PLAY FOR ME (Balefire #1) by Tam DeRudder Jackson-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 27, 2021

All I wanted was a chance. Now I need a second one.

Jack
When I made my deal with the devil, I thought I was on my way to my rock ’n’ roll dream. Too bad I didn’t read the fine print. Having it all meant giving up the only girl I knew I’d ever love. Five years later, I’m drumming in the hottest rock band in the country, but I live like a monk.

Fate hands me an opportunity to reconnect with my perfect girl, giving me one glorious night with Clio Barnes. Our chemistry is off the charts. Too bad fate plays by her own rules. When Clio hears my bandmate’s idea of a joke, she believes I’ve used her, dissolved our love into a one-night stand, and she blows out of my life. When our tour ends, I’m determined to find her again, no matter how well she hides from me.

Clio
All my life, I’ve been invisible. For a brief moment five years ago, Jack Whitehorse saw me. And he made me feel like the center of his universe. But that was an illusion. Music was Jack’s only love. A chance encounter after a Balefire concert allows us to reconnect, but once again, I’m playing second fiddle to his rock ’n’ roll muse.

When the pregnancy test comes back positive, I decide to keep our baby secret. I can’t force Jack to play for me—I wouldn’t want to. Then he shows up unexpectedly one day, knocking on my door and demanding to be let in. He leaves me no choice but to tell him about the baby. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one with a secret. But the one he’s been keeping might end us for good.

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REVIEW:PLAY FOR ME is the first instalment in Tam DeRudder Jackson’s contemporary, new adult BALEFIRE erotic, romance series focusing on the members of the rock band Balefire. This is Balefire drummer Jack Whitehorse, and nursing student Clio Barnes’ story line.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Clio and Jack) PLAY FOR ME follows the second chance romance between Balefire drummer Jack Whitehorse, and nursing student Clio Barnes. At the age of eighteen, Jack Whitehorse found himself at a crossroads when his signed away his life for a future as a drummer with the bank Rude Awakening but it was Jack who got the rude awakening when he discovered the fine print forced his hand, walking away from the girl that he loved. Fast forward two years wherein Jack, now the drummer for the band Balefire, would come face to face with his past, Clio Barnes, but the possibility of reconciliation and a future together evaporated with a phone call, and the woman he loved, walking away. Another year would pass before Jack would walk back into Clio’s life, a life now changed by the arrival of their daughter, a child he knew nothing about but his attempts at normalcy are destroyed when the band heads out on the road leaving behind the woman he loves. Months would pass without contact until Clio is threatened with the loss of everyone she loves.

The relationship between Clio and Jack is a rekindling romance, a romance destroyed by discrimination and threats, secrets and lies, and a total lack of communication. Months and years would pass before Jack had any contact with the woman he loved, then months would pass again, before he dropped back into her life. Clio, desperate for the affection and approval of the man that she loved would forgive and forget, then find herself alone, once again. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Clio’s friends Annabelle Bailey Saunders, and Stacy Newhouse; the members of the band Balefire: Blu Connolly, Adam Tron, and Dakota Perri, as well as Clio’s parents Harrison and Meredith Barnes. Blu Connolly’s story is next in SING FOR ME.

PLAY FOR ME is a story of family, betrayal, secrets and lies; a story of lack of communication, forgiveness, love and happily ever after. The character driven premise is fast paced, engaging and emotional; the romance is seductive but heart breaking; the characters are stubborn and energetic but I struggled with Jack’s numerous absences in our heroine’s life. Jack never once contacted Clio while out on tour, leaving her to raise their daughter on her own, knowing full well she had no familial or financial support. No phone calls, no emails, no text messages, no help…this is not the epitome of a man in love but a man so consumed by stardom and music, he ‘forgets’ about his child, his woman, and his responsibilities at home-definitely not a hero worthy of a second chance. I love the premise but I disliked the actions of Jack Whitehorse.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy