I loved this compelling and emotional read. Their chemistry was off the charts and I couldn't get enough! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title

This one was just okay. Its possible it was just me. I dont really love rock star books but this one came highly recommended.

What happens when you are forced to give up your dreams in order to help your family?  What happens when you follow your dreams against family wishes?  We find out when we get this pairing from Mercy Brown.  I didn't know exactly what I was getting in to when I started but I am glad I decided to give this one a chance.

We have Sonia who isn't living up to the expectations of her wealthy parents.  Well we think she isn't but looking at the ending I think there has been a lot of changes on both sides and while they won't see eye to eye on everything...  there seems to be a bit of thawing from both sides.  Sonia reminded me a lot of who I was around men and still am in many respects.  She's shy, self-conscious and not experienced being around the opposite sex but there is something about her connection with Cole that makes her want to be so much more to him than yet another notch in his belt.  I liked how she did stand up for everyone in the band but herself and, when push came to shove, put herself out there to face one of her biggest fears.  She shows how much the band and Cole mean to her by everything she does to make sure they reach their dreams.  Her story with Cole made me happy in many respects because it was never just about their chemistry but more about two people who have so many things going against them but still need each other in order to be free.

Cole was someone that I enjoyed getting to know.  I liked being in his head as he struggled with being the man he thought Sonia wanted but also being the man he knew he needed to be for his family.  He's so down on what he's worth that he neglects to see that he is worth so much more than just a paycheck.  His talent shines thru and you'll love how this turns out.  He's such a sap when it comes to Sonia but also so certain that he isn't worthy of her that he almost misses out on something that is so much more than just a tour fling.  You had to appreciate how much he was willing to give up in order to do what was right by his mom and sister but that's why he's the man that deserves everything.  I enjoyed seeing him let Sonia in and also seeing her open up to him as they find something we all search for and most of us don't ever find.

Overall a good read and I can't wait to see more from this author.

Loved this title and will be including it in my Best of 2016 at allaboutromance.com.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Stars on the Floor (Soft) are going on their first tour, self-funded of course, but their first *real* tour!! A three-week roadtrip with friends, doing what they love, performing!! But sadly for Cole, it will be his last adventure with the band. He hasn’t told them yet, but he is quitting when their tour is over. His mom is getting on his case to grow up, his sister is starting college and needs him to pay her tuition. So he will be moving back home and working for his uncle as a plumber when they get back. A future he doesn’t look forward to, but one he’s resigned to. The time for his dreams are over so that his sister can live hers. He had plans of wild partying while on tour with whichever girls came around. However, his longtime crush Sonia is going along on the tour as the band’s tour manager, and when he sees he has a chance to be with her finally, all the other girls fade to the background for him and he only has eyes for her! But sadly, he knows nothing serious can come from it. She loves Cole the rocker, and doesn’t deserve Cole the plumber, what girl would sign up for that bleak future?

I want to start off with reminding everyone how much I loved Travis in the first book, Loud is How I love You. But poor Trap can’t hold a candle to Cole!

“I’ve been wondering all day what flavor lip gloss you’ve got on.”

“Dr. Pepper,” I say, before my brain starts to work again.

“Lip Smackers?” He laughs. “Really?”

“My mom always puts a ton of them in my stocking at Christmas,” I try to explain, but really, what’s the point now? He already knows my taste in cosmetics hasn’t changed since the seventh grade.

“I like it.”

“You do?”

“Well, let me double-check,” he says, and then he licks his bottom lip before he kisses me again. I feel the tip of his tongue soft against mine, taste the sweetness of his breath as he kisses me deeper. Then he moves his lips, all warm and soft over to my ear and kisses me there until I can’t speak.”

I know have a strange urge to go get some Lip Smackers of my own…

I absolutely loved Cole!! He’s a sweet, loyal, and funny guy that is willing to give up everything he loves, even the girl of his dreams, for his family! He’s had a rough life and he just can’t seem to catch a break.

