Book Review – Final Serenade by N.N. Britt

Final Serenade (The Encore Book 1) <— OMG YOU GUYS WERE RIGHT!!!!! And now I’m in the throes of an epic book hangover. This one put me in an incredible love fog, and I haven’t felt like this in ages.

What is “like this” you ask? You know that feeling of anxious anticipation, like something awesome is about to happen, and all the butterflies, and a bit of dread (maybe even a lot of it, LOL!!), but a definite feeling of fondness for newfound friends? ALL of that for me. And oh how I miss them terribly right now.

I became utterly attached to the characters (well most of ’em… a few in particular have me swearing up a storm), but I especially LOVED the heroine. After all, I lived in her head the entire time and swooned and stressed with her each step of the way.

Michele G: Maryse, I’m so glad you got as attached to Cassy & Frankie as I did!!! I just loved them and can’t wait for the next book!!

Nay: Maryse–don’t you just love it when a book does that? That ending was just GAH! …Her writing really is phenomenal. You can tell she puts a lot of work into her craft.

Just the right amount of titillating slow burn, jealousy (from both sides!!!) and a few potential monkey wrenches that are threatening my happiness. I mean hers. 😉 The ultimate fantasy but with the realistic pitfalls that come with falling in love with a celebrity. And this book lets us LIVE it.

I LOVE when a book does that. Where I forget I’m reading, and feel like I’m watching an incredible movie. I missed this, and while my brain knows it’s a story, my heart felt it as real. Thank goodness there’s another one coming in just a couple of weeks.

Maryse: OMG Final Serenade is SOOOO GOOD and now I’m mad I’m done, and I want the next one RIGHT NOW!!!! HELP!!!!!!! HELP ME!!! 😲😬 

I’m so freaked out for so many things right now in this story. So much potential for chaos… and awesomeness. THAT CRAZY ENDING.

*ooooooooomph* that was 5- STAR good. 👏👏👏 Review coming right up. But you already get the gist. 

So what’s it about? MY ULTIMATE ROCK STAR FANTASY come to life. Well… sorta.

Cassy works for a popular though smaller music magazine as a journalist. They’ve worked hard to build their reputation amongst the music industry and are one of the most trusted.

I fit in. I had the look, and I was smart and professional beyond my years. I smiled, played nice, shook hands, and never flirted. My goal was to write memories, real accounts about real people, not some manufactured bullsh*t.

I knew how to balance the questions—when to ask the right ones and when to back away.

A hardcore music fan to the bone, she still keeps her professionalism front and center at all times. She’s interviewed ’em all, and has back stage access to most,

Every girl sitting in this limo was secretly hoping she’d hit the jackpot and marry a rock star, but every girl would be wrong. Hundreds of twenty-one-year-olds came and went and no one remembered their names the next morning. It was the way the world of the rich and famous worked. That’s why I’d never allowed myself to become one of those girls.

…but she still has that wide-eyed expression (at least internally) when accolades come her way and when rock stars specifically remember her.

There were some lines that didn’t blur. A very distinct one between them and us.

Even if she’s used to it, she still has her own personal thrills and nerves for a few of ’em.

Like Frank, the lead singer of one of her favorite bands that she listened to as a teen, and connected with deeply during a bad time in her life. He postered her walls, and now, years after a terrible accident that halted the world-famous band in their tracks, Frank is back and ready to be the frontman again.

Even I wasn’t immune.

Back when the band was owning all the charts and radio stations, he’d been titled the sexiest man alive by pretty much every site, magazine, and outlet that practiced grouping men into lists based on their looks and other assets more times than Hollywood had tried to reboot the Spider-Man franchise.

Having a crush on someone like Frankie was inevitable. It was childish and silly, but I cherished my love for him and his music as much as I cherished my love for the real people in my life…

And now Cassy gets to interview him. HOLY MOLY that initial meeting had ME sweating as badly as she was. I felt her nerves, I felt her butterflies,

Breathe, Cassy, breathe, I told myself. My lungs were tight and my stomach knotted pleasantly as I neared the couch.

…and I especially felt their connection.

“Asking a music journalist to dinner implies sooner or later she’d raise the topic,” I tell him, my voice quiet but firm.

“I didn’t ask a music journalist to dinner.” He leaned closer, his elbows flat on the table. “I asked a woman who was in a room with Frankie Blade and Dante Martinez and walked out.”

In fact, as much as I loved Cassy, she wasn’t perfect, which made her even more relatable. There was a certain point where I was so annoyed by a certain overreaction she had. I wanted badly to take back her words for her, and to say something else entirely. Though I had to remind myself. I’m not her, and we see the world differently… and maybe she’s right?

Alas, it wasn’t long before I was bonding with her again. 😉

And I’ll let you explore just how far they get before things start going awry. Because… you know. Not everyone (or everything) is on their side.

Charity: I just read Final Serenade too and I loved it! Gah so many emotions from it and it was just what I needed during this quarantine .. it was Unputdownable!!

Maryse: EXACTLY!!! I HAD to put it down to get some work done, but I couldn’t wait to get back to it, and just kept thinking about it. That’s EXACTLY what I look for when I read. THAT feeling.

Kim: Maryse ~ Final Serenade gah! I LOVE NN Britt’s writing style and her 2 other Rock Star books. The poor author probably thinks I’m stalking her because I can’t wait for the conclusion of the duet lol. My Little rock star romance loving heart is so happy!

Maryse: Oh I AM going to read EVERYTHING she writes!!!! I connected immediately with her writing style.

Michele G: Yay!! Maryse, I’m so glad you’re enjoying Final Serenade! I really enjoy her writing style – I think it’s because she has a different feel from the many other “rockstar romance” stories out there…they are all my catnip but hers stand out!

It’s totally exciting, and nerve-racking and butterfly inducing and BEST OF ALL!!!??? It’s entirely from her POV so I stayed focused, and I felt all the feels and I had no clue what was going on when… you know… “stuff” became apparent because I was seeing it through her eyes only.

THANK YOU TO THIS AUTHOR for sticking to one POV. While I can and have enjoyed books from multiple POVs, only one POV hooks me so much more (not just in ease of reading, but I forget I’m not the main character and feel everything she or he is feeling too).

THIS IS the kind of romance book I love. This writing, the flow, this anxiety, the possibility of mayyyyyyybe…. a potential love triangle… *taps lips…* there’s something there, that I’m stressing about (and loving that stress). I love not knowing what’s going on because I AM HER and living life AS HER.

Similar, storyline wise (so far anyway…) from most of the rock star stories I’ve loved. Same principle and stresses (RE: being in love with a celebrity and not trying to get lost or even devoured in all of that), but this one is written in a way that kept me excited about what was about to happen. Kept me guessing. And I’m still guessing.

5 STARS!! <— This book exhilarated me. An ultimate fantasy, but with that real-feel, you know? I forgot that it wasn’t real, and that it wasn’t me or my life.  It was a welcome escape from my real life worries, and escape, I did. I was gonna say I have my Mojo back, but I think the mojo always exists in me, and depending on the book, the mojo flourishes. This book had PLENTY of all that. My mojo is happy! 😉

Bring on the next!!! 😀