Reviewed by JustJen
Title: FRET
Author: Sandrine Gasq-Dion
Series: The Rock #1
Heroes: Axel Blaze/Gareth Wolf
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 232 Pages
Publisher: Sandrine Gasq-Dion
Release Date: September 1, 2015
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: Former Navy SEAL Axel Blaze lives a solitary life. He doesn’t do emotions, and he doesn’t do babysitting. Used to being on his own, his job consists of Wetwork (a charming term coined by the KGB) for his former Master Chief, Mac. When an out-of-the-ordinary job lands on his doorstep, Axel heads down a path that includes a famous heavy metal rock band and one quiet, vulnerable, guitar-shredding virtuoso named Gareth Wolf.
Gareth Wolf’s life changed in an instant when a car he was a passenger in crashed, hurting his brother’s best friend and the band’s lead guitarist. They created the band, Skull Blasters, as kids. Gareth had always been happy in the background, playing roadie. With the lead guitarist’s injury, Gareth is suddenly thrust into the limelight and into a frenzied life he never imagined for himself. Finally fed up with living a lie, Gareth comes out as gay in a newspaper interview and finds himself in the bulls-eye of a crazed stalker. Somebody wants Gareth hurt – or worse – and Mac has been hired to be sure that doesn’t happen. Babysitting duty is NOT Axel’s strong suit, but Mac won’t be budged.
Enter Axel Blaze. Against his better judgment, the big man takes the job to protect the shy musician. The more time he spends with Gareth Wolf, the more he admires the man. Where’s a simple assassination when you need one? The situation becomes more volatile for each man as the attempts on Gareth escalate just as Axel finds himself falling for the quiet lead guitarist.
Strong, funny, smart-ass — and kinda sweet Axel is everything Gareth has ever wanted in a man. Too bad he’s off limits. As the stalker grows bolder, Gareth and Axel move closer emotionally – but is it too late? All Axel knows is that they don’t stand a chance if he can’t find the maniac trying to kill the man he’s come to care about. A lot.
Everyone knows that relationships that begin in pressured or volatile situations eventually fizzle out. Or do they?
Review: This story had a lot of potential with its hot cover, and bad ass ex-SEAL/sexy rock star theme. It was a sweet story, but there were a few things that bothered me throughout that kept it from succeeding.
I liked Blaze. He was a growly ex-SEAL who lived on his own doing his thing day by day and taking jobs as a mercenary. He hesitantly took a job babysitting a young rock star who recently came out and was getting death threats.
Gareth was sweet. After tagging after his brother and his bandmates most of his life, he was pulled into the band when an accident injured their bass player. Gareth was an amazing guitarist, but he was still getting used to being in the limelight.
Neither of these guys were very happy to be stuck with each other, but keeping Gareth safe took priority. Things were cute with these guys bantering back and forth, but I never really felt the connection between them. I had a hard time bridging the gap between the experienced SEAL and the somewhat naïve musician.
The main issue I had throughout this story was with the tense. It seemed to change tense back and forth frequently, in addition to changing POVs. It kept pulling me out of the story and just didn’t read very smoothly.
The other issue I had was that certain things happened very quickly. For example, the way the mystery played out was over in a flash and just wasn’t very convincing. So, while the story was cute, it did not blow me away in any respect and left me somewhat disappointed.
Overall Impression: It was good
*I received a copy of this book from the author/publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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