Reviewed by Danielle

TITLE: Second Song

SERIES: Sugarhouse Blues #1

AUTHOR: Edie Danford

PUBLISHER:  Self Published

RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2019

LENGTH: 376 Pages

BLURB:

A wounded singer’s second act.
For four years, superstar singer Sage Hazen shunned the spotlight. After a brutal attack killed his bodyguard and left his voice permanently damaged, he retreated to his Vermont home, unsure he’d ever perform again.

Now Sage is preparing for a second act, and there’s just one man he trusts to handle security for a trial-run tour–Antonio Callan, his former bodyguard’s brother.

A bodyguard’s chance at redemption.
For Antonio, touring backwoods Vermont is the wrong gig at the wrong time. Still, it’s only right to help the wounded kid his brother died protecting.

But after arriving in Vermont, Antonio feels more helpless than heroic–and it’s his heart that’s at greatest risk. Sage has grown up. He’s fiercely independent and distractingly sexy, but it’s his quiet bravery that sings to Antonio’s soul.

Two wounded souls find healing in love’s sweetest song.
The more time they spend in close quarters, the harder it becomes to ignore the sparks flaring between them. Turns out protecting two wounded hearts from love is an impossible job. And harmonizing two very different lives will demand a brand-new take on courage.

Second Song, a 108,000 word gay romance, is the first in the Sugarhouse Blues series and can be read as a stand-alone. Contains angsty-hot pining (and Vermont pines), first-time lovin’, sappy songs (and Vermont maples), and the healing power of loooove.

REVIEW:

Second Song tells the story of how Sage and Antonio came together, what happened in their past and how they handle the now and the plans for the future.

Antonio takes the job of protecting Sage when Sage and his bff Shiloh decide to try out a few small performances. As the blurb tells you the how and why, the beginning of the book tells us how both men try to handle the attraction that is there but also how they deal with Marco;s “presence” and their respective families feelings.

This book had me wanting to keep reading. It is a slow burn, hurt/comfort story with quite a bit of drama.

The story captivated me and kept me invested to see how the author would work this story and their characters out.

There is attraction, but this is definitely a slow burn story, perhaps a bit too slow. It’s also a tad long if I have to mention some small form of criticism. Yet it also had me willing to continue and find out when the slow burn would really start to heat up so to speak 🙂

Some small things I would have loved to have seen explored more which is kind of funny because like I mentioned before it also feels a tad bit long. But I would have appreciated a little but more of Sage’s backstory because when we got there, the end felt a bit rushed with the move, the house, living circumstances etc.

Like I mentioned before the way the story was told had me mesmerised and so invested in the lives of these two man as well as their friends (Shiloh) and their family (sisters nephews etc). I really couldn’t put the book down as I had to see what would happen and how everybody would handle the stuff thrown at them. Big kudo’s to the author for that!

Especially the slow burn. The chemistry between Antonio and Sage made it more than satisfying when they indeed gave in to that.

The family situations felt very real to me. The discussions, the way the kids responded,for example, to Antonio being away etc.

I am extremely excited to read book 2 in this series which I hope will be Shiloh’s story.

If you like this kind of slow burning and dramatic stories this is definitely a must read!

RATING:

BUY LINK:

Amazon