Review: All Note Long by Annabeth Albert
SYNOPSIS:
One can twerk. One can twang. Together, they might find the perfect rhythm…
Michelin Moses is good at reinventing himself. The successful rocker turned country superstar knows all about new beginnings and second chances. But when he’s caught kissing a hot dancer at an LGBTQ+ club, the resulting publicity storm may be more than he can weather.
Lucky Ramirez can only be himself—fabulous dancer, flirty personality, and fantastic kisser. He didn’t mean to come on to the hot patron with a familiar face. Except somehow he did, and now their kiss is all over the gossip sites.
When Michelin’s publicist suggests a fake relationship to help Michelin’s image, Lucky reluctantly agrees. How hard can it be to fake loving a superstar, especially one as nice and as charismatic as Michelin?
But when they give into their very real attraction, pretending gets more and more difficult. Lust may not be enough to overcome their differences, and trust is in short supply. Can Michelin get Lucky before it’s too late?
REVIEW:
This story made my heart ache and left me with mixed feelings. Michelin is so far in the closet, he is in a closet inside a closet. The man is a walking glass house and one stone throw away from crumbling. Lucky was the perfect balance of bold and brash to Michelin’s fragility. But I think this could have been a novella.
At this point, I love a good fake-date troupe, especially when the characters start to fall for each other. Michelin and Lucky are total opposites but they work so well. The two quickly clicked, their chemistry was palpable, and they had so many cute, tender moments. But the majority of the drama in this story is centered around each man being too prideful to confess feelings, admit wrongdoings, and apologize. Which means that things felt dragged out in that aspect.
Michelin is the definition of passive and just does what his label tells him. The man doesn’t stand up for himself, his label doesn’t stand up for him, and he just feels so isolated and lonely at times. And while I can see Lucky’s frustration with that, my heart hurt because the man has been doing things one way for years…you can’t expect him to change overnight. There were also money issues, more so, Lucky’s blatant refusal to accept any money. Lucky was so aggressively stubborn about this and honestly it was annoying. He was insisting Michelin bend while he himself refused to bend.
Eventually these two do work out all the drama, and as always, Annabeth delivers an adorable epilogue chapter that wraps things up perfectly. While I don’t think this is a story I will pick up again, I did enjoy it.
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