The Love and Lyrics series by Nikki Ash is AMAZING!!

I'll be honest here, Nikki Ash is one of my favorite authors, and I pre-order everything she writes so that I can be sure to have it on my Kindle on the day it releases - and as many of her readers have figured out, by pre-ordering a paperback, you get it a few days earlier than the Kindle release date, so I have started doing that too! You can always order signed books by Nikki from her website, but I'm too impatient for that most of the time. But back to the Love and Lyrics series! I will admit that I bought her special Book Box with the special edition of the series with all 4 stories included in one gorgeous book, with a few extras, but I am reviewing the individual books here. As of this writing, they are available on KU, so if you haven't read Nikki before and have KU, go check her out!!

A Single Mom, Rock Star Romance

Camden

I’ve been in love with my best friend since high school.

My biggest regret? Walking away without telling her.

I planned to. But then catastrophe struck, making us part ways without a word.

She left for Boston with her fiancé, while I left for L.A. with my band–Raging Chaos.

For the next five years, I lived and breathed music, trying to forget the beautiful girl who shattered my heart without even knowing it.

Until I see her again…

I walked away once, and I've learned my lesson.

Layla is my forever, not another item in my pile of regrets.

And she's about to find that out.

Layla

The moment I saw Camden on stage, something inside me came to life.

His tragic song of unrequited love was a confession that had me questioning everything.

Five years might’ve changed who we are—he’s a rock star and I’m a single mom—but my feelings for him are as strong as ever.

His lyrics make falling in love seem easy. For him—maybe it is.

Only I’ve learned the hard way that real life isn’t as simple as writing a love song.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Like real life, the characters are far from perfect, make morally gray decisions, and deal with subjects that may be sensitive for some readers. If you are looking for a safe romance, this series is not for you. Trigger warnings (which contain spoilers) can be found on my website.

My Review

I love Nikki Ash, and am going to one-click and pre-order every new book she publishes, and there is a reason why - she writes characters that you just plain fall in love with! Nikki creates worlds that incorporate a lot of love stories and people who you just root for, and even though you know it's all going to work out in the end, you still can't devour it fast enough.

Camden and Layla met the day before high school started, when Layla moved in next door. Quickly becoming best friends, Camden develops a crush on Layla, but she has a boyfriend back home - we read about this in little snippets interspersed with the current story. High school happens, friends date and no longer date, and Layla ends up married and with a son, and Camden as the lead singer of Raging Chaos, a hugely popular rock band, with his 3 high school best friends. I won't spoil anything for you, but the journey is the delicious part. The way that Nikki writes a story is beautiful, and while I want to savor her words, I also want to devour them, and I always finish her new releases in about 2 hours because they are just that good!

The next 3 books in the Love & Lyrics series are obviously going to be about Braxton, Gage, and Declan, and let me tell you, I can't wait for Declan's book!! Those 3 are all going to have amazing stories to tell too, and all have some heartbreak and heartache in their lives that we are going to just want to cure for them. If you haven't read A Chance Encounter by Nikki, go read it, it's the story of Camden's parents - and is just as swoon-worthy.

This novel does deal with spousal abuse - verbal, emotional, and physical, including an instance of sexual assault. There are trigger warnings on the Nikki Ash website if you want more information before diving in. They are brief, but if these are issues for you, please know in advance that they are handled maturely and responsibly.

Braxton

Our senior year, I promised my girl forever.

Forever, as it turned out, wasn't enough. She told me so in her actions. When she took a match to my life, burning it to ash.

I headed to LA with my band—Raging Chaos—like we always planned, while Kaylee went to college, taking my damaged heart with her.

This was where our story was supposed to end.

Only six years later, our lives collide again.

Kaylee is the only thing I ever loved more than music, and I wish I could hate her for it, but the line between love and hate is thin, and often straddled.

And the thing about collisions? They result in deadly debris.

Kaylee

When you love someone, you let them go. But what I did was so much worse.

Because instead of pushing him away, I shoved Braxton straight over the edge.

I’ve spent the past several years avoiding him, trying to make things right.

When my reputation has been dragged through the mud, and I’m given the opportunity to clean it up, I have no choice but to cross paths with him again.

Being around Braxton is a harsh reminder of the way I lit his life up in flames, but I'm not sure he knows I've been burned, too.

If suffering in silence is the cost, I'll pay the price to make things right.

I just hope our history won’t play on repeat and he’ll see me as more than the stupid girl with the lit match.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Like real life, the characters are far from perfect, make morally gray decisions, and deal with subjects that may be sensitive for some readers. If you are looking for a safe romance, this series is not for you. Trigger warnings (which contain spoilers) can be found on my website.

My Review

Well first off, this book is soooo pretty!!! I usually just read on my Kindle these days, but when I can get my hands on a paperback weeks before the Kindle version comes out, I have to do it for my favorite authors, and I am so glad that I did! While it was different to hold the whole book in my hands again, the beauty of the pages made it all worth it!

Reading alert - to get the full enjoyment from this, if you have not read book one of the Love & Lyrics series, Raging Chaos, go read Camden and Layla's story first, or you will be missing out on A LOT!! This will still be an amazing read, but you will wish that you had read them in order, because you will absolutely be going back to read that one!

