Reverb

Twisted Wishes, Book 3

By: Anna Zabo

Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux

The tougher they are, the harder they fall.

Twisted Wishes bass player Mish Sullivan is a rock goddess - gorgeous, sexy, and comfortable in the spotlight. With fame comes unwanted attention, though: A stalker is desperate to get close. Mish can fend for herself, just as she always has. But after an attack lands her in the hospital, the band reacts, sticking her with a bodyguard she doesn't need or want.

David Altet has an instant connection with Mish. A certified badass, this ex-army martial-arts expert can take down a man twice his size. But nothing - not living as a trans man, not his intensive military training - prepared him for the challenge of Mish. Sex with her is a distraction neither of them can afford, yet the hot, kink-filled nights keep coming.

When Mish's stalker ups his game, David must make a choice - lover or bodyguard. He'd rather have Mish alive than in his bed. But Mish wants David, and no one, especially not a stalker, will force her to give him up.

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Anna Zabo (P)2020 Tantor

there need to be more books like this.

great story, character growth, and all fun to read. The tranman was portrayed as a whole and complex character that both lived fully as he was and let his past experiences shape him not own him.

Much respect for Anna Zabo

I’m having a hard time finding words to express how I feel about this book. It’s good. It’s entertaining. It is at times emotional. It has all the classic elements I expect in a spicy romance, but they are dressed up and delivered in a way that feels so organic. This series takes on topics of sexuality, kink, gender identity, trauma, and treats them all with such tenderness and respect. These are the kind of people and the kind of world we all (queer, different, marginalized) dream we could live in. A found family of perfect acceptance. People who are whole and healthy, in spite of and through their personal struggles and their pasts.

Greg Boudreaux gives these characters and this story such wonderful voice. Again the word that comes to mind is respect. His respect for the characters comes through in his acting.

I have feelings about this series and this book in particular that are too unorganized and profound to find their way into this review. Suffice it to say, I recommend these books, this author, and this narrator. Five stars all around.

More concert, more fun

I very much enjoyed the return to focusing on the concerts and touring. It was fun to see Ray, Dom, & their SOs being sappy and happy. The trick is I didn’t like the main romantic conflict. Anyone hoping for a story where being trans is *not* the source of drama & trauma will find that here. I rate it 3.5 stars for story, rounded up because it was fun to hang out with the Twisted Wishes band again.

I will try not to include actual spoilers but for people who want no hints of plot at all, stop reading here.

After a Big Misunderstanding, my least favorite reasons to keep characters apart are “splitting up now so it won’t hurt later” and pride. This one is both of those. If those reasons make sense to you, you will like this more than I did. I felt like David remained too much of a mystery to really understand his reasoning. I kind of thought Mish should throw over David for the uber competent Marcela. I’m not saying we needed uncomfortable details, but did David work for a security company or as an independent contractor? Work & working out can fill up people’s days but David’s being a complete loner was odd. But with that, I would have understood a need to get away from the crowds more than I believed the “we’ll have to break up later so let’s deny ourselves time now” nonsense. Maybe some thoughts about how traveling with a band compared to being in the army? I needed something more that gave depth and context to his reasoning.

Moving on. For all that there is a creepy stalker plot, there is not constant physical trauma. This was a relief to me because I like my characters to thrive, not just barely get through a book. But when there’s an incident and David freezes, he didn’t freeze because he was “too close to Mish/the band”. He froze because he was beating himself up over not preventing the situation, rather than focusing on the situation. Something happened to Mish, and everyone wound up focused on David who was moping. I get wanting to prevent incidents. But incidents WILL happen. Security can prevent some, but when they can’t prevent, they need to pivot instantly to harm mitigation and handling the situation. David went into a panic spiral of insecurity instead of centering the situation and Mish. This alone dropped the story most of 1 star. Followed by the “I need to dump you until I can solve this on my own” that had me flashing to my least favorite conflict from Justin/Eli (Just Business, otherwise an excellent story), I found the breakup annoying, not sympathetic. Maybe I lied about moving on… anyway.

Steam: Med. On page M/F sexytimes with trans accommodations were pleasantly steamy. There was some detail without getting clinical. (You’ll never regret bringing a bag of dicks!)

Narration: Really good. I might have skimmed some if I were reading text, but I hung in there because the narrator was really easy to listen to.

loved this book

memorable, easy flow, fun, sexy. loved the book, really got into thesin characters and looking forward to a part 2