Review: The Luckiest by Piper Vaughn and M.J. O’Shea
Publisher: Dreamspinner 2nd Edition
Where did you get this book: E-Arc from Publisher
Release Date: Out Now
Lucky Moon #2
“Rock star Nick Ventura has finally hit rock bottom. Jealous of his brother’s new love, he starts overindulging in his usual vices and winds up crashing his car into a department store in a drunken haze. Publicly humiliated and on the verge of jail time, he enters into a court-ordered rehabilitation program.
Nutritionist Luka Novak is flamboyant, effeminate, the type of gay man that bisexual Nick would normally sneer at. His sunny nature hides a deep hurt from a previous relationship. Luka knows he should be wary of Nick’s reputation, but he’s drawn to Nick despite himself. Their tentative
friendship turns into romance, but Luka soon comes to realize that Nick’s fear of losing his bad boy reputation means he’ll probably never go public with their relationship.
Nick never thought he needed anyone, until Luka Novak came into his life. Now he has to reconcile his carefree past with the future he suddenly wants more than anything. And the first lesson he has to learn is how to become the man that both he and Luka need him to be, rather than stay the boy he always was. Alone.”
Nick Ventura is a rock god bad-boy in one of the world’s hottest bands. His life of too many groupies, too much alcohol and drugs have landed him in the hospital after he blacks out and rams his Viper through a department store window. Instead of being tossed in jail he’s packed off to rehab for three months to dry out and get healthy.
Nick has always come across as a troubled character in the Lucky Moon series. The questionnaire that he fills out when in rehab only reinforces that conclusion, it was so sad to see what he wrote down. He feels betrayed by his older brother and thinks because Shane got married that he’ll abandon Nick. It’s this fear that leads Nick to turn more and more to the dark side of rock and roll.
He comes into rehab very resistant to all the things and people that are there to help him get better and that includes Luka, the facility’s nutritionist. I loved Luka. He has his own issues but at his core he’s a sunny spirit with a zest for life. What I really liked about his character is that he respected himself enough to demand he be respected in turn. He definitely wasn’t afraid to call Nick on his diva actions and pushed him in an attempt to get him out of his dangerous rut and onto the road to recovery.
Nick is equal parts naive young man mixed with a cynical rock god who has seen and done far too much. He was a frustration for me for much of the read because let’s face it…he’s a bit of asshole and he hurt Luka so badly several times that it needed an epic grovel to make right. Still there’s a sweetness to him that drew me in and made me care and want to see him succeed in finding himself. He and Luka were adorable together.
These two men have a lot of chemistry and I found this to be a sweet romance that was somber but never depressing. I loved the cameos with Shane and Jesse as well as Dre. I’m a fan the Lucky Moon series and I’d definitely recommend it, I’ll be looking for the next book as well. It was a pleasure to see Nick finally grow up.
I’m giving The Luckiest a B