Rating: 4.25 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

He was perfect. Sweet, lovely, and so fucking beautiful. I wanted him.

Rand came to NYC with dreams of making it big with his band. He is dedicated, has finally been able to hire a manager, and the band is getting better gigs, but it’s not moving fast enough for Rand. He likes when life moves fast as he can barely sit still and one night stands are all he has time to focus on where relationships are concerned. When Rand came to New York, he decided to keep his bisexuality a secret and anyone that knows agrees it’s best for an up and coming rock band. Rand is the band’s lead singer and, while he can play the guitar, he’s not as polished as he would like and he seeks out lessons from Will.

Will is a musical genius on all counts as he lives and breathes the music. His family cut him off financially when he came out, but he is still expected to conform to his parent’s conservative wishes. He admits he is a geek and his nervous and shy nature confirms that. Rand doesn’t seem to care what Will looks like or how he dresses and from the first meeting there is something that just captivates Rand. There is way more to Will, and Rand starts seeing small glimpses of that, like the traces of glitter left behind on Will’s face.

When Will agrees to play guitar for Rand’s band for the summer, their relationship gets complicated between spending all of their time together, pushy publicists, and finally both men may have to figure out where their truth lies.

Being in Rand’s head was an interesting place to be. His first person narrative offers an up close view and at times, it’s as if he is the narrator of his own life. A Kind of Truth is a spin-off from Hayes’ earlier series as Rand was a character there. Having not read that series, I can say that this can be read as a standalone. There is a reference to an off page character from the earlier books that reads as if we are supposed to know who he is, but it’s a momentary distraction.

There are so many sparkling thoughts that are mixed in here and layered throughout the book. Much of this comes from the growing relationship between Rand and Will and, since we only have Rand’s POV, how he processes it. Everything about Will calls to Rand and the author supplies us with plenty of descriptions of how having Will’s attention all to himself and having Will’s energy focused on him, for Rand, makes him feel. He can’t get enough of Will in bed or out, but tries to take it slow with virginal Will, but Will knows what he wants and certainly lets Rand know. But, just a smile from Will, that’s only for Rand, sets him all a flutter.

We sent text or voice messages with mini recordings or bits of lyrics like we were lovesick students passing notes in class…. I wasn’t sure what we were doing, but I couldn’t get enough.

But Rand isn’t used to any of this, the wanting to be with just one person, especially someone like Will who isn’t supposed to be his type. But Will is not all he appears to be. He hides by day wanting to be anyone but himself and then the music has the power to transform him. Oh and a bit of lipstick helps too.

Hell, his first language was music. The more time I spent with him, I began to see that Will processed everything rhythmically. His brain seemed to turn words into notes and set a tempo according to his mood.

But they have real issues to work through between Will’s conservative family and Rand hiding his sexuality from the public. Will’s family issues left me wanting something from his point of view as he’s cut off financially, is in a tremendous amount of debt, but still jumps whenever his mother calls. This book also has two stereotypical characters, being the band’s publicist and a disgruntled guitarist that took the book a little off track for me. These characters have been seen before doing the same thing and for a story that offered unique additions, these characters added forced angst. There also wasn’t a clear resolution to their storylines, which left me with a few questions.

This is a slower book that has a day-to-day feel and it’s not until almost the end when you can look back that you can feel the full impact of their journey.

“If my sexuality was the only thing people focused on when they heard our songs, then they were missing the point.”

Recommended for a well-written book set at a great pace with two guys who think all they have in common is the music but are a perfect match.

A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.