A Kind of HomeRating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Spiral is currently the best known band in the world and guitarist Isaac Dalton has a hard time wrapping his head around the fame. The money and travel are amazing, but fame comes with a price as well. He’s exhausted and saddled with a full time bodyguard after a fan starts sending messages that have his team looking over their shoulders. When Isaac finally returns home after a grueling schedule, he longs for nothing more than the quiet of his home. But, his high school crush, Adam, who just happens to be his best friend’s brother, has extended his one week stay at Isaac’s place and is still there when Isaac returns. Isaac knows this is bad idea and he’s definitely not falling for the straight guy.

Adam might not be as straight as he has let Isaac believe. He just divorced his wife and is finding himself in NYC. Except, there is attraction. Isaac knows something is up with Adam, but it’s up to Adam to tell him. Before Adam can do that, their attraction sparks one night leaving them both completely off balance. Isaac may have to risk a lifetime of friendship if he going to go after the relationship and the man he so desperately wants.

A Kind of Home brings us to the fourth book in Hayes’ A Kind of Stories series and focuses on the bandmates of Spiral. This book is primarily character driven and while the other band members do appear, it could work mostly as a standalone. This series overall has been a solid good for me, but I struggled here with both the characters and the way the story was told.

The book starts with Isaac arriving back home after a whirlwind tour with his band and he’s looking for nothing more than quiet and his own bed. He arrives to Adam still staying in his apartment. Isaac has known Adam for years as Adam is the brother of Isaac’s best friend. While Isaac was in high school, he had a major crush on Adam and even Isaac admits it was based mostly on hero worship and also that Adam was easy on the eyes. This was the one of the first places where I struggled with seeing these guys as a couple. Isaac mentions often how hot he thinks Adam is and talks about his eyes and his muscles, but I was never really shown what Isaac liked about Adam as a long-term partner.

There was a lot of telling in this book. We were told about a few incidents that happened when they were teens and we were told about how they interacted present day, but a lot of it was in an overview style and I never was able to really get to know these guys, especially Adam as we are not given his POV. My impression of what was shown for their first night together also didn’t match their reactions in the light of day and their interactions were either off or simply bland for me.

Isaac is the guitarist for a world famous band and he is appointed a full time bodyguard, which he loathes having. With the exception of one mention of the bodyguard having a day off, he seemed to work 24/7. The bodyguard was needed since there was a stalker storyline. The stalker was also bland and didn’t add anything to the story for me. It read almost as if since Isaac was a rock star, he needed an obligatory stalker, but the incidents were all basic and it just didn’t resonate with me. Most of this book didn’t resonate with me and it didn’t hold my attention. It felt like there was a formula to it with the required elements and it read for me that areas of the story were expected and inserted in with a sex scene here and the conflict there before heading off to the HEA, which I was not feeling with these guys based on the way their relationship was shown.

If you have followed and enjoyed this series certainly give this one a try. I was underwhelmed with this one but maybe it will work better for you.

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

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