An entertaining celebrity romance

While I’ve read quite a few books by Miranda MacLeod, writing either solo or with TB Markinson, I’ve never read anything by Em Stevens. I was curious about how they teamed up together and the narration by Lori Prince is a plus.

Maxine Gardner is a rock and roll legend whose career is on the decline. Her agent convinces her that her best move is to get her old band reunited for a US tour. The only issue is that one of the former band members is dead and the other hates her. Jade Weathers is a gifted musician whose mother and aunt formed the band with Maxine. Following her mother’s death, Jade’s aunt is determined that she chooses a stable career with the local symphony but Jade wants to be a rock star. As Max and Jade share time and make music together they realise that they have uncharted chemistry on and off stage.

Another stupid love song is an enemies to lovers, celebrity, age-gap romance. Celebrity romances are one of my favourite romance tropes, especially when it’s between a famous and an unknown person. Even though Jade is used to fame as her mum and aunt were very well-known musicians, Max is a legend and there is a bit of hero worship from Jade’s side. Add to the mix a considerable age gap, and this story opens up for a lot of character vulnerabilities.

Music plays a central role in this story and it acts as an unspoken language, an enabler and an equalizer between the main characters. The music scenes on and off stage are very powerful and help build the chemistry between the main leads. Both women are very different in age and life experience but the music they make together creates a strong bond that breaks all the walls between them.

Apart from the romance, this book is about friendship, family, and redemption. Both main characters have a journey to do as individuals, Max to make peace with her past, Jade to think of her future. They both have relationships to mend with the secondary characters who are very well fleshed out.

Lori Prince narrated the audio version and did a fantastic job. Her voices for the different characters were spot on, as well as her performance of the different range of emotions. If you enjoy celebrity romances, then this one is for you. 4 stars.

Length: 9 hours, 38 minutes