It was fun watching the relationship between Cole and Sonia develop. It took about half the book for them to find their moment, as Cole wanted their first time to be memorable in a good way. *Swoon* It just made me love him that much more.

“You don’t look better through beer goggles,” she says. “The problem is you look way too fine without them. You’re like a damn demigod.”

“Wait, just a demigod? I was shooting for Zeus.”

“Ask me after we … you know.”

“After you see my thunderbolt?”

“Jesus Christ, you’re impossible.”

But once they popped the seal, so to speak, they were like a couple of horny teenagers.

“Are they always like that?”

“Yes,” Joey says. “Unless they’re cursing each other out, but I think that’s just part of their mating ritual or foreplay or whatever.”

It was a lot of fun seeing Cole be so protective of Sonia though, stepping in to be her pretend boyfriend or later on her pretend husband!

“Sunny, I can’t believe you and Cole got married before me and Travis.”

“Travis married us in the Motel 6 parking lot last night, remember? You were my maid of honor and everything.”

“Goddamn, I’m never drinking PBR again,” she says and makes a fake retching sound.”

But then reality crashes down before either Sonia or Cole are ready for it to. Is there any way to save Cole and their relationship from the inevitable?

As much fun as it was watching Cole and Sonia, seeing the hijinks of the road was pretty entertaining too. The other members of the band along with the members of Crown the Robin were a lot of fun and I’d love to have fun-loving friends like them in my own life. Maybe with less fireworks though.

I have to admit that I’ve fallen in love with this series, Mercy Brown’s writing, and the characters of this fun world. It says a lot when I have books from a couple of my favorite authors, Nalini Singh and J.R. Ward, but I chose to read this book first! And I’m glad I did! I did not want to put this book down and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next! Bravo, Ms. Brown, I’m hooked, hook line and sinker! There is absolutely nothing I would change about this book, nothing.

I almost forgot to mention, like the last book, Cole and Sonia have their own song too. It’s called Break and at first it seems to be about the band and the tour, which it is, but it’s about Cole and Sonia as a couple too, at least that’s how I interpreted it. To some it may seem pretty crude when you start reading it, but it describes them perfectly. But the last line does you in with the sweetness. I could totally see Cole writing it!

“This is how it happens

We stay out until we break

From Hoboken to Athens

Every road we take

Leads to where we’re going

And I don’t care where it is

All I care about is knowing

That you’ll be there to hear this

Every basement

Every backyard

Every sofa on the way

Is another bed to fuck you in

Another stage to play

And we play until we make it

We stay until we break

We won’t be home for Christmas

Skip the wedding and the wake

Won’t be there through the years

Even if the fates allow

I don’t need to see the future

Because you’re my here and now”

Do yourself a favor and go check this series out!

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Loud Is How I Love You really stood out from the rest of NA, and Stay Until We Break shines too, if a bit less brightly for me.

What it all comes down to here is that I really loved the voice in Loud Is How I Love You, and, reading them back to back, Cole and Sonia’s voices felt too similar to Emmy’s. I also never shipped Cole and Sonia as much as I did Travis and Emmy, despite the fact that Cole and Sonia have more relationship development. I’m not really sure why. They’re cool and all, but I just didn’t feel it in my heart space.

However, the music element’s amazing, and the book’s still super hot. One really cool thing is that the band’s touring in Stay Until We Break, so that makes the feel very different plot-wise from book one. I know basically nothing about how bands tour, so that was pretty eye-opening.

Also, bonus points for the strong focus on consent. Cole refuses to have sex with Sonia when she’s been drinking, even though she tries to convince him otherwise. He wants to be sure that she’s into him when sober, and A+ for that. Romances should consider this more often.

If you enjoyed Loud Is How I Love You, you’ll probably enjoy Stay Until We Break too. These are fun, and I’m hopeful there will be one more for Joey.