ARC BOOK REVIEW ~ DOUBLE TIME BY OLIVIA CUNNING

Title: Double Time (Sinners on Tour, Book 5*)

Author: Olivia Cunning

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Expected Release Date: November 1, 2012

ARC provided by NetGalley

Trey Mills, the notoriously sexy Sinners rhythm guitarist, gives up his bisexual lifestyle and is swept into a hot, heady romance with Reagan Elliot, a female rock star sensation. But when Trey encounters Reagan's sexy bisexual roommate, Ethan Conner, he can no longer deny who he is or what he wants. Reagan heartily agrees to a solution that opens up a hot new world of sexual experience--and love--with the two men she wants the most.


Book Review

I have put off this review for as long as I possibly can. Sigh.
This has been weighing heavily on my mind, as I love and adore Olivia Cunning's series, Sinners On Tour, since I first read and devoured her sexy Rock Gods from the first book--Backstage Pass.

For those of you readers out there who do not have the first clue what I am talking about and have not picked up this fabulous book--(shame on you), The Sinners is the fictitious rock band that consist of Sedric Lionheart, Brian Sinclair, Jace Seymour, Eric Sticks, and Trey Mills.

This is the problem that I am having as I put my thoughts on "paper":  Trey Mills's book was supposed to be released last in this series. In order for his character ARC to make sense, I think that it should have stayed the last to be released.

Who can understand the thought processes of an editor's or publisher's mind when that important fact is NOT taken into consideration? Uh...that would be a big fat no--I cannot understand. Why? Because the reader misses vital character development when deciding to release a book out of sequence. And that is all I will say about this touchy subject.

After finishing Double Time, I think a lot of how I rated this book is affected by missing above stated character development (I go into much more detail about this below but it is a bit spoilery, so beware). So, yeah--I'm going to have to do a re-read when all books are finally out (and that will not be a hardship, peeps, lol). Maybe then things will make a bit more sense in the overall scheme of things.

Double Time has a very unique and interesting leading lady-Reagan Elliot. I totally dug her style and her personality. She has a rocker's soul and plays a kick-ass guitar. She is auditioning to temporarily replace the guitarist for the band, Exodus End. And the infamous Trey Mills is in attendance during her audition. When the mysterious guitarist breaks out with the Sinners' "Gates of Hell" during the auditions, Trey is stunned to find out the guitarist isn't his best friend and band member Brian Sinclair playing a trick on him. And even more stunned when he sees that its a woman.

Trey and Reagan have an instant sexual attraction to each other. One that can steam your glasses and have you changing your panties...several times...as you continue to read. There is no doubt that Olivia has a way with words and especially if they are coming out of Trey's mouth. He is the king of sexual innuendos, lol. Here is a little snippet that emulates Trey's sense of humor and his sexiness that curls my toes:

"You're driving me insane," she said. "Do you have a condom?"

"Are you in a hurry?" he murmured.

"Kinda. My fifteen-minute break is almost over."

"You're going to be late." He nipped her earlobe and released her wrist.

And the fact that Reagan goes head-to-head with this sex machine, giving back as much as he dishes out, makes my knees knock. They are great together.

"Do you know what I do to naughty boys?" she asked.

"Tease them to their limits and then shoot them down," Dare guessed and took a nonchalant sip of his beverage.

Reagan grinned. "Exactly."

Well, fuck, if she was just going to shoot him down anyway, he might as well push the envelope.

"Do you know what I do to naughty girls? {Trey} asked, locking her gaze with his.

"What?"

"I put in my tongue piercing." 

But Reagan has some issues that still linger from her past. She is recovering from a relationship where her ex-boyfriend, Ethan Conner, turned out to be gay. The two now remain good friends--in fact, they are roommates. But what will happen when Reagan finds out that Trey is keeping a big secret from her? One that could totally blow up in his face and sever their relationship? Can Trey give up having sexual feelings for men? And--WHOA, Mama--what happens when Trey starts getting that feeling for Ethan?

Double Time is packed with oodles of scorching sex scenes that pack an emotional wallops, snarky humor, and wicked banter between the band members that give me the warm fuzzies. But something bothered me big time with this story. So if you don't want to get a taste of spoilery, you may want to cover your ears at this point.

Trey finally reveals to his best friend, Brian, the sexual feelings (and love) that he had towards him in the past. It was a sort of closure for Trey as he makes the decision to move on in his relationship with Ethan and Reagan.

What bothers me is Brian's reaction to Trey's admission.  I am stunned that for two people who had such a close relationship, that Brian could have been (1) blind to Trey's real feelings all this time, and (2) that Brian came across as a wee bit crass and uncaring regarding Trey's confession. and (3) it is never really discussed further.

Were there ulterior motives to the way Brian handled Trey's confession? Is this something that a reader would have understood more if Jace and Eric's books had been released prior to Trey's story? And to be honest, I would have loved to have seen more of Brian and Trey working through this. It was such a brief scene that left me hanging and disappointed with the final results of such an epic part of Trey's life. 

Overall, I believe that missing the hows and whys that a reader would have gotten in Jace's and Eric's story had a major affect in my rating--which has nothing to do with how much I enjoyed the book or Olivia's writing--and pulled it down to the 3.5 stars that I gave it. I totally believe that it would have been higher if I would have had the FULL story.

Still a big fan of the big O--and no, I ....well, yeah; both O's are held high in my book, lol.