A Kind of Home by Lane Hayes

Isaac Dalton is the guitarist for Spiral, arguably the biggest rock band in the world. The band’s meteoric rise to superstardom has its perks, but fame and fortune aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Nonstop touring and performing exhaust him, and when an overzealous fan makes it imperative that Isaac travel with a clingy bodyguard, he is ready for a break from the madness. More so when his newly single first crush shows up on his doorstep. The man is strictly off-limits. He’s a memory from a place Isaac would rather leave behind. And he’s straight.

Fun-loving former athlete slash construction worker Adam McBride desperately needs a new beginning. And New York City is the perfect place to start over and think about how to rebuild his life. A short stint as roommates with his brother’s best friend from high school seems like a mutually beneficial arrangement. However, when friendship gives way to fierce attraction, both men find themselves in uncharted and possibly dangerous territory. Isaac has to decide if he’s willing to take the ultimate risk for a kind of love and a kind of home he never dreamed possible.

Book 4
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Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the fourth book in the series and concentrates on lead guitarist, Isaac, although we do get snippets about the rest of the band too. I would say that it could be read as a standalone, but be much richer as part of the series.

An interesting mix of storylines ensures that this book moves along at a fair pace. Featuring a rock star, already sets up the issue of fans and loss of privacy – add in the fact that his best friend's brother/teenage crush is staying at his apartment, and that he has a stalker – Isaac is near the end of his tether. Somehow the grounded Adam gets under the mask he has created, and a rather lovely, passionate, and heated romance starts to blossom. Obviously life is not that simple, and a number of issues have to be resolved before we can get to the happily ever after that he deserves.

A good addition to the series, and hopefully we will get some more about these guys in future installments.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
Spiral has come so far! Each book in this series captures the band at a different stage in their career. In Isaac’s story, he is a famous rock star with rock star problems. Like a stalker. And a family friend turned houseguest who just won’t leave.

I like that Isaac is a bit of an entitled dick at times in this book. We saw the band scrambling to get ahead, we saw the sacrifices made along the way, and now we get to see Isaac’s frustration with the consequences of the success they’ve worked so hard for.

Adam is much more likeable than Isaac. I love the reality he injects into Isaac’s life. I don’t always like the way Isaac treats him and I don’t always know why he stays, but I love the chill, the calm, and the care he brings into Isaac’s life. Some of the later drama and miscommunication in this relationship felt contrived and it really annoyed me.

The stalker storyline really wasn’t necessary. It wasn’t a consistent story thread. The tension didn’t build naturally and I’m still not sure what purpose it served.

This isn’t my favourite book in the series but I did love catching up with Spiral at the peak of their success. I love this band and I love the growth we get to see from book to book. I am very much looking forward to the next story.

Also Available in the A Kind of Stories Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our A Kind of Truth post.

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our A Kind of Romance post.

Book 3
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our A Kind of Honesty post.

Lane is a designer by trade who is extremely grateful to be spending more of her time these days doing what she truly loves...writing. She loves chocolate, wine, travel, but most of all, she loves books. Lane's debut novel, Better Than Good, was a 2013 Rainbow Award finalist. She lives in So. California near the beach with her amazing husband, three teenagers & a gorgeous old Lab named Rex.

Connect with Lane

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of A Kind of Home (A Kind of Stories #4) by Lane Hayes to read to and review.

A Kind of Honesty by Lane Hayes

Music is drummer Tim Chalmers’s great escape and the one thing that’s never let him down. But his band Spiral’s meteoric rise to fame has made it difficult for him to maintain a low profile. Unwanted press pesters him after a public breakup with a volatile ex-girlfriend who loves the limelight as much as he loathes it. Tim’s main goal is to avoid confrontation. However, when a handsome stranger in a dive bar turns out to be someone he might know, everything changes.

Carter Hamilton-Temple might be a successful financial consultant with more brains, sophistication, and charm than most, but he always falls for the wrong guys: closet cases or men with issues. He can’t fight his attraction to tattooed rock star Tim, but can he trust his own judgment? When the thrill of danger combined with a fierce physical connection proves too strong for either man to resist, a quiet liaison away from the public eye and curious friends seems like a safe bet. But some secrets are hard to keep. When rumors threaten to rock his world, Tim realizes it’s time to confront his fear with his own kind of honesty.

Book 3
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the third in the series – each book relates to another couple, and it can be read as a standalone, although we do see the results of the previous two stories, so there is linking if you read them all.

Tim is the drummer in Spiral, and he likes being behind the drum kit. He chooses to take the route of least resistance in his life, although coming to NY to try and get the band off the ground has resulted in huge success. He does manage to clear the clinging girlfriend from his life, but what happens next definitely throws him off his comfortable fence edge. I enjoyed watching him realise what was happening, how he deals with it, and just how uncomfortable he has to be to get what is really worth having.

Carter is a man who seemingly has it all, but his past has meant that he knows all too well that money does not equal happiness – and his attempted detachment with Tim is not going well. I loved how his ability to like simple things was such a revelation to Tim. The yoga classes were brilliant fun too. In fact, they make a crazy, but hot couple time and time again. Although from different backgrounds, they have reasonable parity in wealth stakes, which makes some things much easier for them to ignore.

