Winding Road

by Cecilia Ryan

Winding Road is a romance and coming of age story for Ash, a young musician with a band that's just starting to make a name for itself and a huge crush on a fellow musician, the mysterious Indigo - a man who plays with gender boundaries as effortlessly and beautifully as he plays the violin. As his music career takes off, so does his love life, sending him on an emotional rollercoaster ride that's all part of growing up. With a little help from his friends, Ash navigates the brave new world of semi-stardom and if he's lucky, just might find a little happiness with the man of his dreams.

Genres: M M Romance

164 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 12, 2012

Reviews

[UltraMeital · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted and mostly expected to love this story as much as I loved the previous novellas I"ve read by Cecilia. This one was different and dare I say "strange"? Ashleigh "Ash", The main character and our sole POV was a guy round 20 years old who behaved like he was maybe 15 if not less (if we ignore the sexual situations..). There is a reference to him being stupid, so I'm not sure if it was the intention of the author but he truly sounded a bit, well, trying to be politically correct here so let's say "slow". He was a sweet guy, I'll give him that but he was also clueless about life (asked his best friend what languages do people speak in Europe besides English?!) also very naive from the crush he has on a local musician- Indigo. A lot of people had some kind of obsessive interest in a rock star back in the day, right? it ended when they grew up.. With Indigo it's different. Or, should I say the same.. meaning he is crushing on a guy he knows through his lyrics.

The whole story had bizarre time line. Some of the times I didn't get how much time moved from one chapter to the other, and naturally didn't understand the progression of their band's new found success. I didn't get the band actually, took me a while to understand who plays what and I'm still not really sure about the genre. There are two members besides Ash - both are his best friends, and soon becomes a couple which was also unclear, it seemed as though something happened between Ash and her yet it wasn't specified. Also the relationship with his parents was unclear, his mother approved of his musical career but his father doesn't and in fact kicked him out of his house, then he moved to his boss's house - a very nice lady who owns a grocery shop.

I think the main thing is I DIDN'T GET IT. Not the MC, not the interaction between him and Indigo which had gaps, mostly in the end. I didn't really get WHAT Ash found in him and specifically not what Indigo found in Ash in return. Too many things were left unsaid or were just not mentioned and I felt like I'm reading half the story somehow. I'm truly puzzled by this book. Not sure what to make of it.

More Reviews HERE

[Cindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not usually big on rock star type books which is really strange because my two all-time favorite m/m books are rock star books... :) This one was different from the ones I normally shy away from. The focus is more on the characters than their rock star personas. I enjoyed watching Ash come into his own. I was not too sure about Indigo as he did not come across as a likable person early on (I know... that was the point). He grew on me over time.

Nice story. Interesting characters, including the secondary ones. My only complaint is that I wish that there would have been more focus on Ash and Indigo as a couple. Not much time is spent with the two of them together. The ending was perfect.

Overall, an enjoyable read. I will definitely be reading more by this author.

[Elci · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something really awesome about cute rocker boys that live in England. I think it's the accent I hear in my head as I read. This was a fun read. I really liked Ash, but never felt like I understood Indigo, which is an awesome rocker name. I did love Ash's mom though.