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Kiss and Fake Up
Fresh out of rehab, Damon Webb is putting his life back together. Place to stay, check. Apologizing to his sister, check. Pretending he's in love with his sister's best friend. Wait, what? Fiery lyricist Cassie Steele wants to make beautiful music with Damon. Actual music. She needs a songwriting partner. And since her label wants a real couple, writing real love songs, she needs Damon to play her boyfriend too. Which is fine. The frenemies can kiss and make up. They both need the project, and the cash. It's not like a few smooches are going to melt the ice around her heart. Only their kisses don't feel fake. And she doesn't hate staring into his blue eyes. She likes it. She likes him. No. This is pretend. She's drawing a line in the sand. Their creative collaboration is the only thing that's real. So why are they making beautiful music without their hands on their instruments…
392 pages, Paperback
Published October 19, 2023
138 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Crystal Kaswell
114 books2,551 followersCrystal Kaswell is the author of the Sinful Serenade series. She writes steamy new adult romance with flawed characters. She loves police procedurals, tea, and The Hunger Games series. She lives in Portland, OR with her husband.
http://www.crystalkaswell.com/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
July 12, 2025
Damon & Cassie’s Story Is The Beginning Of A New Generation Of Steele (& Webb) Romances! It Is About Addiction, Depression, & Expectations. There Is No Sign Of Drew Or Pete Yet, But I Hope To Read About Them & Their Families As The Series Progresses.
This is the first book in a new spin-off series that follows the Steele family from the Sinful Serenade series. It is a second-generation story. Presumably, this just follows Tom Steele’s children and not his foster brother Pete’s. This is Damon Webb and Cassie Steele’s enemies-to-lovers story.
This series (and this book) is a standalone, but there is much more depth and understanding when the generational issues are known. Thus I do advise first reading the Sinful Serenade series, or at the very least books one and three at this point, which follow Miles Webb (singer and lyricist) and Tom Steele (drummer and manager). The first two books in this new series involve both Tom’s and Miles’s children. Neither Drew nor Pete is mentioned here.
It must be noted that fans should prepare for a little heartbreak as we see that things have not always been smooth sailing for some characters from Sinful Serenade. I hope for a follow-up to the original series so we can see them earn their HEAs yet again. At this point, they might have already gotten over the roadblocks, but the only way to know would be another book in which the reader can get into their headspace again.
As a reminder for Sinful Serenade fans, or as background for new readers, the Sinful Serenade series follows emerging alternative rock band sensation Sinful Serenade, an L.A. area group, as its members find love amidst their newfound fame. It includes Miles Webb, the independently wealthy and troubled vocalist and lyricist who struggles with addiction. Female fans flock to him and his broken bad boy image, but despite his playboy ways, he longs for a connection that feels real. Drew Denton is the younger guitar god who hates all the attention and is skeptical of the intentions of anyone he doesn’t already know. He is jaded and quick to anger. Foster brothers Tom and Pete Steele round out the four-member band. Tom plays drums and might as well be manager since he likes to control everything. He is like the energizer bunny. While he is constantly interfering with his bandmates’ personal lives, he is also laser-focused on the band’s commercial and financial success. He absolutely loves being the center of attention and like Miles, he makes the most of his bachelor lifestyle. His brother Pete is a romantic and plays bass. He is easygoing compared to his bandmates, yet he also has a bossy side. Until their breakup, Pete’s mood depended upon where he currently stood with his high school sweetheart Cindi, who attended school in New York. Because of their long-standing long-distance relationship, it is perhaps not surprising that Pete developed a weird mix of romanticism and kink. He has a penchant for kinky phone calls and never minds an audience.
Their series begins at the end of summer when the band returns home to L.A. after a long tour. One by one, they find love.
Drew, easily angered, had been rather quiet as of late because he spent so much of his time texting his childhood best friend Kara, with whom he had reconnected while touring. He doesn’t trust easily, so he has no intention of losing that friendship even if it is obvious to everyone else that he has a crush on his friend. Meanwhile, after the tour ended, Drew invited Kara to a party the band was hosting at their Hollywood home - their first face-to-face in years.
