Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Face the Music 
SERIES: Replay #1
AUTHOR: K.M. Neuhold
NARRATOR: Kenneth Obi
PUBLISHER: Self Published
RELEASE DATE: July 27, 2018
LENGTH: 6 hours, 57 minutes
BLURB:
Lincoln
I thought there was only one thing I needed to make me happy. I was so sure becoming a rock star would heal the dark corners inside me. But every time I walk onto the stage, with a roaring crowd screaming my name, all I can think about is the boy I left behind. All I want to do is rewind and make a different choice.
Jace
I thought I hated Lincoln when he ghosted me 10 years ago and destroyed my heart. I thought I hated him when he wrote a chart-topping hit about our idyllic young love. But I’ve never hated him as much as I do right now, standing in front of me like he has every right to be in my world again. He’s not the rock god I thought he was…he’s still that same lost boy I used to love. Can I ever trust him with my heart again?
REVIEW:
I essence, I absolutely loved and adored this story. I’m always partial for a scarred man, second chance stories and when combining that with a famous musician, I’m over the moon.
This book opens up with present day Lincoln, rock star extraordinaire in the band Downward Spiral. An apt name if there ever was one as all of its members are spiralling fast out of control in one way or another. Lincoln is a bit worse for wear, drunk and passing out in the cold and almost freezing to death. He basically couldn’t care less. He’s numb, and the only way he feels anything is by self-harming, cutting. The only thing in his mind is remembering Jace. The love of his life. The boy he walked away from, broke, ten years earlier when his music career really took off.
After another close call with Linc’s life, Archer the band manager, cancels the upcoming tour, orders all the band members to a mandatory break to get their heads back together And hopefully by the end of the break, there will still be a band left to save. Linc decides to go back to the one place in the world where he was truly happy, the place where he met and fell in love with Jace. What he doesn’t count on is standing face to face with Jace once more. A freshly dumped Jace who don’t want anything to do with him anymore.
Face the Music is a second chance story. It’s told from a dual POV in more ways than one. We get both Linc’s and Jace’s perspectives, but we also get the past interwoven with the present. So we are there watching Linc and Jace fall in love, the first kiss, we feel the sweetness, the giddiness and hope for the future. But we are also there for the hard parts, Linc leaving and Jace realising that the love of his life has left him. We are there for the pain as well as the happiness before it. We can relate to them both, understand the motives that drove them. We understand the heartbreak that are still present ten years later. We know the love that lurks underneath the surface, ready to bloom once more.
This book drew me in from the start and I couldn’t put it down but listened to the whole thing in one go. I just needed to know how Linc and Jace finally got back together. Needed to see the journey, the forgiveness and healing. I’m also partial to characters with any kind of mental health issue, to Linc ticked a lot of my boxes. And while I didn’t always agree with his actions, I could understand why.
Kenneth Obi’s narration of this book is a bit of an oddity for me. He has different voices when narrating the different characters – which is always a huge plus for me. It makes it so much easier to follow along with the story. He also adds in feelings to his words, emotions and is not simply reading the words in front of him. Despite all that, he still manages to sound bored though it all. It’s a bit of a mystery to me to be frank. On the other hand, that would fit when he narrated the fist part of the story from Lincoln’s POV. It fits with his depressed, moody and “who cares” attitude. But it doesn’t fit with the rest of the book, when the feel of it is happy. I did feel like even during the happy moments, there was still a wall between the characters and the listener, we weren’t quite there.
Face the Music was a beautiful second chance story. I loved everything about it, the plot, the characters and the amazing love that Linc and Jace shared. The narration was a bit off for me, which might be just me, so you should definitely have a listen to the sample to decide if this audio is worth trying. If not, you need to pick up the book, because this is a story you shouldn’t miss.
Story: 5 hearts
Narration: 3,5 hearts
RATING: 
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