A Review by Wendy
3.5 When Tragedy Can Become A New Beginning Stars
* * * 1/2
I love stories about fulfilling your dreams...and if they have people who have talent and need it recognized... I am all in.
This is the series which deals with those concepts and is done by three different authors. I had not read the first book and was fine in enjoying this one.
Everything, though, was not all fun and "let's put on a show" in this book. There were real issues to deal with; family expectations for one daughter leaving the other one hiding her natural singing and songwriting talents. There was a long unrequited love for a man who had no idea this woman had feelings for him all along.
And there was one of the most damaging feelings we can have....Guilt.
Guilt which was inflected on our guy by a mother due to loss... guilt because he felt he didn't do enough to save the girl... and then guilt because he realizes he loves another and must let his memories and guilt go.
All of these feelings are tied to our main characters, Sunny and Curtis. They have history...and they have talent. Nashville would be calling both if they would just showcase it. Circumstances happen for it to take place at STARSTRUCK, a local showplace known for talent.
Sunny, the hidden singer/songwriter has decided to go for it in a duets only talent show at the club. She has a partner and has worked to make a song she wrote perfect. Her partner flakes and goes to Nashville all on his own leaving Sunny in a bind. She needs to win the $5000. prize money not for herself but for her mother. Her mother hasn't been "right" since the crash and death of her sister. Sunny thinks if she can win the funds to set her mom up with a bakery... then she will come back to herself.
Now she needs a partner... and the only one she can think of is Curtis, who just happens to be at the club delivering the beer. Curtis has stayed away from everyone...has kept such a low profile, many thought he had disappeared. Curtis was Sunny's sister's singing partner...and boyfriend. He also was the last to see her when she took his truck and drove off. They were the team which were supposed to go to Nashville... they were the ones to make it.
Sunny corners Curtis and explains what she needs...he is in pain... doesn't want to do this but feels he must. They make arrangements to practice at Curtis' place because no one must know ...it would hurt her mother too much.
Over the course of the practicing, things become obvious...Curtis discovers Sunny's talent and her love for him...both of them breakdown walls and fight the guilt life has cloaked them in...and through all of this, they come out stronger.
This is a story of forgiveness. It is a tale which looks at what can happen, how to handle adversity and be open to possibility to go on..to live.
There will be another tale as this is a series. I felt the length worked and the Showcase location was a great tie in for the series.
A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
Cynthia Valero is an
award-winning author of two solo novellas as well as three paranormal
romance novels and two anthologies written with Beth Ciotta as CB Scott.
Her newest novella, Wrecked, is an emotional, new-adult tale in the new
contemporary continuity series, STARSTRUCK, which also includes Beth
Ciotta and Elle J Rossi. A student of Natalie Goldberg, Zoetrope
All-Story, and The Writers Studio, Cynthia is currently writing a
fantasy novel of forbidden love and deadly feuds set off the coast of
early America.
Cynthia lives in the northeastern United States,
is a student of kung fu and history, and believes that the rumble of a
classic hot rod is music. Her family will tell you that she is a
grudging cook but a great reader of bedtime stories.
You can visit her on Facebook at Cynthia Valero Books or at cynthiavalero.com
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