Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Rustic Melody

SERIES: Rustic #1

AUTHOR: Nic Starr

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 174 Pages

PUBLISHED: January 26 2016

BLURB:

Adam Chambers has never seen eye-to-eye with his father and is reluctant to take over the family’s property-development company. To clear his head and work out what he wants to do with the rest of his life, Adam leaves his responsibilities in the city and heads out to see the country.

He isn’t much closer to deciding what to do with his life when he arrives at one of Australia’s largest events, the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and meets Joey Callaway.

Since Joey’s father’s tragic death left Joey the family’s debt-ridden pub, Joey has struggled, desperate to turn the business around and give his mum the life she deserves. A break away from the pressures of running the pub is just what he needs, and a hook-up with Adam is the perfect way to forget about his troubles.

The one-night stand might just be an opening act. If Adam and Joey can follow the music in their hearts, perhaps they can heal each other and create a melody that will last a lifetime.

REVIEW:

I’m quite a fan of Nic Starr’s books. She’s one of the authors that I reach for when I want to be assured of little angst and a whole lot of sweet loving. I don’t always want this level of “happy” but when I need it, I know I can get it here.

Adam has spent months travelling Australia in an attempt to discover himself. He always assumed that he’d join the family business, but when he began working with his father he discovered some unethical business practices, and had to walk away. Now he has no idea what he wants to do with his business degree, but before he heads back to Sydney and his life there, he intends make some important decisions. Adam is hardly a fan of country music, but even he knows about the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and he figures he’ll head that way to buy himself some more time.

Joey, on the other hand, knows exactly what he needs to do in life, he just has no idea how to achieve it. Since his father’s death he has been running the family owned pub, a business that has always struggled to turn a profit and yet demands all (absolutely all) of Joey’s time. Joey needs to turn the pub into a profitable venture that will be attractive to buyers, so he and his mother can escape to a less exhaustive life. Heading off to the music festival certainly isn’t in his plans, but when his mother sets her mind to something, there’s not really any stopping her. Which is how he finds himself on the streets of Tamworth, watching a very attractive man busking with his guitar…(I’m referring to Adam – in case that wasn’t obvious!)

Like I said, Nic Starr’s books tend to have little to no angst, and are often light on any conflict at all. But that’s not a complaint. In fact, kudos to her for managing to keep me entertained with so little bad stuff going on. Not many authors can manage that. Instead this author’s stories tend to really focus on the characters and in this book especially, I felt a real connection to our MCs. I’ll admit, the situation was bordering on “too perfect”. Joey has a struggling business – Adam has a business degree he’s dying to flex. Joey is stuck in Armidale – Adam is currently rootless. They’d both like to own some sort of bar/café by the sea… You get what I mean, right? But again, props to the author for selling that fairytale to me. It’s a credit to her writing skill that my initial eye rolls turned into sighs of gooey contentment.

Because the majority of this book is so sweet, the sex scenes really popped for me. I enjoy nothing more that two cooing, cuddling (ok, I’m exaggerating) men to suddenly hit the bedroom and tear up the sheets. That contrast gets me every time. I love it when the sweet ones let loose their sexy sides, and that’s very much what happens with Adam and Joey.

The second book in the Rustic Series is out later this month and I’m rather keen to get my greedy little hands on a copy. So stay tuned for the next installment!

RATING: 

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