I found this to be a very easy story to read, with some interesting twists, but fundamentally telling a love story as old as time, which is exactly what romance story readers want. Thank you, Ms. Hayes.

Also Available in the A Kind of Stories Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our A Kind of Truth post.

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our A Kind of Romance post.

Lane is a designer by trade who is extremely grateful to be spending more of her time these days doing what she truly loves...writing. She loves chocolate, wine, travel, but most of all, she loves books. Lane's debut novel, Better Than Good, was a 2013 Rainbow Award finalist. She lives in So. California near the beach with her amazing husband, three teenagers & a gorgeous old Lab named Rex.

Connect with Lane

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of A Kind of Honesty (A Kind of Stories #3) by Lane Hayes to read to and review.

A Kind of Romance by Lane Hayes Audiobook Review

Zeke Gulden is a ruthless Wall Street exec. His hard-edged, no-nonsense attitude has served him well in the cutthroat business world, but less so in his personal life. When he finds out his ex-boyfriend cheated on him with a coworker, Zeke can’t let go—not until he finds a way to get even. However, his meddlesome father has other ideas. The new hire at the family-owned bagel store is somewhat colorful, but his dad is sure he’s the perfect man for Zeke.

Benny Ruggieri is a fiercely proud New Yorker who dreams of making it big as a costume designer in the theater. In the meantime, he’s working two part-time jobs in the food biz. When his new boss sets him up with his successful son, Benny has zero expectations. If nothing else, he figures he can entertain himself by making the uptight businessman squirm. Instead, the two become unlikely friends with an inexplicable attraction they can’t ignore. Benny might be the one to help Zeke set aside his quest for revenge, if he’s willing to let go and forgive what he can’t forget… and give in to an unexpected kind of romance.

Length: 9 hrs, 1 min

Narrator: Seth Clayton

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angela – ☆☆☆☆☆
When I read the blurb for this book, I had no idea who Zeke was. But I knew who Benny was and looked forward to seeing him find his happily ever after. However, as soon as Zeke received Benny’s call regarding his father’s fall at work, I knew exactly who Zeke was – Ezekiel. Gotta love George’s preference of using people’s full names because I didn’t put it together. Once two and two equaled four, I was even more excited because I wanted to know more about Zeke and couldn’t wait to see what dance Hayes had planned for the couple… and I was not disappointed.

Much like Rand and Will were in book one, Zeke and Benny are an unlikely match. Perhaps even more so considering Zeke is Wall Street and Armani, while Benny is fashion and color – quite literally as he regularly sports a bit of bold color in his hair. Zeke is Jewish and Benny is Catholic. About the only thing they have in common is they come from loud, meddlesome families and they each have a connection to Bowery Bagels (Zeke’s dad owns it, Benny works there). Having witnessed first-hand how meddlesome Italian families can be and having heard stories of the same regarding Jewish parents, I can easily see why Zeke and Benny decided to fake date as it was an excellent way to keep the matchmakers at bay. Of course, as the reader, I wasn’t surprised when things began to feel more real. What did surprise me was how well Zeke lied to himself or refused to admit his feelings to himself when it came to Benny. I wasn’t shocked when Zeke basically negotiated a monogamous “fake” relationship with Benny because nothing about Zeke would suggest he’d be willing to share, despite his initial desire to reconcile with his cheating ex. Nope, that was more about “not losing” than anything else, which took me a while to realize because Zeke is just narcissistic enough that I was having a hard time reconciling a narcist wanting someone in his life that didn’t make him the center of their life. Speaking of, I loved that Benny refused to accept anything less than being the center of Zeke’s life once he hit his breaking point. I hate how that scene played out because it was one of those rare times when it really wasn’t what it looked like, but it was what had to happen to make Zeke reevaluate what he wanted out of life and speed up his efforts at making it happen.

Zeke’s family baggage was utterly fascinating. Only knowing the current version of George Gulden we met in A Kind of Truth, it was hard to reconcile the personable shop owner with the homophobic father Zeke grew up with. Granted, George’s response to his son’s coming out was, unfortunately, in line with that of a man his age, religion, and family expectations, so while believable, it was hard to envision George acting the way he did toward Zeke. That his mother was able to make his father see why his actions towards Zeke were wrong, it made her deterioration even harder to read about. Suffice it to say, I was relieved and happy that George and Zeke were finally able to clear the air between them. My only complaint is that I wanted more of Benny. Because A Kind of Romance is Zeke’s tale of finding happiness, the story is told from his point of view and this means we only get Benny when he’s interacting with Zeke and Zeke is paying attention – his tendency to tune people out was annoyingly realistic. I would have loved to have had part of the story told from Benny’s point of view so that we could have gotten to know him better because I adore Benny; but the story wasn’t meant to be told that way, so I got to fall in love with the Benny that Zeke saw. And I must admit, that was a pretty freaking awesome Benny, and that made the journey very enjoyable – even when I was frustrated with Zeke and wanted to give him a good smack on the back of the head. Once again, Seth Clayton did a great job of bringing Hayes’s characters to life and making the audiobook edition of A Kind of Romance very entertaining. I love how Clayton is able to convey the characters’ feelings so fully, leaving me no choice but to connect with them. I thoroughly enjoyed A Kind of Romance and sincerely hope that Clayton and Hayes continue to team up for the next audiobook in the series.

