Have not had a chance to read this yet, but will keep it on my list for a rainy day! Appreciate being offered the reading copy!

The story was okay, but it was missing something and espesially since how the ending was written. It did not feel like it was going to be a happy ending, i was only more confused than ever. But it was okay, i would like more character growth and chemistry.

Ice is an asshole, but he’s working on it. He’s two years sober, no small feat when you front a heavy metal band facing waning popularity and dismal ticket sales. But the pieces of a life torn apart by alcoholism are finally coming back together. His band, Wounded Martyr, has written a great album with the potential to launch them back into relevancy. And Ricky, probably the biggest, most important piece, has finally forgiven him for the wreck he made of their relationship. There’s only one problem. Ashton. It was to be expected. As his best friend and bandmate for almost twenty years, it’s only natural they should find each other in the loneliness of the road. Ricky knows about their one night together, but he doesn’t know that Ice can’t stop thinking about it, about his long body and whiskey-flavored lips, and the guilt of it has him on the brink of backslide. Now that Wounded Martyr is poised for a long tour, Ice must find a way to resist temptation or risk blowing their last chance and destroying his relationship with the two most important men in his life.
This was an interesting read about alcohol and drug about. Not so much about romance. Having been surrounded by addicts since I was a child, I had a real appreciation for the detail the author went through on this. It was well written. I just didn’t care for how the relationship part of the book was done and since that’s how the book’s description was laid out, it was a bit disappointing.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I love the beginning of the official summary for this book: Ice is an asshole, but he’s working on it. That’s pretty accurate. Ice is a recovering alcoholic, as well as the lead singer in a metal band. His ex, Ricky, is finally giving him a second chance, even though Ice treated him horribly when he wasn’t sober. At the same time, Ice is starting to well…not develop feelings exactly…but he’s becoming more attracted to band mate and best friend, Ashton, who he’s known for years. Back on tour, Ice is finding it difficult to keep his demons at bay, and I really did become invested in his story.

I felt bad for Ice and it was obvious that he was struggling. At the same time, I also felt equally bad for Ricky and Ashton who are caught up in his downward spiral. This book definitely took some turns I didn’t really expect, but I think they made sense and worked for the book. I definitely enjoy books about musicians, and this was a really interesting look at the hardships some face when becoming famous. I gave this one 4 stars!

The writing was very well done. I wish I could have had a better understanding of where the relationship between Ice, Ricky and Ash was going. It seemed like the beginnings of a throuple...but was Sid mixed into that as well? But overall I felt very satisfied with how this ended.

Wounded Martyr is a very intense story about alcoholism, fame, and addictions of all sort. Ice has been spiraling his whole life since the band he's in made up to huge and sold out concerts. The man love to sing, compose, love reharsals with his mates, but the tour always makes him dread and drains him of all his energy and good thoughts.

He used to find comfort in alcohol. But since the alcohol destroyed his life and relationships even more, he stopped and finallty found himself into Ash's arms. Ash has always been his friends for 20 years. Their mutual attraction has always been there as well. But now that the limit has been crossed : everything is falling apart including the band and their career, and Ice's old demons are nearer than he thought.

I find myself very dedicated to Ice's story and his strugglings. There is something very human in the pain he carry through. The stage had never been for him and being on tour is an everyday fight with himself.
While Ice is still a difficult character to get attached to, he's still perfectly depicted as a vulnerable person. And Ricky and Ash on the contrary are very easy to like. They're both suffering with Ice, in their own way, looking at the person they love destroying himself.

I'm still not very convinced by the end that remains very open to interpretations. The finale is kinda surprising and not very common -I like that, but I think I wanted a bit more anyway.

The story was interesting and the characters were decent, but I failed to really get into this story very much. The relationships would have benefited from more background. The love triangle angle didn't really feel real with so little time given to any sort of relationship back story. We are told that Ricky and Ice have history but you don't feel it.

I don't really get why this didn't work for me, it was well-written and the characters were engaging but I just did feel any kind of way about them. Maybe I wasn't in the right mindset at the time but it's only a 3.5 for me, maybe I'll like it more if I reread it at a later date. All in all an okay read.

*I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley*

This was a fascinating read. Ice as a narrator was difficult to understand at first, but he definitely grows on you–especially once you realize how much he's been through. It's not an easy story but it is one that leaves you thinking about it for a while.

The synopsis is what pulled me in but there were parts that didn't do it for me in the long haul.

The story is about Ice whom is the lead singer of Wounded Martyr. He's also an alcoholic but has been in recover for 2 years. Ashton has been his best friend and band mate for over 20 years. Never have they crossed the line until this tour which drives Ice back to his ex-boyfriend Ricky and back to his addict ways.

I thought the parts about addiction were done well but the love triangle I didn't quite feel the intensity of it nor did I get the emotional downward spiral. I saw the potential of this writing but didn't quite feel it. The back and forth between Ricky and Ice confused me a few times. And then in the end I wasn't sure how their triangle was left. Was it Ricky and Ice and Ashton as a friend. Or the three of them together. The line and solution between the three wasn't quite clear enough for me.

I liked the idea of the story then the story in the end unfortunately.

2.5 Stars!

I'm going to honest and admit that the only reason I requested this book was because I did not understand the synopsis in the slightest. Maybe I was sleep-deprived in that moment or just stupid, nonetheless I did not understand it. Sadly this carried over to the book. By 37% I still wasn't sure who the actual couple was to be, because the two guys that I think will get the HEA in the end were still sleeping with other people at 37% and had maybe exchanged 10 sentences with each other. You might have noticed that I mentioned 37% twice, that's because that is how far I actually got into the book. I had to stop after that. I was annoyed and still confused... Maybe I'm just stupid and this is a "it's me, not you"-situation?

I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did! I’ve discovered that I am a sucker for a MM romance, involving a band! Also, I suppose this may be a spoiler (?), however there is a love triangle of sorts, and I hate this trope, but it was done in such a way that I actually didn’t mind it! I do wish that they had really gone into more exploration around this part of the story as it seemed to resolve itself a little too quickly to be believable.
I loved the look into addiction; I don’t know how realistic it was, but it added a whole other element and layer to our MC and the story overall.
There were some moments there where I was genuinely tearing up, which NEVER happens in MM romances, so that was a super wonderful surprise, and one of the reason I rated this one so highly.
I would definitely give this one a go if you’re into ‘famous MC’ romances!

I wanted to like this book more than I did but unfortunately, for all that the writing wasn't bad, I found that I didn't really care for any of the characters, especially not the main character. I understand that addiction is a difficult thing and I thought the author dealt with it well. It wasn't something, however, that made me want to continue reading it. Honestly, it felt more like a chore, needing to see the ending just to say that I could and thankfully, it was short enough that I was able to. Then again, perhaps with a longer book I would have got more attached to the characters, I would have understood how the people who have supposedly been in a band together for 20 years could act as they did, and understand why they still stuck together (beyond the whole money thing). I struggled to understand why Ricky or Ash even liked Ice and could still help him with such kindness. I don't believe it isn't impossible, just that we never saw anything that totally demonstrated why they should do that. We didn't see too many of his good moments. In fact, the majority of his good moments with Ash were just them creating music. The only reason I haven't given this lower than 3 stars is just because I think a significant proportion of my problems are person (although I really, really got bored of Ice just growling at everyone).

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wounded Martyr, Courtney Maguire

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance, LGBTQIA

I really thought I'd like this book, I love romance, love m/m romance and love the rock star trope. And yet I just feel confused about this story. I got to the end and it wasn't with the satisfaction of a good read, but with the feeling of What did I just read? Was that really how it would end?

Its very well written, the words convey really clearly the downsides of addiction, of how staying sober seems the hard choice when everyone around you is drinking. How difficult it is to like the person you are now, when all you've known for years is the addict, how even though you know how awful you are when high or drunk you don't really seem to be a better person sober. All that came over so very clearly, along with the difficulties of relationships when touring, when distance separates and opportunities come unasked for.
Yet somehow the sheer grimness of Ice's life just got me down and coloured what I was reading. He didn't know what he wanted, and Ricky paid the price, band mate Ash was equally ambiguous, and the band after twenty years together seemed to have no kind of camaraderie or affection left. It was just grim all the way, and for me it was too much.
I kept wondering, if they'd been together twenty years and were playing to thousands why were they sharing rooms when they didn't want to and ought to have had the money to room alone – heck, have a suite alone. Does coke really only cost $50 a vial? Why did they still continue when the band really didn't seem close, were they ever close, did any of them actually enjoy the life anymore?
Ash and Ice, friends since childhood, and yet apart from some moments of lust and jealousy I didn't feel anything much between them. I guess I just needed more detail about the characters, their history, and something light to enliven the atmosphere of doom that seemed to live over the band.

The ending seemed a bit of a cop out, I didn't really feel as if anything had changed, except for the one major point, and wasn't convinced of long term happiness for any of them. Where was Sid gong to fit in with the Ricky/Ice/Ash grouping? And wasn't that going to cause more issues? The root causes of the problems still hadn't really been resolved I felt, and the way it seemed to finish held more problems in store IMO.

I find it hard to actually class this as romance, it didn't have any of the love, intensity of emotion, the feel good factor that romance holds for me, and even when it got close to a good emotion it was coloured by jealous thoughts.

I
Stars: Two and a half. Writing quality is four star for making me feel whats happening, for sheer realism, but content for me was just scraping a two, and unfortunately content is the greater sway when I'm reviewing how I feel about a story.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

You ever sit down and start a book and dont stop until it's finished?!??!!!
This was that book.
And to be honest I dont even know if I can describe whether or not I liked it.

This book in a nutshell is about addiction and other stuff but I wouldn't necessarily say it was a romance....

Yes there was sex and a few MC's and rock and roll.

And the ending left me feeling incomplete, like wrapped up in a bow and done.

I felt like I didnt get the closure that "I" needed with this book.

I liked it but I also didn't like parts of it.

Mare~Slitsread

Ice is the lead vocalist for Wounded Martyr. He’s sober. But he makes one of those mistakes that you usually make when you’re drunk… he has sex with bandmate and best friend, Ash. From that point forward things in Ice’s life begin to come apart.

This is an interesting novella with a lot of substance in it! Ice’s issues with alcohol (and later cocaine) are the way that he deals with … everything. The one place that he seems comfortable, is buried in his music and working with the band. The problem is that one night of sex with bass player, Ash, changes the dynamics of everything. Ice finds himself jealous of other people who are receiving Ash’s attention and he’s struggling with thoughts of Ash invading when he’s with his partner Ricky.

Substance abuse and interpersonal relationships are the backbone of this novella. Maguire has written a great depiction of the backsliding that can happen when one is one the recovery road. Little things become an excuse for Ice to drink … big things are a justification.

The interesting twist to this plot of the way in which Ice is struggling to maintain a relationship with his best friend, Ash… and begin anew with his partner, Ricky. Ice relies on the two men differently but they both have a significant place in his life. He seems to need them both… sometimes that manifests itself physically other times it’s emotionally. As his struggle becomes more intense things cycle out of the control until Ice hits bottom.

I would have loved to have read more about the conversations with Ricky and Ash… ultimately they seem to come together and realize that they have to accept each others’ presence if they want to keep Ash alive. I felt as though I was really missing out by not being able to be a party to how they came to that understanding. While the premise was set up exquisitely, I really wanted to know more about what would happen between the three men and what the dynamic of their relationship would ultimately become.

The end of the story felt a little rushed. Once Ice’s health was affected, Ricky and Ash united quickly to support him and I felt I needed more of an understanding of how that happened.

Overall, this is well-written and a very accurate depiction of a person struggling with addictions.