A Different Kind of Love Song: Rock My Stars is a story of an unlikely romance

 

Rock My Stars (Starstruck Universe)

Ellie Potts

Independently Published, 2021

ISBN-13: 979-8767487950

Ebook, 258 ppg.

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When I posted about my books being available for free as well as at discount prices on Smashwords for Read-an-Ebook-Week, my friend Ellie Potts let me know that her novel, Rock My Stars, was available for free through Kindle Unlimited. I grabbed a copy to read for Read-an-Ebook-Week, but it took me longer than one week to read this book. It actually took me two weeks. It was such an enjoyable story to read! I was hooked from the very beginning!

 

Rock My Stars by Ellie Potts is about a young woman named Tabby who has a HUGE crush on band member Spencer Tate of the band, Suspected Tragedy. Tabby is a music blogger, so music is her whole world! (Along with books, video games, and her best friends.) She’s been blogging about the band for years, so when she has a chance to see the band at a concert with her two best friends Walt and Danny, she jumps at the opportunity! While she is at the concert, she happens to meet her crush, along with the rest of the band, and Tabby’s world is about to change when she discovers that her crush just might turn into something more!  

 

Even though I am profoundly deaf, I was not born deaf, so I have been exposed to music in the past. So I totally get how music is such a big deal for Tabby! Music has the power of changing people’s lives, stirring up emotions, offering comfort, and leaving a lasting meaning for people. Tabby has loved music for, like, forever, and everything about music shows in her blog posts and live videos she writes and creates from the concerts that she goes to. It is this role of being a “music blogger” that turns Tabby into a media person, and she has a chance to be in that role not only to participate in Q&A sessions with the band but also to help the guys boost their presence on social media. Apparently, this is effective, because her notifications of likes and comments blow up after she posts things about the band.

 

I thought it was cool how Tabby also interacted with other bands and she got to include these other band members in her posts and videos. The other band members all treat her like she is a friend, not an outsider, and it’s just so awesome to see how everybody welcomes her and accepts her as one of their own. They all hang out together, do stuff together, and have fun together. It’s like suddenly having the biggest family ever. As Tabby observes on one occasion, after the guys in the Suspected Tragedy band all come to her defense:

 

“I freaking loved these guys so much. We were strangers when we started this journey, and now we were family. They had accepted me as part of the group. At the moment, they had me in protection bubble.” 

 

It should be noted, however, that not everyone is so welcoming and friendly with Tabby. Anika, Spencer’s ex, keeps giving Tabby a lot of grief, all which Tabby is not afraid to fight. Seamus, Spencer’s brother, has a grudge against Tabby after she physically fought back against him when he groped her, and Hector, the band’s manager, also dislikes Tabby. He even tells her this point blank, to which Tabby replies, “The feeling’s mutual.”

 

And that’s the thing I love about Tabby. Aside from two creepy weirdos she tries to avoid running into at music events, she is not easily intimidated by people. She is gutsy, bold, and defensive. She is not afraid to stand up for herself, even with Spencer, and draw the line when someone is trying to use her, hurt her, or take advantage of her. She even clobbers her best friend, Danny, after he slaps her.

 

The story line with Tabby and Danny was also interesting. I kept wondering how it was going to turn out in the end. Tabby did have a crush on Danny at the beginning of the story, but she learns about his true colors as the story unfolds. I could only shake my head over Danny telling Tabby that she was his fallback, his “safety net.” He never took her feelings seriously and then it was too late. That’s what happens when you are put on hold while the object of your heart goes chasing after someone else. People want to be the choice, not the option.

 

I also appreciated how Tabby understood all of the hard work that is required from Spencer because of his job with the band. And she makes it clear how she feels about him every time a doubter comes along saying that she’ll dump him or how Danny sees it as a “fling.” I loved how Spencer never got jealous over Tabby’s friendship with Walt. He understands that it is strictly platonic, with Tabby saying that she loves Walt like a brother. Spencer DOES get jealous of other guys, though, and Tabby has to make it clear to him that she her heart only belongs to him. Another thing I really liked about this story was how Tabby and Spencer’s relationship survives challenges. He doesn’t get rid of her when things get hard. That’s love.