Drew’s friend Kara brought her best friend - a fellow college senior named Meg - along to the band’s party, and that is the beginning of Miles and Meg’s story, told in book one. Miles’s emotional lyrics and evocative voice speak to the pain of his past, and Meg feels a deep connection to his songs because of her own recent experience.
After the holidays, Drew and Kara end up as roommates. The close proximity makes hiding from their true feelings difficult, and their friends-to-lovers story finally unfolds.
In the spring, Drew’s sister Willow needs to escape her stalker ex-boyfriend, so she leaves San Francisco and joins her brother on tour. A recent college graduate, she lands a job as a photographer’s assistant for the tour. Tom, who thrives on being the center of attention at all times and is cemented in his playboy ways, somehow falls for the more soft-spoken Willow in a forbidden romance, marking book three of the series.
In late summer, Pete was pressured to give up the playboy ways he adopted after his recent breakup (it was apparently bad for his image), so he forged a fake relationship with Jess, who is running from her own recent breakup and betrayal. As Jess starts a new life and law school all alone in L.A., Pete walks into her life and changes everything. Their fake relationship gives them both the courage to enjoy one another while safely hiding their true feelings, but it eventually becomes very real.
It is unclear how much time has passed since the Sinful Serenade series came to a close. Last we knew from book five, a compilation of extended epilogues, Drew and Kara were expecting by the time she finished her first semester of graduate school. No other couples had begun a family at the time. We do know that the band stopped touring over fifteen years ago - not enough is known yet to calculate an exact timeline - and it would seem that thirty or more years have passed since the series concluded based on Damon’s age.
As this series opens, Miles Webb continues to work as a lyricist and his wife Meg as a doctor. Their oldest is Damon, named after Miles’s beloved uncle, and Daphne is two years younger. Miles and Meg live in Malibu Hills, but they use the nearby Malibu home that he inherited from his uncle as a summer home.
Tom and Willow also live in Malibu Hills, and they remain close with the Webb family. The couples even vacation together. Tom started an indie label when his oldest began middle school and the band stopped touring; the label continues to keep him quite busy. Willow still runs her boudoir photography business, although she stepped back and took a lighter load for some time while raising a family. She and Tom have four children. Jackson, age unknown, was born first. He is an attorney who, like his father, needs to be in control of everything in his life. He is followed by Cassie, who is the same age as Miles and Meg’s daughter. Tom had long ago wanted to adopt children, so he and Willow adopted Zack and Laurel while Jackson and Cassie were still young. Both are now twenty-five, a year younger than Cassie. It is unclear whether or not the pair are related to one another by blood, but based on their zany personalities and close relationship, it might be the case. Despite not sharing Tom’s DNA, the pair have his intense energy and always get into other people’s business. Laurel works in fashion at a clothing company named Riot and has a side gig as a stylist. Zack is a professional athlete, sport unknown as of yet.
The story takes place in the L.A. area.
Damon Webb, twenty-eight, has grown up in the shadow of his famous father. It hasn’t been easy. Because he is the spitting image of Miles, it is easy for people to take one look at him and immediately draw their own conclusions. That includes strangers as well as his own family. Unfortunately, he has been living up to their expectations since he was a teen. There are many who would idolize his father, but Damon doesn’t have much love for the man. His father is an addict. His father broke his mother’s heart. Everyone looks at Damon like they expect him to mess up, too. And he has. He barely graduated from college. He feels like his DNA has sealed his fate. He is destined to mess up - it is only a matter of when. But it has been four months since he has taken a drink, and as hard as it is, he is really trying. He wants to keep news of his rehab quiet for now to avoid any outside pressure. He hasn’t gotten his head around his problem yet, but he is getting by day by day. He is staying in the family home in Malibu, biding his time, trying to keep to a routine and tame the thoughts that race through his head.
