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Review and BONUS Scene: Take What You Want (The Rock Gods #2) by Ann Lister

Posted on 27 November, 2013 by in Ann Lister, Review / 0 comments

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Enjoy a BONUS Scene from Alex below!

 

 

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5 STARS!!!
Synopsis
Mega rock star, Alex “Zander” Metcalf is burned out after nearly two years touring with his band, as well as emotionally drained after his sexual preferences were exposed by the media. He is ready for a long sabbatical – alone, and retreats to the east coast island of Martha’s Vineyard; leasing an oceanside estate.

Alex seeks the quiet lifestyle of a recluse to write new material for his band, only to meet the handsome estate manager, Chase, and his gorgeous fiancée, Danni, living in the guest house on his property. Alex’s hope of solitude is soon forgotten when he discovers Chase has a repressed bi-sexual side that is aching to surface and Alex is more than happy to help him explore it.

What neither Alex or Chase expects is the emotional power of their chemistry expanding to involve the three of them when Danni becomes entangled in their passion. Alex believes he has finally found his perfect ménage relationship with Chase and Danni.

Sometimes two isn’t enough and it takes three to complete the union of a fulfilled love.

But, will their new relationship be strong enough to survive when real life wants to punish them for their unconventional love? And, can they be confident in the strength of their love to take the ‘happily ever after’ they can only give each other?

 

Denise’s Review
Take What you Want although a book 2 can absolutely be read  as a stand alone.  Book 1 Fall for Me is about another couple, two men, who are only seen a bit in this book and their references are explained so a new reader will have no problem understanding.

Hats off to Ms. Lister; this book is not only an improvement in her writing but she was able to get me to feel a range of emotions for all three character; yes this is a ménage.  A ménage about rock-star Alex “Zander” Metcalf sending Chase, and his gorgeous fiancée, Danni into a world they never expected.

Ok I will backtrack a bit and say the opening of this book, I thought was so well done.  It pulled me in and had me wanting more in just a few short turns of the page. It will also have the reader thinking how well do we really know our significant other; do they have secrets? Do they share everything?

As the story starts to unfold, Chase is faced with his deepest secrets being something he can’t seem to deny anymore. I really don’t want to give away much here and I want the reader to experience this journey.

The small gestures in this book were amazing; Alex taking his time with Chase, Alex wanting to connect with Danni, Danni’s desire to understand Chase even when it comes to something that could destroy her reality and finally Danni’s struggle to let Alex is; all so well done!

Alex, Chase and Danni will touch your soul as they struggle to find a place that works for their deep connection for each other.

There are some references to Alex’s rock star life or Zander to be more precise as that is his stage name; and they were so well done, masterfully woven into the story. Oh before I forget Alex’s gesture to Danni and Chase, that just might bring a tear to your eye!

Ms. Lister amazed me with her ability to get me at times to feel a range of emotions for all these characters something not easy to get a reader to do. I laughed with these people, yes I got hot with them, my heart broke for them and in the end I had a huge smile on face for them.

I loved this book… the relationships built between Alex, Danni and Chase was engaging and powerful.

The journey these three take to happy is layered with emotion and kept me wanting to read more.  This is a book that when you put it down, it keeps calling to you to read more and continuously runs through your head.

The growth Ms. Lister shows as a writer in book 2 of this series was wonderful! I am truly looking forward to more great things from Ms. Lister.

I am so looking forward to Cooper’s story; Make Me Yours (The Rock Gods #3) because in this book not only do you get to see a bit of Cooper, the drummer from Zander’s band but you see who he might end up with; oh that was a great “twist”!!

 

BONUS Scene – do not continue if you have not read Take What You Want!

Alex returned home in the early morning hours after another grueling night working in Wheland’s home studio with his band.  He had roughly twelve hours of down-time before he was expected back at the studio to finish up the tracks to their new song.  It would be another night of him having to sing lyrics that were nothing more than a painful reminder of what he no longer had in his life: Chase and Danni.

The way he was mourning their loss was pathetic.  He was almost thirty-two years old and he was no closer to having this relationship shit figured out, than he was when he was a teenager.  He kept repeating the same old unhealthy patterns; giving away his heart even when his gut told him not to do it.  Maybe he was crazy, maybe he deserved the pain he kept opening himself up to feel.

But, damn it, this was Chase and Danni he opened up to this time.  They were the closest he’d come to feeling perfection.  He’d had a taste of what it could – and should be like, and then it all came crashing down around him.  How the hell was he supposed to pick up the pieces and move on from here?

Alex walked through his empty house and went upstairs.  He showered first and made a lame attempt at sleeping.  After tossing and turning beneath his bed sheets for several agonizing hours, Alex got up and changed into this work-out clothes.  If he couldn’t sleep, he might as well beat up on his body, he thought.  He first hit the home gym on the lower level of his house, doing several repetitions on every piece of equipment he owned, until his body was screaming in defeat.  He grabbed a towel from the downstairs linen closet and wiped off his face, then hobbled upstairs to eat an early dinner.

After making himself a turkey sandwich, he removed another bottle of water from his refrigerator and walked to the outside patio.  He stood there and ate his sandwich while gazing down at the city of Los Angeles.  Daylight hours were always worse for Alex.  He plenty of distractions to keep himself busy at night, but the days dragged on relentlessly and left him far too much time alone to think.  He wasn’t sure how much longer he could continue to function without collapsing from the sheer exhaustion of trying to deal with everything – and do it alone.

He glanced at his watch.  It was nearing five o’clock.  He had just enough time to do his typical three mile jog, shower, and make it over to Wheland’s around seven.  He grabbed his phone and tucked it into the pocket of his loose fitting, nylon running shorts and left his house.  When he exited the security gate of his property, he pushed the ear buds into place and started the music.  A moment later, he was jogging down his street to begin his usual trek through the hills above L.A.  It didn’t take him long to slip into a comfortable rhythm, pacing himself, in order to make the run back up the hilly roads to his house.

He usually kept the volume of the music playing in his ears low enough to allow himself to hear the approaching traffic.  But, the next song coming through his tiny speakers was one of his favorites: Amazing, by Aerosmith.  It was an oldie but a goodie and it needed to be listened to loud in order to hear all the different layers of music.  Alex pressed a button on his device to increase the sound level and turned a corner in the road.  Rays of sunlight were filtered through the tree canopy above him, then hit his face as he came up over a small rise.

Alex squinted and looked at the sun.  It was starting to set and, at it’s current position in the sky, it would be hitting Alex directly in the face for the next half mile, until he turned off onto the next street.  The sun was warm against his skin, like laying on a beach.  Soon as thoughts of the beach registered in his brain, Alex tripped over his feet.  The last time he had sand beneath his toes was on Martha’s Vineyard – with Chase and Danni.  The visuals of long stretches of empty beach with no one around, except for the three of them overwhelmed his thoughts.  His heart and body ached for them; Chase’s hard strength and Danni’s warm softness.  It had been a beautiful state of bliss for him – while it lasted.

A choking sound of grief escaped Alex’s throat and his feet stumbled again.  The heel of his foot caught a loose piece of the asphalt at the edge of the road and he started tumbling sideways – into traffic.  He could hear the revved engine of a large vehicle coming up behind him; possibly a van or a truck, as it accelerated to make the incline in the road.  There was no braking sound as a final warning.             Alex heard nothing at all.

They say your brain purposefully blocks out painful trauma, preventing you from feeling or remembering it.  Alex had his doubts.  He felt every bone crunch and snap with the impact of steel slamming into his body.  He even caught a quick glimpse of the driver seated behind the steering wheel, right before he slipped off the hood and fell below the bumper of the vehicle, then beneath the front tire.  He could feel his skin tearing and the warmth of his own blood as it spilled over his skin from his body; taste the blood in his mouth.

He could feel … everything, but why?  It wasn’t supposed to be like this.  It wasn’t supposed to hurt.  Was it?

Every one of his senses was on overload, except for hearing.  The silence inside his head was the loudest sound you could imagine and it was terrifying.  He’d never felt this scared – or alone.  He saw the face of the driver suddenly appear above him.  Soon as their eyes connected, the man was gone, then Alex saw the flash of the vehicle that had hit him speed away.

He lay on the pavement in a tangled mess of broken bones and blood, unable to move his arms or his legs.  He lay there waiting for the darkness to take him, waiting for the agony rolling through him to stop; waiting for death.

But, the darkness didn’t take him.  Instead, he lay there feeling every one of his nerve endings firing signals to his brain; bursts of fireballs of the deepest kind of pain he’d ever felt or imagined existed.  He lay there staring at the milky-blue sky and the dimming daylight, feeling hot tears as they seeped from his eyes and into the hairline at his temples.

Waiting for everything to stop.

He felt the pressure building in his chest and not being able to draw in a full breath, like someone was sitting on his chest.  He felt the panic wracking through him and he waited.

Waited for everything to stop.

How much more could he take?  Where was this darkness people spoke of when shit like this happened?  Wasn’t death supposed to be painless?  Then, why the fuck was he feeling this agony?  Is this when he was supposed to start making promises to a higher power to spare him?  If so, he’d promise anything to see Chase and Danni one more time, and to be free of this pain.   In no way was he ready to die, but it if meant the cessation of this torture, he’d happily let death take him.

“Fuckkkkk!” he cried out, but he couldn’t hear the curse as it floated off in the breeze.

Silence still surrounded him.  It was the coldest sensation he’d ever experienced; a coldness that spread over his skin like a rash and crawled inside to wrap around his broken bones.  Why was he shivering in seventy degree weather?  The shivering only caused his skin and bones to move, reminding him of the pain.  He tipped his head to the side and let out another soundless cry for help.

How much time had passed?  Why hadn’t anyone come to help him?

He closed his eyes and waited – waited for it all to stop.

A shooting pain zipped up his leg and his eyes sprang open.  He gasped, trying to draw in a breath.  He felt himself moving.  Were those hands on him?  He attempted to focus his eyes, but his sight was blurred red.  He could smell the blood; feel it dripping down his throat.

More pain and he screamed out.

Chase!  Danni!

He shouted their names as loud as he could, as if they might somehow hear him from two thousand miles away.  It didn’t matter.  His desperate shouts only echoed inside his head.

I need more time – WE need more time … together.  Our love was real.  It has to mean something.  Please!  Give me more time.

He screamed their names one more time; another silent plea swirling around inside his brain.  He saw the bright, flashing lights, as they loaded him inside a waiting ambulance.  A brief moment of feeling safe washed over him, embracing him like a warm, soft blanket.

Then, from the corner of his eyes, he saw it ebbing closer in tiny increments; stealing his vision, until there was nothing.

The darkness.

It was finally here to remove him from this absolute suffering.  The bliss that came along with this darkness enveloped him.  He felt himself slowly relaxing, as he allowed this sensation to carry him away.  The utter agony was slowly being replaced with something else.  Something other than pain was sweeping over him, and there was a sense of peace, too.

If this was death, he welcomed it.

But, death meant no chance of ever holding Chase and Danni again.  No chance of ever kissing them; making love with them – saying ‘I love you’ and hearing them say it back.  He had to fight for them; give it one last try to keep them in his life.  He had to.

Fighting meant leaving this cocoon of warmth and clawing his way back to them.  He could do that, couldn’t he?  If it meant having one more chance to make things right with Chase and Danni he’d willingly crawl across shattered glass to get there.

One more chance – just one more opportunity to see both their beautiful faces and he’d tell them what was in his heart.  That’s all he needed.  If he could have that, he’d have everything he ever wanted and more.

Alex lurched off the thin mattress on the hospital gurney in the emergency room and gasped loudly, like he were drawing in the first breath of his life.

And, this time, he heard himself make the sound.

 

About the Author
Ann Lister 034Ann Lister is a native New Englander currently living on the island of Martha’s Vineyard with her husband. She has pulled details from her years living in the New England area and uses many local settings and landmarks in her novels.

After graduating art school, marrying, and raising two daughters, she established her own video production company. Her nearly two decades working in video production included work within the music industry and won her a coveted Telly Award. Her ‘behind-the-scenes’ exposure to the music world and her love of rock music is the inspiration for her erotic rock star romances.

Her recent rock star romance, “Fall For Me”, Book One in the Rock Gods series, is a Finalist in the 2013 Rainbow Award.

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