I wish this wasn't a cliffhanger but I enjoyed it and other will probably look for the others

Conor is a bright teenager who loves music; listening, playing, and writing. His mother was a music teacher and taught him everything she knew. After her death he continued to play, but didn’t have the support he once had, because his father gets upset when Conor plays. Living in a small, nowhere town leaves Conor with few to no options for a job or college. His only hope of making something of himself is to audition for Singing Sensation. A singing competition that could make all of Conor’s dreams come true. Derek is TROUBLE. Everyone knows to keep their guard whenever he’s around. His new favorite pass time is picking on Conor. He hasn’t had it easy, especially since his home life is in shambles. In order to pass his history class and finally graduate, he enlists Conor’s help. An unexpected attraction blossoms between them, but too many things get in the way for them to really have a relationship. Conor is bound to L.A. and Derek is stuck in their nowhere town. What will become of them? Who knows? Find out in the next installment. This story was over too soon for my liking. I wasn’t prepared for it to just end, which is a good thing I suppose. I wanted to read more of the story, but I understand why the author left it like she did. Sigh, I guess I’ll just have to wait for the next to find out what happens.

I’m going to open this review with a little bit of honesty: I didn’t go in expecting to like this. I just didn’t. The cover was weird, the plot sounded generic and it was honestly one of those books that I was reading because it was free. And honestly, the first couple of pages didn’t do much to change my mind. Still, I kept reading because hey, it was better than homework.

I’m so glad I did. (Full Review On Blog)

I'm not the biggest YA fan but I’ll admit this book was nice. Also ''fiery crotch'' made me snicker a few times.
PLOT:

The plot wasn’t complicated, it was rather simple - a small town boy auditions for a singing competition, fully assured that he isn’t going to get a call back much less win, while dealing with that ,he has to deal with this thing going on with Derek -the school bully.

I’m not complaining about the sex scene, but to be honest I feel like a perv whenever I read a YA sex scene.

I love/hate Connor's relationship with his father even though I understand that he's still grieving for his late wife and is trying very hard to seem strong and unaffected. I don’t think Conor’s dad meant to be distant, it’s just that they do this thing where they don’t talk about stuff and Conor’s dad just assumes everything is fine.

Conor and Derek’s growing relationship was another subplot. The thing is Conor and Derek are not in love, to be honest it's a bit difficult to explain what they have going on, but it has the potential to turn into something more.

Derek started off as that cliché high school jerk we see in every YA novel and movie, and to be honest when I saw him I rolled my eyes. But it was interesting how he brought his own baggage and how he was kinda supportive of Conor (he also smashed Conor's guitar so maybe that’s a bit of a stretch)

OMG, can someone please hug Derek!

I really liked Connor's friendship with Megan and Ali, their interactions were fun to read, a bit weird but good weird (IDK if that makes sense)

The prose wasn't very smooth, neither was the transition, I'm not really in tuned with YA books but the chemistry between Conor and Derek wasn't... aargh how do I say this? I felt like Derek was the only option the story could provide Conor with. In a real world, the 'romance' between them resembles a 'friends with benefits' agreement. However, the story was enjoyable despite all that.

Life in a Nowhere Town writes of the longing of one young man named Caleb to be a singer, all the while knowing he would have to escape the small town he lives in to accomplish that. His father is a bit cold since the mother died, but when Caleb runs away, the father's hard heart warms. Under this story, we learn that Caleb is gay. When he begins tutoring the school bully, they both find feelings to express, but Caleb is surprised that his leaving causes the bully to open up in ways he had not done before with Caleb. All in all, a pleasant story. Frankly, Caleb could have been male or female for the purpose of the tale.
NetGalley provided me with a copy of the novel to review.