Although his family pops in from time to time, Damon is alone in the Malibu mansion. It gets lonely. He has friends, certainly, but now that he is sober, he realizes that it was the partying that held those relationships together. He isn’t sure if he is even capable of connecting emotionally. He has never been in love. Women are easy to come by for him - and he has had too many to count - but it has only ever been casual, a physical release and nothing more. He even struggles with that sometimes because of the alcohol. He has been under the influence so long that his feelings have been numbed to the point that he is unsure of himself. He once was able to immerse himself in music as an outlet, but even that was erased by his addiction. There was only one time when he saw himself in a potential relationship, but he finally gave up on that possibility when he was eighteen. It never would have worked. Not with his drinking and failures. The girl of his childhood dreams is a distant thought these days. Even though she is his sister’s best friend, they have managed to avoid one another for five years now. He succeeded in pushing her away.
Cassie Steele, twenty-six, hates living in her parents’ home. She had been living on her own since college, so moving back five months ago was a hard pill to swallow. They might mean well, but her parents have a tendency to be overbearing. Cassie is bold and outspoken like her father, so it doesn’t work out well. Cassie’s life blew up when she found her boyfriend, who was also her songwriting partner, in bed with another woman. She and Frederick were together for three years - since soon after finishing college. It seemed like the perfect relationship. They lived together and wrote together. He wrote the music; she wrote the lyrics. Music has always been an outlet for her, a way to process her feelings. She needs it in her life. She spent so much time growing up with her best friend’s father nearby, writing his own songs, that she picked up the bug at an early age. She and her best friend’s brother Damon used to spend hours together late at night writing their own music. He was her childhood crush, but then he changed. They are now nothing but enemies. She retained her love of music despite his cruelty, and she won’t let a bad breakup take it away from her now.
Cassie needs to find some new jobs and save enough money to get a place of her own, but in the meantime, she is putting professionalism first and working with her ex to finish their existing contracts. There is one left, and she anticipates a big payday. Bryce Bradley is an up-and-coming musician working on a new album. It could be the job that pushes her over the top and gives her the kind of commercial success that gets her noticed and earns her name recognition. But apparently, Frederick has another idea - he wants to cut her out of the deal. Bryce likes the idea of using a songwriting couple on his album because it fits with his romantic image, and Frederick has announced that he is replacing Cassie with his new girlfriend. But Cassie isn’t about to lose this job, even if it means lying. All she needs is a romantic songwriting partner of her own. She knows she and Damon are compatible when it comes to writing music together – they would just need to sell a fake romance. They might not be friends anymore, but if it means keeping this job, she isn’t above begging for his help.
Damon and Cassie are soon hard at work writing music together, but it isn’t just the music that they need to sell. They’ve hated one another for years, and they have just days to figure out how to convince everyone that they are in love. To pull this off, they must also lie to their families. It is no secret to Cassie that her father hates Damon, and Damon’s father has his own concerns about him dating so soon in recovery. In light of her recent breakup, Cassie has some soul-searching of her own to do as she dissects what went wrong with her relationship. Her struggle with depression has made her feel judged and less-than, so she hasn’t always been open about it. She has always been a relationship type of person - and she goes both ways - but perhaps she has leaned too far into being a couple and lost herself along the way. She has to step back and find herself again to learn how to be honest with both herself and her partner in a relationship. Damon and Cassie face enormous outside pressure as they try to sell their romance, and when real feelings begin to emerge, there is a lot at stake. They each face personal challenges, but they eventually find a happy-for-now ending.
Watch for book two in the series, A Match Made in Vegas, which follows Miles and Tom’s children in a second cross-family romance. Jackson Steele and Daphne Webb seem to be hiding secret crushes, but when they wake up accidentally married in Vegas, things get real.
Damon and Cassie’s story is about dealing with addiction and depression. It is about the pressure of expectations. It is also about honesty to oneself and to those around you. Both have tried to hide their problems with disastrous effects, so they must work on themselves before they can be good together. Damon has obvious demons, but Cassie’s are a real problem as well. Their love story doesn’t have the feel-good ending I had expected. They find a very tentative happiness, and I am not at all convinced they pull it off in the end. That isn’t necessarily bad, but be aware of that if you want a strong ending for the couple. I loved Miles and Meg’s story. Sing Your Heart Out is their story from Meg’s POV. Just a Taste is also their story but with large chunks told in Miles’s POV. I enjoyed Tom and Willow’s story in Rock Your Heart Out as well. I expected something that resembled those stories, so I wasn’t prepared for this.
