Duet
by Julie Kriss
I did something I’ve never done.
I couldn’t help it. The man I met at the bar was too gorgeous, too fascinating, too sexy. The next thing I knew, we had a one-night stand.
Except… It turns out he’s Denver Gilchrist, lead singer of the Road Kings, the legendary band that broke up five years ago.
How was I supposed to know I was sleeping with a genius rock god? I’m just a piano teacher who plays jazz on Thursday nights. I have a happy single life with my cat. I don’t need Denver’s brand of chaos.
But now I’m addicted. And so is he.
Denver is a poet, a talent, a complicated intellect, a lost soul. He can bring me to life, but he can also break me to pieces. Stories like ours don’t get happy endings -- but I won’t know the end until I risk it all.
Spice Level: 2.5/6 | Story Score: 6.5/10 | Rating: 3/5 |
I needed a book that had lyrics or poetry in it for my bingo card, so obviously I found a rockstar romance, lol. The blurb even says “Denver is a poet,” so I figured I’d be good to go. Fingers crossed, ya know?
I don’t know how I feel about this book.
Before I get too far: this book is barely more than fade to black even though they have sex a lot and I was GENEROUS with myself for putting it on the lyrics square in Bingo.
First off, the characters are 35 and 37. I’m 34, so I was curious. I’m not going to lie, I love all these 20-something characters in books but their reactions are always so crazy to me. Like, someone is threatening you to leave him…why don’t you tell him? He’s the most powerful person you know. You don’t understand how he’s feeling or what he’s been doing? Why don’t you just ask? Like I understand that if characters had logical responses, there wouldn’t be a story most of the time, but sometimes, I get wound up about it. Then again, when I was in my early 20’s, I wasn’t entirely practical in relationships either (or at all practical).
Anyway, so these characters are in their 30’s and honestly, the story is exactly what I would expect from characters that age. Lol. Denver says what he means and asks what he wants to know. He’s got a lot of emotional baggage that he’s just trying to fight off as he goes. He was quite possibly the most “breath of fresh air” character I’ve read.
Callie is a 35-year-old woman that is happy with the way her life is. Shocking, I know. But I get it. I’m married, but I still have a very “I’m doing it this way and you’re welcome to join or not” attitude about most things. In my 20s, I was a “I’ll do it any way you need me to just to be with you.” It was a strange thing to read. Like: wait, you mean she’s not fumbling around lost? I think that the idea of figuring out how someone new fits into a life you already love is such a 30’s problem and I’ve never understood a character more. She also has trauma that she’s moving through and her already formed life helps her navigate, so her letting Denver in creates some bumps.
SHOCKING NEWS: Neither of these people have previous relationship trauma. What? They’re both dealing with family issues - none sexual - and it made for a very different type of story. I don’t know how to say it except that: this was the most mature story I’ve ever read. Low angst. No screaming and throwing things. No giant temper tantrums. No ultimatums. This is a rockstar story with no other-woman drama, no drug drama, no gossip drama, lol. Just: I don’t know how to do this but I want to do this with you anyway even if I’m terrified.
The plot is a fling-to-thing trope pretty much. Denver is a retired rock star that gets pulled back in to do a reunion tour, but life has changed a lot for the band, so this tour is TAME. Callie is a music teacher that has a rule against dating musicians but doesn’t know who Denver is when she takes him home for the night.
The biggest issue with the plot is that it only has 60% of the needed information in it. This story leaves sooooooooo many questions. I almost have to assume that some of the bigger questions are answered in the other books of the series (the other bandmates’ stories), but I don’t think they’re going to answer my Denver/Callie questions. This is really a “happy for now” ending…and I feel a little adrift afterward.
Another weird thing that got me was Callie’s stance on children. I UNDERSTAND NOT WANTING KIDS. I do. I didn’t want them until I had one. I absolutely believe that a woman’s worth has nothing to do with her ability and willingness to populate the planet. We are not incubators. 1000%. But while I don’t like books that try to shove pregnancy propaganda down my throat, I also don’t like books that find having children abhorrent either. Maybe it’s just me. I just don’t need your absolute disdain for the thought of having kids or for the idea of not having them. Fact of the matter is, kids happen without planning sometimes and in lieu of precautions sometimes. I don’t think we need to hate the idea of them entirely, nor do we need to base our identity on having them. It kind of makes sense in this book since her mom was on one side of the seesaw while Callie was on the other, but it still chafed me. I didn’t mind her mom’s stance because honestly, her mom was kind of the villain of the story, but Callie hit me differently. I feel like this book tried too hard to make the reader find children appalling. They’re kids. They don’t need your disgust. It even goes as far to show how miserable her sister is having kids. Thumbs down.
-SPOILERS-
We figure out Denver’s past…but not his present. Like, I understand his fear of people leaving entirely. It’s actually probably the most explained trauma in the story, even if not entirely. (I still want to know why everyone kept giving him away. His mom dropped him at 4, his grandparents at 7, etc. Was he a bad kid? Did they just not like kids either? How did he not ever end up in the system by the time he was staying with random neighbors?) But what’s really wrong with his stomach now? I’m terrified he’s got stomach or liver cancer or something, but I’ll never know.
We get a paragraph summary of Callie’s issues, but not their resolution. Her mom has never approved of her music-loving life. She wants her to get married and have kids. Period. That’s it. She’s been rejected by her mother her whole life for not doing this. But it feels like such a half-assed explanation. What happens when Callie introduces Denver to her bitch of a mom?
He goes on a 10-week tour, but the book ends at week 3. How do they make the rest of the tour work? How do they work through their issues together?
Ugh. I had more questions. Last night when I finished it, I had like 75 questions, but I can’t remember them today.
I can only assume the Dan Daniels/mystery backer issue is solved over the course of the series. I assume Axel falls for his friend on the tour and Stone falls for the reporter. Neal obviously ends up with his baby momma in their book. It’s a really strange cliffhanger though.
Book #1 in the Road Kings series | 275 Pages | Trope Challenge: Learning to Love |
“I love you,” he said, making my heart somersault. “I’ve been in love with you for a while. That’s supposed to be exciting. But I have moments, Callie, when I look at you and I think you’re going to walk in one morning with an empty suitcase and tell me to fill it before I get out. Because that’s what happens to me every time. And if that happens with you, I’m finished. So that’s what eats me alive.”
- Denver, Duet by Julie Kriss
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