Let me start by saying I totally loved the cover of this book! Of course, it’s the first thing that made me interested to get a hold of it (most of us do that yeah?). Lucky me because Netgalley has it available for request. Anyway, this is my first book by Annabeth Albert and having heard so much about her well-received participation in Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s “Love is an Open Road” event, my expectations prior to reading this was probably way off the charts.
To easily picture Treble Maker, think of NBC’s The Sing-Off and put two cute guys in the limelight who got together because of their intense attraction and well, they always say that opposite attracts right? So that is where Cody Rivers and Lucas Norwood’s characters comes into play.
Cody’s determined to win the a cappella reality show and is using the show as a springboard to finally hit it big. He’ll do everything in his power to win. Lucas however is content to sing his heart out as long as he’s making his parents and school proud and maintaining his “virtue” of being a model gay citizen. As Lucas pointed to Cody, “I’m gay but I don’t act on it.” Okay.
There’s one big problem for me when I am unable to connect with the main characters when I know that I’m halfway through the book. I’ll start asking myself why am I still not tossing this into oblivion and heading to read another book. The main answer to that question is that the author’s writing is not bad. It kept me glued to finish the book. Her style is very easy to grasp but somehow lacks consistency here. It’s also way too long in my opinion for such a clichéd premise, I would’ve thought that it’d be shorter by at least fifty to a hundred pages.
Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not just about the show right? It’s about Lucas finding his own voice and standing up on his own with Cody being his guide. I loved their monkey-hot sex and the whole kink (probably) stemming from being repressed juxtaposing what Lucas tried to hold firmly when he started “something” with Cody. And that is one of the reasons I didn’t connect well – it felt like the story’s all about Lucas petty drama of being out yet acting like he’s in the closet despite having dual POV all throughout.
The romance was almost nil albeit the hot steamy sex and it pains for me to say that I really didn’t get much enjoyment from reading this story. Let me remind you though, what’s not so great for me may be the best read of your life so do try to check this out for yourself.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Expected publication: August 4th 2015 by Lyrical Press
About The Author
Frequent tweeter, professional grammar nerd, and obsessive reader, Annabeth Albert is also a Pacific Northwest romance writer in a variety of subgenres.
Emotionally complex, sexy, and funny stories are her favorites both to read and to write. In between searching out dark heroes to redeem, she works a rewarding day job and wrangles two toddlers.
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