The ending merits mention. *Spoilers* As the couple decides to work on their personal issues and heal, Damon asks nothing of Cassie despite his fears of losing her, but she asks everything of him. That is selfish, but given that he has a history of casual encounters and she only does relationships, perhaps it was not as unbalanced as it seemed. I wish the book had ended with a cliffhanger 90% through, though. Cassie’s subsequent behavior is completely out of character, and cruel given Damon’s situation and his stated fears. Not surprisingly, it looks like it set him back in his recovery since he took much longer to approach her than anticipated. And their reconciliation is so tentative that I get the impression neither is into it. I don’t blame Damon for feeling like he needs space to protect himself from her. I would rather have seen them have a clean break, with perhaps a second book down the road giving them a second-chance romance. In my opinion, Cassie is not ready for a relationship yet.
Damon and Cassie’s story is the beginning of a new generation of Steele (and Webb) romances. There is no sign of Drew or Pete yet, but I hope to read about them and their families as the series progresses. The story is nicely written. The plot is fairly simple. The characters are flawed and real. The story is told in first person. The POV alternates between Damon and Cassie. I rate this book four stars.
I received an advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is the first book in a new spin-off series that follows the Steele family from the Sinful Serenade series. It is a second-generation story. Presumably, this just follows Tom Steele’s children and not his foster brother Pete’s. This is Damon Webb and Cassie Steele’s enemies-to-lovers story.
This series (and this book) is a standalone, but there is much more depth and understanding when the generational issues are known. Thus I do advise first reading the Sinful Serenade series, or at the very least books one and three at this point, which follow Miles Webb (singer and lyricist) and Tom Steele (drummer and manager). The first two books in this new series involve both Tom’s and Miles’s children. Neither Drew nor Pete is mentioned here.
It must be noted that fans should prepare for a little heartbreak as we see that things have not always been smooth sailing for some characters from Sinful Serenade. I hope for a follow-up to the original series so we can see them earn their HEAs yet again. At this point, they might have already gotten over the roadblocks, but the only way to know would be another book in which the reader can get into their headspace again.
As a reminder for Sinful Serenade fans, or as background for new readers, the Sinful Serenade series follows emerging alternative rock band sensation Sinful Serenade, an L.A. area group, as its members find love amidst their newfound fame. It includes Miles Webb, the independently wealthy and troubled vocalist and lyricist who struggles with addiction. Female fans flock to him and his broken bad boy image, but despite his playboy ways, he longs for a connection that feels real. Drew Denton is the younger guitar god who hates all the attention and is skeptical of the intentions of anyone he doesn’t already know. He is jaded and quick to anger. Foster brothers Tom and Pete Steele round out the four-member band. Tom plays drums and might as well be manager since he likes to control everything. He is like the energizer bunny. While he is constantly interfering with his bandmates’ personal lives, he is also laser-focused on the band’s commercial and financial success. He absolutely loves being the center of attention and like Miles, he makes the most of his bachelor lifestyle. His brother Pete is a romantic and plays bass. He is easygoing compared to his bandmates, yet he also has a bossy side. Until their breakup, Pete’s mood depended upon where he currently stood with his high school sweetheart Cindi, who attended school in New York. Because of their long-standing long-distance relationship, it is perhaps not surprising that Pete developed a weird mix of romanticism and kink. He has a penchant for kinky phone calls and never minds an audience.
Their series begins at the end of summer when the band returns home to L.A. after a long tour. One by one, they find love.
Drew, easily angered, had been rather quiet as of late because he spent so much of his time texting his childhood best friend Kara, with whom he had reconnected while touring. He doesn’t trust easily, so he has no intention of losing that friendship even if it is obvious to everyone else that he has a crush on his friend. Meanwhile, after the tour ended, Drew invited Kara to a party the band was hosting at their Hollywood home - their first face-to-face in years.
Drew’s friend Kara brought her best friend - a fellow college senior named Meg - along to the band’s party, and that is the beginning of Miles and Meg’s story, told in book one. Miles’s emotional lyrics and evocative voice speak to the pain of his past, and Meg feels a deep connection to his songs because of her own recent experience.