Braxton and Kaylee and FIRE!!!!! You already knew from Raging Chaos that these two are explosive, but man, they are going to give you ALL THE FEELS!! Prepare your heart to fall in love, be so sooo happy with that first high school love and then be torn out with first real heart break. You already know this is going to happen because you've already read Raging Chaos, and you know that Nikki Ash has to break you heart before she is going to put it back together, but just be prepared, she keeps getting better and better! I am not going to give you any more spoilers, but if you love rock star romance, young love and reunification after high school heartbreak, real life in a book, then go for this!! You won't regret it. I am ready for Nikki to write my love story HEA!!

As Nikki so graciously tells readers at the front of the book - these are characters with real-life situations, and Trigger Warnings can be found on her Love & Lyrics Trigger Warnings website.

Kendall

My life has been an endless loop of heartache and breakup songs.

I’ve lived in fear that I’m broken and will never find the kind of love that would piece me back together into something whole.

When my boyfriend proposes, I say yes, desperate for an easy fix. For a super-glue solution.

But, on the day of my wedding, when my dad tells me to follow my heart, it doesn’t lead me down the aisle.

Instead, it takes me straight to Declan Pierce’s car—where I crash his road trip.

The more time we spend together, the more he shows me it’s okay to be broken.

With him, lyrics aren’t just words on paper.

Promises aren’t just whispers in the dark.

And having a few cracks...well, they help the light come through.

Declan

I’ve had feelings for my best friend’s sister for as long as I can remember.

Watching her jump from guy to guy, I’ve been biding my time, waiting for the right moment to tell her.

And then she does something I never thought she’d do…she gets engaged.

This is the part where I’m starting to accept that the woman I love will never be mine.

Until she jumps into my car in her wedding gown and tells me to floor it.

With Kendall in my passenger seat and the past in the rearview mirror, I plan to do whatever it takes to show her that she doesn't need super glue.

She needs to find the beauty in the cracks.

My Review

I didn't immediately review this book, but waited until I had read the entire series, and I have to say that this is the most fun book out of the series to read. Declan and Kendall are so hysterical from the get-go - you have a rocker taking a road trip to hide out from everyone, a runaway bride who jumps in his car, and guess what - he's been in love with her forever! There are so many highjinks in this story, and of course all of their friends and family are wrapped up in it too as you will know from the first two books in the Love and Lyrics series. That is a quick and dirty summary, and if you want to know how it all goes down, you're gonna need to check out Total Chaos today!

As Nikki so graciously tells readers at the front of the book - these are characters with real-life situations, and Trigger Warnings can be found on her Love & Lyrics Trigger Warnings website.

Gage

I lost my first love. This time, I'm going to win the second girl who owns my heart—no matter the stakes.

Being the drummer for Raging Chaos is the only thing that’s kept me going for the past six years. Even the music isn’t enough to drown out the guilt that's been suffocating me since what happened to Tori.

When Sadie storms into my life, ripping through my trepidations, sorrows, and bitterness, I can't help but wonder if she could be my second chance.

I could love her, but in order to do that, I have to stop hating myself first.

Easier said than done. Before I have the chance to mend this broken heart, I push Sadie away and hit rock bottom.

The next time I see her, she has a baby. And if that's not hurtful enough, it's not just any baby.

It’s my baby.

Sadie

Bleeding hearts can still beat. I'm living proof of that.

At first, Gage was just someone to take away the pain—until I realized he was battling demons of his own.

I never meant to get too close to the devil with the drumsticks, but once I did, he shoved me out of his life with a force.

My heart might be cracked, but his is completely broken. And trying to save him would destroy us both.

So, I do the right thing and I walk away—not only to protect me but also our unborn baby.

I had no idea who Gage was to the world when I slipped into his bed. Now that I'm out of it, it's clear he’ll have to clean up his act before he’s father material.

But then we meet again, and I'm reminded of the man he could be.

The man he was born to be, before tragedy struck and the chaos left his heart barely beating.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Like real life, the characters are far from perfect, make morally gray decisions, and deal with subjects that may be sensitive for some readers. If you are looking for a safe romance, this series is not for you. Trigger warnings (which contain spoilers) can be found on my website.

My Review

I won't give away any spoilers, but if you have been reading the first three books in the Love and Lyrics series by Nikki Ash (and if you haven't, go read them RIGHT NOW), you know what's coming. This is another beautiful love story full of regret, apology, making up for past mistakes, and passion.

Gage has what is probably the ultimate redemption story after losing his high school girlfriend to a tragic death, and spending the next several years drowning his sorrows in alcohol, drugs, and women. Sadie is grieving the death of her young son and husband when the two meet, and it is a whirlwind of chaos and trying to fill the voids in each others hearts. The two part heart-breakingly and the next time anyone sees Sadie she has a baby, that is definitely Gage's. This story of renewal, apology, and new paths will make you ugly cry, and will bring you hope by the end.

This book has several serious trigger warnings. I highly suggest looking at Nikki's Love and Lyrics trigger warnings website before reading the Love and Lyrics series. These books are about rock stars and the wild lifestyle that accompanies that at times.