String Boys by Amy Lane | Cat’s Release Day Review & #giveaway @Dreamspinners @amymaclane @TTCBooksandmore

Seth Arnold learned at an early age that two things in life could make his soul soar—his violin and Kelly Cruz. In Seth’s uncertain childhood, the kindness of the Cruz family, especially Kelly and his brother, Matty, gave Seth the stability to make his violin sing with the purest sound and opened a world of possibility beyond his home in Sacramento.

Kelly Cruz has loved Seth forever, but he knows Seth’s talents shouldn’t be hidden, not when the world is waiting. Encouraging Seth to follow his music might break Kelly’s heart, but he is determined to see the violin set Seth’s soul free. When their world is devastated by a violent sexual assault and Matty’s prejudices turn him from a brother to an enemy, Seth and Kelly’s future becomes uncertain.

Seth can’t come home and Kelly can’t leave, but they are held together by a love that they clutch with both hands.

Seth and Kelly are young and the world is wide—the only thing they know for certain is they’ll follow their heartstrings to each other’s arms whenever time and fate allow. And pray that one day they can follow that string to forever… before it slices their hearts in two.

Buy link:s Dreamspinner Amazon

Cat gives this one 5 Meows...

I 'm not going to give a summary on this as the blurb pretty much says it all.  The story begins with a call from Kelley telling Seth that Matty wants to see him and it's important and that he only has about a week, He promptly tells Kelley he will come back for him as e has always promised.  Heart-wrenching first paragraph leaving me wondering WTH happened up to this point. I sat on the edge of my seat through the entire story as we go back to the past and grow up with this family. (stop at the store for lots of tissues and if going to be reading out somewhere some travel size as well),.

Amy makes us nice and comfortable as she introduces us to Seth, Matty and Kelley and both boys’ families at school preparing for a concert as the string boys.  Such a sweet scene, then the rollercoaster speeds up and starts taking us over hills and sharp curves of happiness sadness and smacks us into a wall of angst. Holy heck I know my heart bled during this book. I know I cried enough. I fell in love with all three boys, but man oh man the romance with Seth and Kelley was so sweet it rivals cotton candy. There were enough love and sweetness in the romance to help tamp down the darkness and angst.  A balance that Amy Lane has a knack for. If you loved her Promise Rock books... Here ya go. Another book to help fill that void.

I added this to my all-time favorites pile and YA/NA books are not my favorite genre. And there is a little surprise at the end that made me clap in glee when we find out who the officer was that was wanting to help Seth.

If you like YA to NA books, friends to lovers, angst, can tolerate some violence and off page assault and sweet mm-sex and LOVE dark romance with a happy ending, you must read this one!

Excerpt…

Now

THE WIND hit Seth solid in the chest as he emerged from the back entrance of David Geffen Hall. Oh my God, the Hudson was unmerciful! Temperatures tonight threatened to sink to the thirties, with a healthy dose of sleet to seal the ice in any unwary traveler’s veins. It wasn’t even December yet—not even Thanksgiving.

It was Seth’s first winter in New York, and his heart felt as cold as the wind.

“Hey! Seth! Come on! You said I could crash on your couch!”

Seth looked up and smiled gamely. “Yeah. Sorry. Just not used to the winters, you know?”

“You look sad,” Caleb said perceptively. “You know, the offer still stands. I, uh, don’t have to sleep on the couch.”

Seth’s heart felt too heavy for Caleb’s usual flirting to even elicit a smile. “Definitely the couch,” he said, pulling the solid wool of his coat up to his chin and making sure the violin case he was cradling against his chest under the coat was secure.

“Your performance was good,” Caleb said earnestly, his pale face shining in the light from a nearby streetlamp. Together they were walking toward the 66th Street Subway Station. Seth’s agent had managed to find an apartment on the Lower East Side—tiny, cramped, and stifling, even in April when he’d moved. It still boasted just enough living space for one person.

Of course, in New York that meant Seth had a bunk bed that he shared with his friend Amara, who was alternate flute when they needed one. Caleb could sleep on the couch.

Amara was home in Sacramento, where Seth yearned to be, visiting her boyfriend and her family. But Seth had two more weeks of performances on his contract.

He had tickets to Sacramento in December. You’ve got to try, he told himself. Maybe if he sees you, he’ll remember we’re stronger together. It doesn’t matter if he told you it was done. Then, as he always did, he heard, You’ll never stop trying. The insidious little voice gave him hope, and he warmed up some.

“Thank you,” he said absently to Caleb. “That’s kind.”

Seth was a soloist, which was something he wasn’t supposed to be in his twenties—everybody had said that as he was coming up. You had to be really good to play solo, to be first chair, to get a job in an orchestra, to play in New York at all. Seth had lived his life assuming he wasn’t the guy who got to do those things special. It was always a shock to realize that every other violinist in the world didn’t get the same opportunities he had.

Kelly had always said Seth was meant to walk among the stars… but that had only seemed possible when Kelly was there.

“It’s not kindness,” Caleb argued. “It’s pure envy! My God—it’s like the only part of you engaged is the part that connects with your violin!”

Seth shrugged. Old news. His family all knew what was in his heart, and that had always been good enough for him. Without Kelly there to understand the things Seth didn’t say, it was like the good parts of Seth weren’t there at all.

As though summoned, Seth’s phone buzzed. He stiffened, there on the sidewalk as they approached the stairway to the subway station, because he knew. When it was Kelly texting, he always knew.

He pulled it out and read the message, biting his lip.

He’s got maybe a week. Please, Seth, for Matty. Please come home.

Seth stopped and shuddered, his heart finally converted to ice.

But that didn’t stop him from writing the message. Didn’t stop him from pressing Send.

Not for Matty. For you, Kelly. All you had to do was ask.

“What is it?” Caleb asked, sounding worried. It didn’t take a genius to see Seth was upset.

“I should pack,” he mumbled, trying not to lose his head. “And I have to trade in my ticket for one on standby. I need to go home.”

“Home?” Caleb sounded incredulous. “Seth, I don’t even know where you come from!”

Seth shook his head, trying to keep his breathing even. Always, always, that amorphous threat, the long arm of the law reaching for a moment Seth couldn’t remember—but it had never been enough to keep him away for this long.

“I come from a shitty school in a cow town,” he said, knowing his voice was sharp and not sure how to fix it. There was more to his home than that; there must have been. He’d risked so much to return, time and time again. The last time, though, the time Kelly had frozen his heart, had been the time he’d risked and lost it all.

“I never fucking left.”

Angst and pain, Amy Lane.  Amy Lane has two kids in college, two grade schoolers in soccer, two cats, and two Chi-who-whats at large. She lives in a crumbling crapmansion with most of the children and a bemused spouse. She also has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action adventure movies and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe into this day! She writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and m/m romance--and if you accidentally make eye contact, she'll bore you to tears with why those three genres go together. She'll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.

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