Back-up

The Back-up, Book 1

By: A.M. Madden

Narrated by: Ellen Lange

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's Summary

Leila Marino's biggest dream is to become a rock star. A lucky opportunity has her auditioning with an up and coming rock band named Devil's Lair. The band hires Leila as their back-up singer, signing her up for months in the studio and touring on the road with the sexy bunch.

Jack is the quintessential rock star: gorgeous... sexy... a walking orgasm. Jack Lair is the lead singer of Devil's Lair and his dreams are becoming reality as his band climbs the ladder of success. He's living the perfect life, and enjoying every minute of it. With a steady stream of sexual conquests that satisfies his raging libido, he thinks he has all he needs in life... until Leila enters it.

Jack is not prepared for the sudden pull he feels towards Leila, and struggles daily to deny that his attraction is anything more. Leila finds falling for her new boss is constant torment. Both convince themselves friendship is their only option.

An intimate moment causes their willpower to collapse, and their erotic love affair begins. Finding love was a bonus that neither Jack nor Leila anticipated. As they begin their tour together professionally and personally, life couldn't be any better for the couple - until a mistake from Jack's past threatens their new relationship, and their perfect future together.

©2013 A.M. Madden (P)2015 A.M. Madden

WOW..... IT SURPASSED ALL MY EXPECTATIONS

This is not quite your ordinary Rock Band romance where each band member slowly finds the love of his life..... no this is going to be a much longer story focusing on one couple that'll stretch into many books so there's a CLIFFHANGER to this first listen of Jack and Leila's love story. None of them have made it big yet so there's no egos and when the talented and very nervous Leila auditions for Back-up for the band Devil's Lair there's instant attraction and off the charts chemistry between sex on a stick lead singer Jack and Leila. But this has a very sweet and slow build-up to the romance as they both try to resist the pull.

In this slice of their story you get the foundation stone to everything.... their backgrounds, all the many characters involved, Jack's initial 'no strings' sex policy and encounters, Leila's current band, their families and, coupled with that, there's the ever growing attraction they feel for each other. As the Chapters flew by and they hadn't yet left to go on tour I started to have my doubts that this was going to be a complete story and then there was a couple of OMG revelations at the end leading to tears, fears, heartbreak and sure enough..... a to be continued storyline.

But what an awesome story it was, it was so well described that I could picture each scene, the character's and personalities were also so well described that you felt you knew and liked everyone, the slow building romance was well paced and when they couldn't keep their hands off each other any longer then there was plenty of 'lovin' too. Dual POV's and no problems with the narrator.

Worth a credit? It was a great romance where you really feel the love between two loveable down to earth people, sweet tender feelings and loving words and a good base to build the ongoing story. IMO, very very creditworthy but now I'm left on the hook of Devil's Lair and desperate for the continuation because I just feel it's going to be an epic ride.

Was This Book Really Given 4 1/2 Stars?!!!

Boring narrator, boring story. The characters were incredibly shallow. I quit listening half way through. How did it rate 4 1/2 stars?!

Really Needs Dual Narration

I enjoyed the reading the book, however my audio enjoyment was much lower. I will never understand why publishers (or authors, I'm not sure who make the decision) choose 1 narrator when a book has dual POVs. It really takes a lot away from the enjoyment if the book. The cliffhanger is kind of cliche, but it comes to a pretty satisfactory resolution in the next book.

Not sure about this book!

This was a slow story. I truly not sure if I will listen to the next book. Don't think this was worth a credit.

Not enough character development...

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

While I enjoyed some aspects of the book I will say that it is not one of the best I have read and it was not good enough to make me want to continue with the series. If this had been on sale I would say it was worth my time but I don't think it was worth full price and I don't think it was worth my credit either. ;-/

If you’ve listened to books by A.M. Madden before, how does this one compare?

This is the first book I have listened to by A.M. Madden. I will try another as I feel her writing was worth one more chance...

Which scene was your favorite?

I liked the scene on the balcony at the party where they kiss for the second time. I really enjoy build up in a story and that forbidden pull of wanting to do something even though for whatever reason you know you shouldn't. The undeniable attraction during that scene was really well conveyed.

Any additional comments?

For me this story just didn't have enough character development. I wanted to know more about them because then I think I would have felt more invested in the story. Deep feelings just seemed to develop out of nowhere. I understand the instant attraction but I didn't get anything from the story that made me believe or even feel that they could fall madly in love. They didn't even spend that much time together! I think that it could have happened but it didn't happen in the story that the author told.

Loved it

Waiting for book two. While there always some predictability with these romance novels it's still fun to read and live in the fantasy. There are four books in this series. Look forward to hearing the next. I don't want to spoil lots of ups and downs but fun.
The narrator was good. Enjoy

Really?

Not only did it drag on, but the ending just fizzled..very disappointed, will not continue.

Sucked right in!

I love a good rockstar romance. Aren't they all bad boys begging to be tamed? Jack and Leila stole my heart early on and I was cheering them on, begging them to give into the insane chemistry they share. This book is the first book in the series and Leila and Jack's story does continue into the next book. I wasn't sure about that when I started, but by the end I was begging for more of their story. I don't want their journey to end! Their supporting cast of Hunter, Scott, Try and Evan I absolutely adore as well. I hope all of these guys get their stories told. I'm excited to have found this series!

I thought the narrator did a great job with the story, but I would have loved to see a man play Jack.

so so good

I have read and reviewed this as an ebook in the past. However this rendition brings a new dynamic to the story. Jack and Leila' story is one that will grab you and not let go long after the stories done. I would highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.

It goes on and on and on....

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Sad to say, I wouldn't. It's monotonous, it's boring at points, the sex scenes are all the same...truth be told, I fell asleep throughout the narrative of this book, not just once, but on several occasions. As we would all agree, sex should be exciting - not mind numbing. Sorry if that's being harsh.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Unfortunately, I purchased the entire series of this book. Not to waste money (or the use of a credit), I will continue to listen. But in all honesty, I'm looking forward to something a little better written and better performed. Not to blame the narrator - you can only do your best with what you're given to work with. Listen, I'm certainly not an expert at critiquing books, but sincerely felt, while listening to this story, that it was extremely amateurish. Left me wondering if this was the author's first novel and hoping, in time, he/she will improve.

What aspect of Ellen Lange’s performance would you have changed?

She needed a counter-partner. She has two vocal tones - one female, one male. She gave a New York accent to one male character, but that was the only variance.

Could you see Back-up being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not really. It would take a great deal of re-write - cutting a lot of the content and leaving it on the floor.

Any additional comments?

Ok, down to brass and tacks. This story was so sticky sweet, it made even me (a true-born romantic) feel sick. I'd like to meet a real man who utters "I love you" (without being forced) as much as Jack. He doesn't exist...not even in faerie tales. As I listened, this is the ultimate book of what a woman dreams of having and hearing from her man...

I'm not normally a pessimist or love-hater. I'm just saying that these characters are unrealistic. Unfortunately!