After the holidays, Drew and Kara end up as roommates. The close proximity makes hiding from their true feelings difficult, and their friends-to-lovers story finally unfolds.
In the spring, Drew’s sister Willow needs to escape her stalker ex-boyfriend, so she leaves San Francisco and joins her brother on tour. A recent college graduate, she lands a job as a photographer’s assistant for the tour. Tom, who thrives on being the center of attention at all times and is cemented in his playboy ways, somehow falls for the more soft-spoken Willow in a forbidden romance, marking book three of the series.
In late summer, Pete was pressured to give up the playboy ways he adopted after his recent breakup (it was apparently bad for his image), so he forged a fake relationship with Jess, who is running from her own recent breakup and betrayal. As Jess starts a new life and law school all alone in L.A., Pete walks into her life and changes everything. Their fake relationship gives them both the courage to enjoy one another while safely hiding their true feelings, but it eventually becomes very real.
It is unclear how much time has passed since the Sinful Serenade series came to a close. Last we knew from book five, a compilation of extended epilogues, Drew and Kara were expecting by the time she finished her first semester of graduate school. No other couples had begun a family at the time. We do know that the band stopped touring over fifteen years ago - not enough is known yet to calculate an exact timeline - and it would seem that thirty or more years have passed since the series concluded based on Damon’s age.
As this series opens, Miles Webb continues to work as a lyricist and his wife Meg as a doctor. Their oldest is Damon, named after Miles’s beloved uncle, and Daphne is two years younger. Miles and Meg live in Malibu Hills, but they use the nearby Malibu home that he inherited from his uncle as a summer home.
Tom and Willow also live in Malibu Hills, and they remain close with the Webb family. The couples even vacation together. Tom started an indie label when his oldest began middle school and the band stopped touring; the label continues to keep him quite busy. Willow still runs her boudoir photography business, although she stepped back and took a lighter load for some time while raising a family. She and Tom have four children. Jackson, age unknown, was born first. He is an attorney who, like his father, needs to be in control of everything in his life. He is followed by Cassie, who is the same age as Miles and Meg’s daughter. Tom had long ago wanted to adopt children, so he and Willow adopted Zack and Laurel while Jackson and Cassie were still young. Both are now twenty-five, a year younger than Cassie. It is unclear whether or not the pair are related to one another by blood, but based on their zany personalities and close relationship, it might be the case. Despite not sharing Tom’s DNA, the pair have his intense energy and always get into other people’s business. Laurel works in fashion at a clothing company named Riot and has a side gig as a stylist. Zack is a professional athlete, sport unknown as of yet.
The story takes place in the L.A. area.
Damon Webb, twenty-eight, has grown up in the shadow of his famous father. It hasn’t been easy. Because he is the spitting image of Miles, it is easy for people to take one look at him and immediately draw their own conclusions. That includes strangers as well as his own family. Unfortunately, he has been living up to their expectations since he was a teen. There are many who would idolize his father, but Damon doesn’t have much love for the man. His father is an addict. His father broke his mother’s heart. Everyone looks at Damon like they expect him to mess up, too. And he has. He barely graduated from college. He feels like his DNA has sealed his fate. He is destined to mess up - it is only a matter of when. But it has been four months since he has taken a drink, and as hard as it is, he is really trying. He wants to keep news of his rehab quiet for now to avoid any outside pressure. He hasn’t gotten his head around his problem yet, but he is getting by day by day. He is staying in the family home in Malibu, biding his time, trying to keep to a routine and tame the thoughts that race through his head.
Although his family pops in from time to time, Damon is alone in the Malibu mansion. It gets lonely. He has friends, certainly, but now that he is sober, he realizes that it was the partying that held those relationships together. He isn’t sure if he is even capable of connecting emotionally. He has never been in love. Women are easy to come by for him - and he has had too many to count - but it has only ever been casual, a physical release and nothing more. He even struggles with that sometimes because of the alcohol. He has been under the influence so long that his feelings have been numbed to the point that he is unsure of himself. He once was able to immerse himself in music as an outlet, but even that was erased by his addiction. There was only one time when he saw himself in a potential relationship, but he finally gave up on that possibility when he was eighteen. It never would have worked. Not with his drinking and failures. The girl of his childhood dreams is a distant thought these days. Even though she is his sister’s best friend, they have managed to avoid one another for five years now. He succeeded in pushing her away.