 

Rock My Stars is a sweet and steamy romance that takes readers behind the scenes of the music world. The characters and the story are so well-written, and the ups and downs of a relationship that gets off to an unusual start will keep readers guessing on how everything will turn out in the end. This novel is sure to be enjoyed by readers of romance novels, as well as readers who enjoy stories about music and rock bands.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I downloaded this ebook through Kindle Unlimited. This review is entirely voluntary.   

Good Love Gone Bad: Seventh Circle is a horrifying story of revenge fiction

 

Seventh Circle

William Becker

Independently Published, 2023

ASIN: B0CD4Q4VKD

Ebook, 28 ppg.

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In Dante’s Inferno, the Seventh Circle of Hell is reserved for punishing the people who committed violence. I am not sure if that applies to the novelette Seventh Circle by William Becker, although there absolutely is someone in this story who commits violence. Lots of violence, including the gory kind.

 

Even so, this story was unlike any I have ever read. It’s one in which the main character, Michael, is swept away by the enchanting Mia. Their relationship takes a surprising and violent twist, one I certainly did not see coming. But all the same, I was not surprised by what happened. Shocked by the goriness of it, yes, but not surprised. I know of this kind of thing happening, though the item used in the story to commit that violence is one which I have not heard of ever being a part of that kind of scheme.

 

The character Michael was a likeable guy and I felt he didn’t deserve what happens to him. Mia has “psycho” written in all of her actions, but unfortunately, poor Michael does not see it. Love makes him blind to the red flags.

 

In addition to this, I was enraged by what happened that created the huge downfall for one of the characters. I felt it was wrong for a person innocent of those wrongs that had been done to Mia should not have been punished for them. Apparently, Mia has issues and weighed down by the baggage of the terrible things that were done to her. She should not have taken it out on someone but instead, she should have gotten therapy for it. But I guess a psycho would rather choose violence instead.

 

Seventh Circle was a brutal and horrifying tale of love gone wrong. It was an eye-opener of just how some people we THINK we know should not be trusted, no matter how we feel about them.

 

Five stars

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Cringe-worthy poetry: Cringerotica offers poems on topics that make our skin crawl

 

Cringerotica

Soli

Wrong Publishing, 2024

Ebook, 26 ppg.

Preorder link

 

This book has the following content warnings:

Sexual content

Self harm

 

 

Despite the book’s title, not many of the poems in Cringerotica by Soli made me cringe. But they did make me squirm.

 

The poem "Desperate Pig begs shooting star for wings" (Page 3) was difficult to read, when the pig is being described as

 

"Pigs are smarter than dogs

–and more delicious."

 

and

 

"something clocks you as prey– your bellies are vessels of cured meat.

Your hams, waiting to be candied."

 

So many people do not see pigs as animals anymore; they see them as food, which is disturbing. I remember a time I was with a friend and we were checking out a pig we came across. I was admiring how cute the pig was while my friend said, "Now I'm hungry."

 

I do eat meat, but I love animals too much to see them as food. I would rather eat grains than animals. But this poem does more than show how meat-focused the human eye is on animals as food; it also shows the pig's plea for escape from a world in which he cannot grow old. In which he is born into a world where he will only be slaughtered.

 

I heard this cry for escape as I read these lines:

 

"do you know, before I was given a name I galloped through

these stars

unscathed. Before they picked out which of us was fit to eat I was a

borealis

with a name that could not be counted."

 

The poems in this short collection touch on other topics: Religion, capitalism, poverty. All topics overdone in literature, but when you read them here – in these words and in these poems – it is like seeing them in a new light. In this way, we come to think about them again and try to understand them again. And ask ourselves again, "How, and why, do these things suffocate us?"

 

At the same time, I also pick up on the author's rage at the rigors of society, as in here:

 

"They say I am too old to sit on Santa’s lap

But Santa’s just Dave with those damned eyes" (Page 10)

 

and

 

"They say I am too old to be Ms. America

But In my dream I steeze the judge

and put on what’s called

A chart topping performance" (Page 11) 

 

As well as rage against the bodies we are given when the author reveals that his most dire Christmas wish is this: "I ask him for breasts" and

 

"(I sigh) and think

of things God will not give me" Page 11)

 

The collection as a whole speaks volumes on such things, and more. Soli is a gifted poet unafraid to point out the fraud, the ridiculous, while also, at the same time, painting a world with a sure hand of certainty. Cringerotica is the kind of poetry collection that goes on long after reaching the end, with the author’s voice echoed in our footsteps as we traipse through a world we still struggle to piece back together.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.