack Shane upside the head! And Shake Kayden too, he needed to commit or walk away. God, they are just a mess.
So we follow Shane and Kayden and their fucked up non-relationship, while flashing back to Shane and Jesse and their teenage angst. I was very intrigued by Shane and Jesse and curious about what had happened. I was not expecting it to go as it did! I was completely surprised by the big thing that happens, and I’m not sure how I feel about it even after finishing the book.
My first thought was anger, I was kinda pissed I’d gotten so wrapped up in this story, about these stupid men, who can’t get their shit together! I’m not sure I liked any of them, nor am I sure I liked how it ended! But I liked that I was so emotionally drawn in to this story, I liked that I didn’t like how it was going. I know, that makes no sense, but I was sucked in to this story and followed along, not trying to anticipate where it was going. I bought the whole surprise thing, I was mad for everyone, frustrated, and… and…. yeah. I was so in to it!
I’ve read books by both of these authors individually, and this one is just great. I like rock star/musician stories, I like the excess of their life, the stress of touring and the emotion of them all being stuck together so long. I liked the drama that all causes. This book certainly has all of that! Drama, angst, anger, excitement, great characters, even the ones I didn’t like, a bit of nice sex, and a good ending. Yes, I they drove me crazy, but overall I did like this!
RATING: 
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BOOK TWO TITLE: The Luckiest 
LENGTH: 280 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 8th, 2014
BLURB:
2nd Edition
Lucky Moon: Book Two
Rock star Nick Ventura has finally hit rock bottom. Jealous of his brother’s new love, he overindulges in his usual vices and winds up crashing his car into a department store in a drunken haze. Publicly humiliated and on the verge of jail time, he enters a court-ordered rehabilitation program.
Nutritionist Luka Novak is flamboyant, effeminate, and the type of gay man bisexual Nick would normally sneer at. But Luka’s sunny nature hides a deep hurt caused by an unfaithful ex-boyfriend. As much as Luka knows he should be wary of Nick’s reputation, he’s drawn to Nick despite himself. Their tentative friendship turns into romance, but Luka soon comes to realize Nick’s fear of losing his bad boy reputation means he’ll probably never go public with their relationship.
Nick never needed anyone until Luka came into his life. Now he has to reconcile his carefree past with the future he suddenly wants more than anything. And the first lesson he must learn is how to become the man both he and Luka need him to be, rather than stay the boy he always was. Alone.
1st Edition published by Loose Id LLC, March 2012
REVIEW:
Holy crap Nick is a JERK! I like a good redemption story, but damn, he really had to work hard to get my love….
Nick Ventura is the bass player for Luck, the band we met in the first book in this series. Nick has always been a jerk, making inappropriate comments and jokes at any moment, living the rock star life with drugs and booze, and fucking anything and anyone at any time. Male, female, he’s not picky. As long as he gets off he’s happy. He hates that his brother Shane has settled down with Jesse, his first love, and feels that Shane has abandoned him. Shane was the older brother and protector when they were kids, and Nick has had his undivided attention for years. Now that is over and Nick is out of control. He nearly kills himself and one of their band mates/friends, and ends up in rehab.
Where he meets and mistreats Luka, the nutritionist assigned his case at the facility he’ll be spending three months in. Nick is a shit to Luka, to his counselor, to the other patients, pretty much everyone. I hated him. HATED him.
But I LOVED Luka! Luka is a dancer and a nutritionist, sweet, cute, caring, and deserving of so much better than Nick Ventura. But Luka is sweet and caring, and somehow manages to see past the asshole exterior to see something in Nick. Until he hurts him. Not once, not twice, and maybe not even three times, I have honestly lost track. Luka, the masochist, lets Nick back again and again. I got grouchier and grouchier every time he did! But gradually something changes in Nick, and changes in me, and I got so I didn’t hate him quite so much. I still think Luka was waaaay too forgiving and should have held out longer, but, I kinda get it.
This was another interesting ride for me, like the first book was. I hated Nick, but liked that I felt that way. Luka balanced him out, or at least I loved him enough to put up with Nick, and wait out his redemption. I liked that this book made me feel passionately about these guys. I was totally sucked in to their story. No, I didn’t like Nick, and didn’t approve of how he treated Luka, but I was so wrapped up in their story that I kept going. And the payoff is totally there.
There are also dogs. Any story with dogs makes me happy. Even though there was the mention of a bad dog story from Nick’s fucked up childhood…. but the good dogs now make up for that. We see Shane and Jesse being happy, and get to meet Jeana, Luka’s best friend. There was lots of good drama, and some seriously hot sex. Luka is a naughty boy, and Nick is right there with him. Nick has always taken what he wanted in sex, not really giving much, and he finally lets go and gives to Luka. It was surprisingly sweet. And hot. Really hot. Damn, the emotional rollercoaster that this book is! Every time I thought Nick had gotten his shit together, he did something stupid again. My emotions were all over the place!
I liked this book. Even though I was not a fan of Nick, and came to barely tolerate him by the end of the book, I really did like this book. It’s less rock star-ish that the first book, Nick is a rock star but most of this story is while he’s in rehab, then hanging out in some down time before just getting back to working at the end of the story. It really is a serious redemption story, a lot more romance-ish than the first book, and made me very happy by the sweet ending.
