Guest MM Romance Review – Second to None: It’s not a break-up, it’s a hiatus!
As someone who has been perhaps a little over-invested in a boy band or two, I have maybe–in the privacy of my own heart–shipped a few of those men. So I was really interested to see where Zarah Detand was going to take us with her most recent release. Would it be all glamour and spotlights or would it be set more intimately? I trusted Zarah to not overdo the Rich Guy vs Regular Guy trope as many MM Romances do, so I was really looking forward reading this. I was lucky enough to get an ARC for it and I’ve had time to read and then re-read it to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I promise you it wasn’t a hardship!
First off, let’s talk about the cast, starting with the supporting characters. One thing that stood out to me is the fact that the seven-year-old niece of one of the MCs is written like an actual child. She’s not too mature nor too babyish. She’s a seven-year-old who acts and speaks like a seven-year-old. Kudos to Zarah for this because so many writers don’t hit the mark here, and she just nails it. In fact, most of the dialogue is vary natural, especially between the (former) band members. There really aren’t many caricatures in this book, either. It makes for some really amusing conversations sprinkled throughout the story.
On to our MCs: Cassian and Levi fell in love as very young men when they were part of a stratospherically successful boy band, but split up due to the pressures of fame and industry-standard homophobia. But that was years ago. Cass is enjoying a brilliant (closeted) solo career while Levi spends his time mentoring young artists and raising his niece, having quietly come out some time ago and mostly content to have put the life of a star behind him. They both seem to have moved on, but no matter how much time has passed or how their lives have changed, Cass and Levi can’t stop thinking—ok let’s be honest, pining—for each other.
Enter Cass with a fake-dating scheme that just might be worlds away from fake, if they could stop mis-communicating long enough for Levi to trust Cass again and give their romance a second chance.
You can expect some light angst alongside some really likeable characters, a few “not meddling and even if we did, they deserved it” friends, and enough sweet out-of-the spotlight romance to make your heart hurt in a good way. It’s not all sweetness, though–Cass and Levi have serious chemistry that makes even the tamest of love scenes a little heated, and they’re really uninterested in keeping things tame.
I’d love to hear what you think.
