5+ Banned in Boston Review: Beneath the Stain

Title: Beneath the Stain

Author: Amy Lane

Publisher/GR Link:Dreamspinner, GR

Genre: MM Contemporary

Vice: Rockstars, Loss, Recovery, Coming Out

Rating: 5 out of 5- Banned in Boston

Lock this book up: 4 out of 5 keys- Sex is hot but necessary to the plot

Length: 7 short novellas, or one juicy novel

Satisfaction: Bring your tissues, but you'll get an HEA

Cover Impressions: I love it.  Has Lane's style all over it

Best Line: “I love you, McKay. I love you so much it would kill me not to try.”

Synopsis: In a town as small as Tyson, CA, everybody knew the four brothers with the four different fathers-- and their penchant for making good music when they weren't getting into trouble. For Mackey Sanders, playing in Outbreak Monkey with his brothers and their friends—especially Grant Adams--made Tyson bearable. But Grant has plans for getting Mackey and the Sanders boys out of Tyson, even if that means staying behind. 

Between the heartbreak of leaving Grant and the terrifying, glamorous life of rock stardom, Mackey is adrift and sinking fast. When he's hit rock bottom, Trav Ford shows up, courtesy of their record company and a producer who wants to see what Mackey can do if he doesn't flame out first. But cleaning up his act means coming clean about Grant, and that's not easy to do or say. Mackey might make it with Trav's help--but Trav's not sure he's going to survive falling in love with Mackey. 

Mackey James Sanders comes with a whole lot of messy, painful baggage, and law-and-order Trav doesn't do messy or painful. And just when Trav thinks they may have mastered every demon in Mackey's past, the biggest, baddest demon of all comes knocking.

Impressions:  Part of me feels like the author name says everything I could say in a review.  Amy Lane means the most delicious of angst, love, and enough hope to keep you holding on until the teary finish.  It means your heart getting rung out, and you coming back for more every single time.  It means a cast of characters that come alive, and that you feel like you know.

This book was no exception.  Mack and Trav are great for each other, and I loved every second of watching them find their love, their happiness, and their family.

If you love Amy Lane, and really, who doesn't?, get this one and get started.  You can buy this as one novel, or as seven short novellas.  When I bought it, I bought the seven shorts for the bonus material which, though I enjoyed it, you did not need it to fully experience the novel.  Luckily for you all, the novel is totally released now, so there is no need to wait each week for it to arrive in your bookshelf.

There is an amazing cast of characters, and I know this will be a read I return to time and time again.