RATING:
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BOOK THREE TITLE: Moonstruck 
LENGTH: 200 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 1st, 2016
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Surya Patel is the drummer for the massively popular band, Moonlight. When his label suggests a collaboration with Luck, the band Moonlight toured with the year before, he should be all for it. Except he slept with Luck’s manager during the tour and then bolted in the dead of night. He’s regretted leaving ever since, but he knows being around Em will only lead to disaster. Unfortunately for Surya, the person the label sends to sweet-talk him into the collaboration is none other than Emmanuel himself.
Emmanuel Cortez has spent months trying to forget the hottest night of his life—the night he slept with Surya. It’s been a year, but not even the death of his beloved grandmother and the subsequent family drama could keep the memories away. Now his job is to convince Surya to collaborate with Luck, and he has to be professional. But a day spent together leads to another passionate night. This time Surya is the one to wake up alone.
It only takes Em’s departure for Surya to realize he’s had a change of heart. The heat between him and Em burns too brightly to be let go. Surya isn’t satisfied with just one night anymore. He wants forever.
1st Edition published by Loose Id LLC, 2012.
REVIEW:
Oh my god! What can’t these men just freaking TALK TO EACH OTHER!
We’ve met Surya in the last two books, but only briefly. He is the drummer for Moonlight, and we know he is the love interest of Em, Luck’s manager. We saw some googoo eyes between the two in the last book, but nothing came of it. Until now! Now Surya and Em get their story.
Surya is from an Indian family living in London, super conservative, and only just tolerant of Jesse, the gay lead singer of Moonlight. Surya is secretly bi-sexual, but not very experienced with men. He’s had a thing for Emmanuel, Em to his friends, who is the manager for Luck, the band Moonlight has been touring with. A little something happens between them, but Surya freaks out and runs, leaving Em pissed off and confused. Some months later, there is a plan afoot to bring members from Luck and Moonlight together in a new band, with a new sound. Jesse and Shane want Surya to be the drummer for this new group, but Surya wants nothing to do with this plan, since it would bring him close to Em. Who he is in lust with, but is too chicken to face. Em agrees to take one for the team, and heads to London to convince Surya to man up, and join the new group. Which Surya agrees to do, then they have sex, and things are even more fucked up than they were! This gets the two men back in touch, in New York. Where they agree to be friends who DON’T touch. Riiiiiiight….. this lasts like 2.2 seconds and you guessed it, in to bed they go!
So this is a pretty typical story, one guy out and proud, one guy hiding due to family issues. Surya is a jerk at times, being a rock star it is all about him. Em has his own issues, jerk family members and such, but really it’s all about Surya not wanting his family to know he’s gay. Of course it all comes out, and went to shit, pretty much as I expected. So there really aren’t any surprises to this story, which should make it bland and predictable. But it so isn’t! Even though I could guess what was coming all the time, I really enjoyed getting there. Surya is a jerk, not as much as Nick from the last book who drove me NUTS, but he is all about himself. Em freaks out at one point and runs, and Surya is all butt-hurt and pissy. I was totally in Em’s corner! I loved the drama between them, just like the other books in this series I was very emotionally attached to these guys and involved in their story.
Also like the other books, there is some seriously hot sex scenes between them. I loved Em, he was sweet but had a naughty side, and very clearly knew what he wanted in bed. He’s a bit bossy, and works very well with Surya’s timidity. When they are good, not just in bed, but just as a couple, they are good. And when it goes bad, it goes really bad. Both are stubborn and strong. I loved that. I loved seeing Nick and Luka, and Shane and Jesse from the last books, I loved the interaction between all of them.
This was another well written book, I absolutely enjoyed it!
RATING: 
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OVERALL REVIEW:
I am so glad I read this series! I’ve seen them around, I think as the first two were re-released, but I never bought them. Not for any reason, I just never got around to it. When I saw the third one on our list of upcoming books available for review, I asked if I could to all three. I am very happy that I did! I am a fan of rock star books, and I’ve read books from these two authors before, just not ones they have written together. I think they make a great writing team! I liked the overall story of the two bands interacting, and the characters intermingling. I liked some of the characters, some drove me crazy, but oddly I was drawn to the ones I didn’t like. So the characters were well done, even Nick, who was a jerk! I liked the drama that occurred between each couple, they had their own shit to deal with in each book, but were part of an overall story. Then there is the sex. Holy crap. Hot and plentiful, added to the story development, enough to keep me interested but not so much it came to be all about the sex. Creative sex, hot sex, naughty sex. Yum. I really was invested in these books, at times I was quite angry at these stupid men, I wanted them to just sit down and talk! So much time was spent with someone being pissed off at someone else, and neither wanting to answer their damn phone. I liked that I was so wound up in their stories, even when I was unhappy with the choices the characters made! Weird, I know.
So yes! Great series, great writing, great sex, just a fun, fantastic couple of books!
I’m going with 4.5 for the overall series rating, even though two of the books were lower. I really liked how the three books fit together.
OVERALL RATING: