This is fabulous uplifting story. Sometimes there is knight in shining armor, who will be your best friend and lover or wife if you willing, but also someone, who has your back 100% no matter what you decide. Vic got extremely lucky. Mason was swept of her feet by Vic, and was willing to help her no matter the outcome. The outcone was more than Vic hoped or even dreamed of. No matter that there was much family drama with her mother.
Sometime, even the worst moments of your life, can bring best results. All you have to do is allow it to happen.

Music producer Mason Liner has been given the job of looking after legend country singer Sophie Roddick whose star is rapidly fading as she's caught up in the world of drugs with a deadbeat boyfriend.  Her daughter Victoria Roddy is doing her best to professionally manage her mother and has no other option  to trust Mason in her attempt to turn Sophie's life around.
I really liked this book, there was nice chemistry between Mason and Victoria although I think the angst between them could have been ramped up by holding off their relationship longer. Both MC's were very likeable, Mason had that nice southern gal charm and Victoria was pretty fiesty. There were a couple of twists in the storyline to keep it interesting. Overall a good read.
Ali Vale has done another solid job with this one.

Sophia Roddy is a legend in country music. But, she's spiraling out of control. Her daughter Victoria is also at the end of her rope with her Mom. And, she's about to give up.

Mason is a music producer who gets assigned to solve (or try to solve) Sophia's problems.

She and Victoria do not get along at first. But, then they're thrown together so that Sophia can be helped in an intensive and private way, and, they get closer and closer (in some ways maybe a tad too fast?).

At some points in the story I was delightfully surprised with the twists. On the other hand, I also felt like some of the changes at the end were a little fast and a bit out of character.

Still, with all the music and the farm/ranch stuff, it was a fun read.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

If you have dealt with alcoholism/drug use in your life or family, this might not be the book for you. Sophie Roddy, country music's sweetheart is in a downward spiral due to drugs and alcohol. Victoria, her daughter and manager, is at her wit's end trying to save her mother's career. Sophie's manager, Mason, is determined to turn Sophie's career around. Despite Victoria not believing Mason has her mother's best interest at heart, working with Mason on a daily basis, she has second thoughts. And finds herself having feelings for Mason.
I would recommend this.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A decent romance that also contains an interesting storyline. The two leads are solid and their relationship progression is nicely paced and believable. The other world element of music producers and country music stars transports you away from everyday life and provides some escapism. As a UK reader, I’m glad I’ve watched Nashville so I know what a big deal the stage is.
The sex scenes, whilst up to the usual Ms Vali standard i.e. hot, felt somewhat unnecessary with this storyline. I think that’s because the book lacked a bit of spark. Or the contrast between the sex and the management of having an addict for a mother was just too great. Having said that the nuanced portrayal of a difficult mother and daughter relationship was the best bit about the book. I particularly liked the realistic acceptance at the end that wasn’t cloying and full of “we all love each other really”.

There was a bit too much going on in the beginning as I was trying to get to know the characters. To be honest, it took me awhile to get into the story. Victoria Roddy and Mason Liner are drawn to each other and become happier after they spend more time together. The book's description suggests that main conflict between the two is around managing Victoria's mother's career, which doesn't really play out in the story. It's more that Victoria's mother's personality and addictions threatens their happiness. Although I understand the book needs drama personally there's too much attention on it. Although I appreciate that Vali wrote a story involving country music, this was just an okay read for me.

Ali Vali is one of the best authors around. Whenever she published a new book I bought it with no need to read a sample. There are very few authors that I do that for. But lately, her characters and the dialogue seems to be the same thing over and over. The MC is a strong and gorgeous butch who is a brunette with blue eyes. And they all seem to talk and act like Casey Cain. And her parents are the same too. I would like a totally different character each book. With that being said, this book is awesome even if it feels like I already knew these characters.

You can always count on an Ali Vali book to keep your from going crazy during a world crisis. This was a nice read. I enjoyed the characters and the book was well written. The story had me from the first chapter to the end. The family dynamics between Bryce and her mother were rather emotional and kept the pages turning. If you are looking for an escape from the crazy world of today, I highly recommend Face the Music.

Ever since the first time I read a Cain Casey Devil story, Ali Vali had me hooked. You can count on having a dashing butch with black hair and a strong love of family. This is a true feel-good Hollywood-type story, with everyone's dreams coming true. And that's what we all need right now. Plus, the "chemistry" between Mason and Victoria is off the charts. A great way to spend five hours thinking about something nice.

When the world is facing a horrible pandemic, Face the Music is a wonderful love story that will make you forget your real life, if only for a moment.
This book is about music, substance abuse, mother-daughter issues and facing the music on several levels. And after that recital, you may wonder how the hell I enjoyed this book. Let me tell you.

This book is not about the celebrity musician but her daughter Victoria. When her mom Sophie seems to hit rock bottom she meets Mason. It was love at first sight, not! It's safe to say that this is an enemy to lovers romance. Only the enemy part (luckily) doesn't take that long.
Mason is sent to clean up the mess Sophie has made and Victoria isn't exactly happy with that. After a second mess within 24 hours, Mason decides to get in the big guns and askes her friend Belle to help out in fixing Sophie.

The start of the 12 step program Sophie is going through takes place at Mason's estate. Where it is Belles job to get Sophie sober and face the music, Belle askes Mason to take care of Victoria because it takes two to tango. Sophie and Victoria feed each other and didn't become the best versions of themselves in the process. Where if found Victoria a real bitch in the first pages, she became more and more a very likeable person under the caring hand of Mason. Eventually, she finds her own voice, pun intended. Their journey is a pleasure to read and only gets interrupted by the bumpy road Sophie seems to travel.

The fierce-love trademark of Vali drips off the pages of this book and I loved it. At some point, there was one sentence in the book that made me long back to the badasses Vali writes about in her Cain Casey series. Mason said: "I have some friends who are good at explaining things to people who have trouble understanding anything." Other than that Mason is just a sweet loyal butch.
Victoria at first seems a strong bitchy type, but soon enough you'll discover that her persona is made out of the insecurity's she has because of her neglected childhood. Because of that, her insecurity comes back time and time again on the pages. She's lucky to meet someone as patient and loyal as Mason. And from personal experience, I could totally relate to this storyline.

The secondary characters in this book are mostly great, except for Victoria's mom and her "boyfriend" Weston. Besides lovely Belle, we've got Jeb (ranch help), Colt (good looking country star), Wilbur (a sweet young guy from the doughnut shop), Josette (Vic's best friend) and off course Masons parents Sonny and Amelia. Because a Vali book isn't complete without strong and loving parents. I would love a book about Belle, she's got a very interesting background and career move going on.

For those who like steam, you can indulge in this book. Where the sex scenes in Vali's book are never very graphic and extensive, they always have great chemistry. You'll regularly find sex and chemistry on the pages of this book. It doesn't always add to the story, but as I have a healthy appetite for sex in books: I won't complain. Thank you, Vali!

It is safe to say that if you like an enemy to lovers romance, you will enjoy this book. For me, it was a great way to escape. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

I really enjoyed this book on several levels. To me the most interesting was the challenges that Victoria fines in her life since she is the daughter of an alcoholic – drug dependent famous country singer Sophie. Both Sophie and Victoria are in denial for just how dysfunctional Sophie is between her many addictions. She fails to show for rehearsals and is always late for concerts, And after back to back situations that lead Sophie to the hospital because of overdosing the head of the music agency that works with Sophie decided that he and his daughter Mason were going to get Sophie clean. They felt that they owed it to Sophie to try to help her out even though she resists the help tooth and nail. Sophie and Victoria were taken to property owned by the head of the music company were both he lives and his daughter Mason lives. The more time that Victoria spends away from her mother, her incredible music talents begin to show. Mason tries her best to convince Victoria that she has a lot of musical talent but Victoria at this point is to beaten down to believe she doesn’t has any worth. When a big country star hears Victoria sing and play the piano he asked her to join him in a duet. From this point on Victoria slowly starts to come into her own as a popular musical talent. While this is going on her mother is in a private rehab resisting efforts to get her clean. Finally after much hard work she does reach sobriety. Can her sobriety last and will she become jealous over her daughters rising star as her star begins to fade? I very much enjoyed reading this book.

Ok this was a very solid entertaining romance read!

I’m a fan of Ali Vali’s romance reads and this didn’t fail. I was so interested because I love music romance books but this specific one I thought was done very nicely because your MC is not actually the star but rather the daughter of a star, living in her shadows.

So what’s interesting about this read was the additional twist of mother/daughter dynamics which was interesting to read (for personal reasons)..

People sometimes read books for different reasons, some escape reality, some are looking for deep reads to make them questions things in general.. I personally read for entertainment, so this book was spot on! It’s pure entertainment with 2 likable characters, interesting storyline and for bonus points, the sex scenes were GOOD!

I recommend this book if you’re stuck in quarantine/curfew like me, and want to relax and enjoy a nice and smooth read :)

A solid 4 rating and I received an ARC for an honest review.

I usually really like the books from this author, but this one felt a bit off for me.

Victoria is the daughter of a country music legend, but her mom their, Sophie, seems to be more interested in drugs and booze than her career or daughter. Music exec Mason steps in to tell both women the truth and help them navigate their way to a solution. Mason is the polar opposite of Victoria, she loves life, is happy and confident and always seems to see the bright side. Victoria dislikes her from the get go. At first Vic doesn’t know Mason is the daughter of Sonny, who owns the label. Which actually sets them off on equal terms, as Mason doesn’t know Vic is Sophie’s daughter. Mason tries to teach Vic about living a happy life while Sophie is getting sober. This all takes place on Mason’s ranch. Things happen, and I guess life happens, situations and mindsets change, as do all their lives.

I had a hard time keeping time in this book and seeing which POV was chosen, it seemed to be a bit over the place. There were some serious bits of doubt and angst that aren’t dealt with in the book after being mentioned several times. I liked the character of Mason and her family as well as the therapist Belle, even if she only plays a small role in the story. I guess for me their are just too many things unresolved and it was a bit all over the place. Oh and my god they are taking the u-haul thing to the next level!

Country music queen Sophie Roddy probably ruined career after two consecutive drug overdoses. When Mason Liner, a producer from Sophie's record label, intervened, she wasn't expecting to experience feelings for Sophie's daughter and manager, Victoria Roddy. Growing up with Sophie was not exactly pleasant for Victoria, and she usually keeps everyone at arm's length to avoid getting hurt worse. But the pull towards Mason was strong, and was the risk of letting her in a right decision?

To be honest, I almost rated the book 2 stars because the romance did not work for me. I find little balance between Mason and Victoria, and that made me feel kind of off. They would no doubt make great friends though. But when I looked back at my highlighted sentences, I realised that "Face the Music" is so much more than romance. The conversations of positive reassurance shed light to the story, and I find this book a bit therapeutic because of them. It is less about the romance and more about dealing with the Roddys' mother-daughter relationship damage.

For Victoria, her journey with Mason amidst the Sophie crisis was about finding herself, believing in people, and relieving self-doubts and insecurities bit by bit. Mason's quest was to remind and convince Victoria that she deserved great things in life, too. While currently imbalanced, I am sure their relationship would be mutually supportive in the future. Their honest and open conversations were wonderful, and I love how they were both so present for each other.

"Face the Music" is good because of the dialogues, despite some inevitable repetitions. Plotwise, it was okay. The romance was passable, but I enjoyed the growing trust between Mason and Victoria. I would recommend giving the book a try just for its warmth.

I received this ARC via NetGalley and publisher for an honest review..many thanks!
Sometimes when I have read other Ali Vali books it’s either hit or miss but this was a hit for me.
All of Victoria Roddy’s life she has lived in the shadow of her famous legendary Country music artist Sophia Roddy. She gave up her dreams to be an artist but unfortunately she is her mother’s manager and babysitter trying everything she can to keep her on the right path but the drinking and drugs finally take their toll.
Enter music producer Mason Liner. She is the daughter of the music executive who made Victoria’s mother famous and is willing to help get Victoria’s mother into rehab and provide tough love and immediately they butt heads.
Will Victoria allow and trust Mason to help her mother and will she trust Mason with her heart.

I really enjoyed this book however the hardest part was Victoria’s selfishly mean mother Sofia who honestly doesn’t deserve her daughter or her forgiveness.

4.5 stars

Face the music was a fast fun read. I loved the setting and I enjoyed the characters of Mason and Bryce. I thought their story was engaging and I could relate to the difficult relationship between Bryce and her mother. The dysfunction drew the reader in and the character’s weaknesses just made them that more believable. I had never read Ali Vali, but I would certainly keep a look our for more of her titles. This was a solid romance.

Sophie Roddy is country music legend, and her daughter Victoria works as her assistant. But when Sophie falls from grace into drugs and alcohol, Victoria will try anything to help her recover even if it means joining forces with the infuriating woman from Sophie's record label, Mason Liner. As Sophie begins her recovery, Mason and Victoria spend more and more time together, and their attraction is undeniable. Victoria has the freedom out from under her mother's shadow, to discover who she really is and who she is meant to be.

There was something about Mason's character that just rubbed me the wrong way - she was a little too knight in shining armour and old-fashioned masculinity for me. Normally these characteristics are written in a way that is swoon worthy in Ali Vali's butch characters, but in Mason it made me feel icky, like Victoria was too weak to do anything. Usually these characteristics are met by a strong femme character and they balance each other out, but here it made Victoria fade rather than shine. I did like Victoria's evolution throughout this book, I'm glad she found her voice. I loved all the secondary characters and the rich story and world Vali created in this book. The writing as always is excellent, and I enjoyed the story overall, but Mason's character kept me from fully connecting to the romance side of things.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Face the Music by Ali Vali was exactly the book that I needed to read during this time of crappy real life. This is a typical Ali Vali romance with strong characters, a beautiful setting (Nashville, Tennessee), and an enemies-to-lovers style tale. The two main characters are beautiful, strong-willed, and easy to fall in love with. The romance between them is steamy, and so are the sex scenes.

Music producer Mason Liner and Victoria Roddy, the daughter of country music celebrity Sophia Roddy must work together to save the career and quite possibly the life of Sophia. Alcohol and drugs have caused Sophia to spiral out of control publicly, and when she overdoses and almost dies, Mason intervenes. This creates the conflict between Mason and Victoria, but the more the two work together, the more intense the attraction between them grows.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. As I said above, it was a great escape from real life, even for just a few hours, and that is what I needed. I love Ms. Vali’s romances. Let’s be honest, I love pretty much everything I’ve ever read of hers, and this book is no different. If you enjoy romantic stories, with beautiful and strong characters, lovely settings, and interesting plots, then I can recommend this novel.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

Music, romance, family, mother/daughter dynamics, problem diva what a ride. This read made me think about what it feels like to have someone in your corner that believes in you. Veronica Roddy, reluctant manager for her country music royalty mother. As a result, Veronica is not living her life and hates what her mother, Sophie Roddy is doing to her career and life. Mason Liner, works with her father as a music producer and she is unbelievably awesome with her straight talk and desire to be helpful to Veronica. There have been very few characters in this genre with the "I am with you, no matter what" personality as Mason. While Sophie gets the help she needs, Mason and Veronica grow closer. While Mason and her family may appear to good to be true and Veronica and her family messed up, I appreciated how one family can be there for another family and both benefit.

Country-music, Nashville-centered romance. Overcoming challenges, becoming your own person outside of your parent's shadow, and realizing your own self-worth. Took a little while to warm up to this story, but I loved how truly supportive Mason - the dominant, confident character - is as she and Victoria try to make it work.

Victoria Roddy has spent her life making sure her mother's music career stays on track. As her manager, this task gets more and more difficult as her country-music legend mother descends further and further into drugs and alcohol. After two near-death disasters and a forced intervention, Victoria is left with enormous guilt and being pulled down by the weight of her perceived obligation to her mother.

Mason Liner is the daughter of country-music producer royalty and has been tasked by her father to decide the fate of legend-cum-addict Sophie Roddy and, tangentially, that of her daughter, Victoria.

During Sophie's forced convalescence, Mason and Victoria become closer than closer. But can Mason help Victoria see how special Victoria can really be outside of her mother? Is love and support enough to tear down the walls of a lifetime of neglect and put-downs?