Reviewed by Jen B.

TITLE: Beneath the Stain

SERIES: Beneath the Stain #1

AUTHOR: Amy Lane

NARRATOR: Nick J. Russo

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2015

LENGTH: 16 hours, 36 minutes

BLURB:

In a town as small as Tyson, CA, everybody knew the four brothers with the four different fathers– and their penchant for making good music when they weren’t getting into trouble. For Mackey Sanders, playing in Outbreak Monkey with his brothers and their friends—especially Grant Adams–made Tyson bearable. But Grant has plans for getting Mackey and the Sanders boys out of Tyson, even if that means staying behind.

Between the heartbreak of leaving Grant and the terrifying, glamorous life of rock stardom, Mackey is adrift and sinking fast. When he’s hit rock bottom, Trav Ford shows up, courtesy of their record company and a producer who wants to see what Mackey can do if he doesn’t flame out first. But cleaning up his act means coming clean about Grant, and that’s not easy to do or say. Mackey might make it with Trav’s help–but Trav’s not sure he’s going to survive falling in love with Mackey.

Mackey James Sanders comes with a whole lot of messy, painful baggage, and law-and-order Trav doesn’t do messy or painful. And just when Trav thinks they may have mastered every demon in Mackey’s past, the biggest, baddest demon of all comes knocking.

REVIEW:

This is one of those “I can’t believe it took me so long to read this!” books. I started with the audio version, which is sometimes a hit or miss proposition for me. Well, it was a definite hit this time around! I was sucked right into the lives of these young boys – teens when the story begins – experiencing young love, heartbreak, brotherhood and then stardom as they break free of the small town that was sucking the life out of them.

The story centers around Mackey, the closeted teen in love with his brother’s bestie and guitarist in their band, Grant. The Sanders boys grew up with little to nothing, while their friend and brother by choice, Grant, had a well to do family. However, it is Grant who is held back when the band hits it big, choosing (not that he has any choice) to leave Mackey and the band as they go off to seek their fortunes. Faced with a broken heart and the stress of being the band’s leading member, as well as a few other things thrown on him, he turns to the party-hard lifestyle of a young rock star. This is the story of the trials and tribulations of a group of half brothers who stand by each other when it seems the world is against them, carving their own path and making their own way and searching for success.

Trav is the one who comes in, picks up the pieces and gets the brothers all back on track, including first and foremost, Mackey. He is exactly what the guys need and looks out for each of them as needed. But it is Mackey who needs the most help. Their relationship grows until they are unable to ignore it. As expected, it isn’t easy, and they go through some rough patches that gave everything a very authentic feel. I absolutely loved them together, through thick and thin. It is a story that I felt I could read about forever, couldn’t read fast enough, but didn’t want to reach the end.

Nick Russo does a fantastic job on the narration giving each character a slightly different voice that made it very easy to follow, despite the numerous characters. He brings out the emotions and feelings so that it’s like you are getting an inside look at these guys who could actually be out there. His voice sucked me into this story and had me riveted from beginning to end. I highly recommend you give this audio a try. I know I was late to the party on this one, but I’m not even going to wait for the audio of the next one – Paint It Black – which is soon to be released, so if you liked this one, be sure to check that out as well.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

Audible

Amazon