SHAME ME (Rock Stars on the Rise 2) by Jade C Jamison-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 16, 2025

He was my dream and my downfall.

Zack said mixing business with pleasure would destroy the band.
So I gave myself to everyone else but him.

I could still be in the band. I could still chase the dream.
I just couldn’t keep waiting for him to love me back.

So I tried everything to forget him—sex, booze, chaos. But nothing dulled the ache.

While the band’s star rises, Zack spirals deeper into self-destruction, pulling me down with him.
When we finally try to be together, it’s a disaster.

And his betrayal cuts deeper than any lyric he’s ever written.

We break up. And somehow, I still want him.

But maybe the most dangerous thing isn’t losing him. It’s losing myself.

Because heartbreak broke me once… But shame might just destroy me for good.

•••••••

REVIEW: SHAME ME is the second instalment in Jade C Jamison’s contemporary, adult ROCK STARS ON THE RISE rock music romance series focusing on Zach Ryan and Dani Mankin, members of the rock group Once Upon A Riot. SHAME ME should not be read as a stand alone as Dani, Zach and the band’s story begins in book one SHAKE ME.

SOME BACKGROUND: Dani Mankin met Zack Ryan and Braden Mitchell the first day of high school,and the trio became best friends during chess club. As high school moved along, Zack and Braden would start a band with friends Cy Gilliam and Parker Eggleston, but when Parker went to college, the band needed a new drummer, and Dani was about to get a crash course in learning to play the drums, the perfect venue to stay side by side with the man who had stolen her heart. Betrayal came swift at the cost of a friendship, and Dani would discover the band would become more important to Zack than her heart.

Told from first person perspective (Dani) following several months, SHAME ME focuses on the heavy metal band’s slow rise on the rock music scene but Dani Mankin has loved Zack Ryan since the first day of high school, and finds herself relegated to the friend zone for the foreseeable future. Determined to get attention anywhere she can, Dani becomes a bit of a wild child, often placing herself in the direct line of fire, as Zack begins to spiral. When Zach becomes more obsessive about his future, the sound and the band, Dani becomes more of an after thought, a toy to be played with , fighting her way to be something more. As the band’s future continues to rise, our heroine learns her life is about to become more complicated as the rock star life takes over for the band, and misogyny becomes all too apparent.

The world building focuses on the band’s rise to fame; on the proverbial and cliched $ex, drugs, drinking, rock and roll; on obsession and rejection, betrayal and love. Regardless of Zack’s continuous betrayal, our heroine is unable to let go of her need for, and attraction to Zack Ryan.

The relationship between Dani and Zack is tempestuous at best. From friends to best friends to lover then enemies, Dani and Zack’s back and forth is affecting the band but someone else is waiting to save Dani from the man of her dreams, someone who is willing to give it all. The $ex scenes are intimate, passionate and sometimes aggressive.

The secondary and supporting characters are energetic and dynamic with the return Braden Mitchell and Cy Gilliam, as well as the introduction of a new band manager, tour operator and recording executives.

SHAME ME is a story of power and control, betrayal and heart break, secrets and lies, obsession and deception, friendships and pain. The character driven premise is entertaining and dramatic but the lone perspective reads like an autobiographical journal, wherein we only get one point of view. There is so much going on with Zack Ryan, the story line is missing important information that is affecting every member of the band. The characters are desperate, determined yet broken; the romance is struggling with betrayal and hurt. SHAME ME ends on a bit of a cliff hanger-you have been warned.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one SHAKE ME

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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Jade C. Jamison writes steamy contemporary romance that’s full of heat, heartbreak, and hard rock. Known for emotionally raw rockstar romances, sizzling billionaire stories, and unforgettable second chances, Jade delivers passionate stories with fierce heroines and brooding heroes.

When she’s not writing, she’s jamming to metal, sipping strong coffee, or spoiling her pets and family. Whether set in small-town Colorado or on tour with a band, her books take readers on an intense, romantic ride—one story at a time.