College romance infused with music

Low to no angst coming of age love story. The focus on music added an extra boost of passion to this book. ( )

[4.5] I was originally going to give this four stars but this book sparked joy in me more times than I can count so rounding up. TAKE ALL MY STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Before I talk about how pure the two MCs are, I just want to say Camden's parents are trash and I hope they never show up again ✌️ (like how is his mom a psychiatrist....she's so manipulative and controlling, I legit worry for her patients....) And wow, a college dean actually taking action against the born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-his-mouth bigoted student who's a thorn in our sides the entire book?? Bless and good riddance ( )

I would like to recommend this book to those who are just venturing into the MM romance genre. It is a beautiful book, with beautiful writing, I think the music helped with that a lot. Slow-burn romance in college setting; coming out; a side of homophobia and bad parenting on one side. Royal's parents however are very accepting and understanding. I did tear up a few times, but unfortunately this isn't something I haven't read before a few times. I wouldn't go far as to say I was bored, or the story was unoriginal, cause that wouldn't be true. But it wasn't anything special to me.

The steamy scenes were very vague, the author decided to describe the emotions in detail instead of who put his dick where. At least it didn't fade to black, so there's that. So if you're not ready for hardcore gay sex, this book would be perfect.

I don't want to diminish this book, because It really is great. I think if I would have read it one and a half year ago (when I started getting into MM), I would've loved it. But now, it didn't wow me, though I enjoyed it, mostly because of the music and how it was described. I did find the writing a bit dry and blame solely Alexis Hall for feeling that. Then again I might feel that way, because of the melancholic atmosphere that surrounded the book. Not sure if those two things have anything to do with each other though.

Oh and also the parents have their own books, that was clear, but I didn't feel like I missed something. This duet is about the second-generation. The next book, even though is tagged as MM romance, will be about Royal's sister, Indie and his best friend Kai. I can't deny that Kai is very intriguing, but I probably won't read that book. Also if your interested about the twins' family, read the Avenues Ink series. ( )