Thursday, June 23, 2016

#ARC Review: Body Rocks by A. M. Arthur

Body Rocks by A. M. Arthur
Amazon || Goodreads
Published June 28, 2016 || Swerve
eARC via Publisher

Everything is finally falling into place for Trey Cooper: his band has been accepted into one of the biggest music competitions in the country…too bad their drummer just quit to play with XYZ, their biggest rival. When Trey has a mind-blowingly hot hookup with a mysterious violinist, Trey definitely plans to see him again – just not on stage as a member XYZ.



Dominic Bounds’ time to make his musical dreams come true is running out. If something doesn’t happen fast, he has to head home to find a real job. This competition is his last chance, and Dom needs to come out on top – but he never expected to fall for his rival. As Dom and Trey risk everything to begin a secret affair, there’s no denying their chemistry is off the charts – but could their band rivalry turn their romance into a one-hit wonder?


Dom and Trey meet at an open mic night. The after-fall changes the course of not only who they are (and yes, I’m being serious) but what they are capable of doing. Their past makes them wary of people and feelings; Dom is out in the open about his sexuality, while Trey is closeted behind the persona of the band he’s in. If I could describe this book in two words I would use Hot (capitalized for emphasis) and dramatic. BODY ROCKS follows these two men on a trek to re-capture themselves, accept who they are, and figure out how they can intertwine their two great loves. While I was really into the story for the first half of the book, it took a turn for the worse on the second half.

I liked this book, and I thought I would, but there were parts that sort of killed me a bit on the inside. I’m not a huge lover of drama. You read that the two words I used to describe this book were hot and dramatic. I feel like there’s drama with them just being together; their bands are rivals, Trey’s not even really out, and they’ve both got some serious emotional baggage that they’re lugging around. I would have liked the plot better if it would have not strayed from where it was going around sixty percent. I ended up not hating the plot twist as much as I thought I would (YAY!) but I was still annoyed. I found it predictable in a not so wonderful way. Drama isn’t my thing, and even though I wasn’t a fan of the use of it in BODY ROCKS, it still worked better than I thought it would.

While I really like the plot (hey there, love), I just got annoyed with the choices the characters were making. I get insecurity, and fear, and the desperation to hold onto something that you’re pretty positive is slipping away. At some point, however, you’ve got to have faith that you both got a pretty good handle on things, and if things do take a turn for the worse freaking talk about it. I’m all about good communication.

This drama and communication issue comes back to how much I like the characters. Even though it probably doesn’t sound like it from my previous rant, I did really like them. I was rooting for them and cheering them on. I’LL BE THE CHEERLEADER YOU NEVER KNEW YOU NEEDED. They both really need to win the competition to prove something, to earn something. I could see the struggle they faced, torn between wanting to win for themselves and wanting the other one to win because they needed the title and contract a little bit more.


I adore music, and BODY ROCKS let it play a big part in the story. Every aspect of it was coated in song lyrics and heavy bass. Even though I was at ends with the less than fantastic decisions the characters made, I still found them pretty endearing. I wanted to hug them as much as I wanted to punch them (I say that with affection). I found myself wanting to hear the music they were playing, and give them a high-five when they won, and buy them a taco when they didn’t get exactly what they wanted. BODY ROCKS was good. I’m glad I read it, even though I had to stop a few times from frustration.



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