Dreamspinner Presents
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6136
Blurb
Lord January is at the top of the charts, only comes out at night, and is usually covered in blood. Say what you will, but the man knows how to put on a great show. But when the Vampire King is let out of rehab, the last thing he expects is someone forcing him to eat real food, hang out in the sun, and generally be a human being.
Rye Sommers, the best bodyguard in the business, has been hired to babysit a rock star whose biggest threat surprisingly isn’t all the hard drugs, desperate groupies, and crazy fans—it’s Lord January himself. But the closer Rye gets, the more LJ turns into sweet, gentle, caring Jeff Smart. He may still be the super-skinny, pierced and inked genius Lord January, but he is slowly shaking his death wish as he sheds the loneliness and exhaustion his stage persona saddled him with.
But as Rye falls in love with the real Jeff, he finds himself in over his head. He knows he can keep Lord January away from the drugs and the groupies, but saving Jeff might force Jeff to choose between his career as Lord January and his very life.
Review
Lord January, aka LJ aka Jeff Smart is just coming home out of 8 months of rehab. He had been entered into the program after his heart stopped – twice – due to the drugs he took to help him maintain his persona.
Rye is a bodyguard enlisted to aid LJ stay safe and sober – 24-7. They immediately find they are more than client/employee and Rye swiftly begins to care deeply for the beleaguered and confused LJ.
LJ/Jeff is a mathemeatician and musician who has fallen into his role as the vampire/death metal star because his friend was in the band and needed a new lead singer after the other BLED OUT ON STAGE – gah!
Jeff is a quiet guy with a poet’s soul, mostly vegan, and completely unable to be the center of attention in the way Lord January is. He coped with drugs and now he is lost.
Rye shows him how to stand up for himself and find his own style but he can’t leave the band with so many people depending on him. In fact, it takes some pretty major crises to occur before Jeff will allow January to go away.
**
Sean Michael is a such a unique writer. He writes all this BDSM (not my style) and then all these Manny/extended family stories. He is definitely skilled at weaving a story that inspires a strong reaction.
I loved this story – more than I thought I would. I loved how vulnerable both men were to the other – almost right away – and while I was frustrated by Jeff’s resistance to change I could understand why he thought the way he did.
I loved the end and the sappiness of it all – though there was plenty of hardship along the way to balance things out.
I highly recommend this to fans of musicians in romance as well as bodyguard stories.
4.5 of 5 hearts