Also Available in the A Kind of Stories Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our A Kind of Truth post.

Lane is a designer by trade who is extremely grateful to be spending more of her time these days doing what she truly loves...writing. She loves chocolate, wine, travel, but most of all, she loves books. Lane's debut novel, Better Than Good, was a 2013 Rainbow Award finalist. She lives in So. California near the beach with her amazing husband, three teenagers & a gorgeous old Lab named Rex.

Connect with Lane

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of A Kind of Romance (A Kind of Stories #2) by Lane Hayes, Narrated by Seth Clayton to listen to and review.

A Kind of Truth by Lane Hayes Audiobook Review

Rand O’Malley dreams of superstardom. He hopes to one day sing the blues like a rock god. Moving to New York City and hiring a new manager are steps to make his dreams a reality. But nothing moves as fast as Rand would like, and everyone has opinions, which include he keep certain pieces of himself quiet if he plans on making it in the Big Apple. Like his bisexuality.

Will Sanders is a gifted musician who dazzles Rand with his ability to coax gorgeous notes from an electric guitar one moment and play the piano like a professional the next. He’s a geek, but Rand isn’t concerned about Will’s pressed exterior clashing with his tattoos. His focus is music. Yet there’s something about Will that makes Rand think there’s much more to the quiet college student than he lets on. As Rand’s dreams begin to materialize, he’s forced to reconsider his priorities and find his own kind of truth. One that might include Will.

Length: 11 hrs, 7 mins

Narrator: Seth Clayton

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angela – ☆☆☆☆☆
A Kind of Truth was absolutely fabulous! Rand sums up exactly who he and Will are to each other at the end of the book… “The geek and the rock star wannabe. The loud mouth and the quiet soul who speaks through music.” Fortunately for Will, Rand isn’t the stereotypical rock star who is looking to sleep his way to the top or through the groupies. Nope, once Will inadvertently catches his eye and then accidentally snares Rand completely with his occasional penchant for dressing up, Rand has eyes for no one else. Actually, until Will caught his eye, Rand had eyes for no one at all because he was on a mission to make his band, Spiral, the next big thing in rock and roll. Rand knows himself well enough to know that he has to keep busy and limit distractions if he wants to have any hope of fulfilling his dreams, and nothing compares to the level of distraction that a relationship brings – especially when his bisexuality could be an obstacle on his path to musical fame.

Although Will and Rand are just outside what I consider to be the typical age range for new adult novels, A Kind of Truth has a new adult angsty feel to it. Granted, the more we get to know Rand, the easier it is to understand why – his impulse control is severely hampered. I don’t mean that in a bad way because Rand isn’t malicious about it. Rather, it is more reflective of the exuberance of youth; a leap before you look mentality. While I believe Will is the younger of the two, he’s more cautious about his approach to life – with, as we come to learn, good reason to be so. These are two men who should not work and, based on Rand’s inner musings when they first meet, would not normally work because Will isn’t the kind of guy that Rand is usually drawn too. But their shared love of music provides a much sturdier foundation for a relationship than one would expect. In short, Rand and Will complement one another’s differences beautifully. And while their relationship is fraught with misunderstandings, a partner who does not listen (Rand), a partner who has a hard time making himself heard (Will), and outside forces on both sides set to keep them apart for their own gains, Rand’s impulsive nature and Will’s realization that he deserves to live his life for him, make for a bumpy, yet beautiful ride.

This is the first audiobook I’ve listened to narrated by Seth Clayton and I must say he did a wonderful job. He managed to annoy me perfectly when Rand was being obnoxious. He made me cry when Will gets caught in the crossfire. I laughed when I was meant to and I cringed in the same way. Clayton used little touches that made his performance even more enjoyable by making me feel as though I was listening in on Rand and Will’s life – scenes when a character is talking with his mouth full, spot on “happy drunk” scenes, acapella singing when Rand is moved to perform, and just his overall conveying of Rand and Will’s emotions. I thoroughly enjoyed Clayton’s performance and feel he brought Hayes’s characters and their story to life in a delightful way. A Kind of Truth was an enjoyable audiobook and I look forward to listening to Clayton again bring Hayes’s work to life in the next book in the series, A Kind of Romance.

Lane is a designer by trade who is extremely grateful to be spending more of her time these days doing what she truly loves...writing. She loves chocolate, wine, travel, but most of all, she loves books. Lane's debut novel, Better Than Good, was a 2013 Rainbow Award finalist. She lives in So. California near the beach with her amazing husband, three teenagers & a gorgeous old Lab named Rex.

Connect with Lane

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of A Kind of Truth (A Kind of Stories #1) by Lane Hayes, Narrated by Seth Clayton to listen to and review.