Cassie Steele, twenty-six, hates living in her parents’ home. She had been living on her own since college, so moving back five months ago was a hard pill to swallow. They might mean well, but her parents have a tendency to be overbearing. Cassie is bold and outspoken like her father, so it doesn’t work out well. Cassie’s life blew up when she found her boyfriend, who was also her songwriting partner, in bed with another woman. She and Frederick were together for three years - since soon after finishing college. It seemed like the perfect relationship. They lived together and wrote together. He wrote the music; she wrote the lyrics. Music has always been an outlet for her, a way to process her feelings. She needs it in her life. She spent so much time growing up with her best friend’s father nearby, writing his own songs, that she picked up the bug at an early age. She and her best friend’s brother Damon used to spend hours together late at night writing their own music. He was her childhood crush, but then he changed. They are now nothing but enemies. She retained her love of music despite his cruelty, and she won’t let a bad breakup take it away from her now.
Cassie needs to find some new jobs and save enough money to get a place of her own, but in the meantime, she is putting professionalism first and working with her ex to finish their existing contracts. There is one left, and she anticipates a big payday. Bryce Bradley is an up-and-coming musician working on a new album. It could be the job that pushes her over the top and gives her the kind of commercial success that gets her noticed and earns her name recognition. But apparently, Frederick has another idea - he wants to cut her out of the deal. Bryce likes the idea of using a songwriting couple on his album because it fits with his romantic image, and Frederick has announced that he is replacing Cassie with his new girlfriend. But Cassie isn’t about to lose this job, even if it means lying. All she needs is a romantic songwriting partner of her own. She knows she and Damon are compatible when it comes to writing music together – they would just need to sell a fake romance. They might not be friends anymore, but if it means keeping this job, she isn’t above begging for his help.
Damon and Cassie are soon hard at work writing music together, but it isn’t just the music that they need to sell. They’ve hated one another for years, and they have just days to figure out how to convince everyone that they are in love. To pull this off, they must also lie to their families. It is no secret to Cassie that her father hates Damon, and Damon’s father has his own concerns about him dating so soon in recovery. In light of her recent breakup, Cassie has some soul-searching of her own to do as she dissects what went wrong with her relationship. Her struggle with depression has made her feel judged and less-than, so she hasn’t always been open about it. She has always been a relationship type of person - and she goes both ways - but perhaps she has leaned too far into being a couple and lost herself along the way. She has to step back and find herself again to learn how to be honest with both herself and her partner in a relationship. Damon and Cassie face enormous outside pressure as they try to sell their romance, and when real feelings begin to emerge, there is a lot at stake. They each face personal challenges, but they eventually find a happy-for-now ending.
Watch for book two in the series, A Match Made in Vegas, which follows Miles and Tom’s children in a second cross-family romance. Jackson Steele and Daphne Webb seem to be hiding secret crushes, but when they wake up accidentally married in Vegas, things get real.
Damon and Cassie’s story is about dealing with addiction and depression. It is about the pressure of expectations. It is also about honesty to oneself and to those around you. Both have tried to hide their problems with disastrous effects, so they must work on themselves before they can be good together. Damon has obvious demons, but Cassie’s are a real problem as well. Their love story doesn’t have the feel-good ending I had expected. They find a very tentative happiness, and I am not at all convinced they pull it off in the end. That isn’t necessarily bad, but be aware of that if you want a strong ending for the couple. I loved Miles and Meg’s story. Sing Your Heart Out is their story from Meg’s POV. Just a Taste is also their story but with large chunks told in Miles’s POV. I enjoyed Tom and Willow’s story in Rock Your Heart Out as well. I expected something that resembled those stories, so I wasn’t prepared for this.
The ending merits mention. *Spoilers* As the couple decides to work on their personal issues and heal, Damon asks nothing of Cassie despite his fears of losing her, but she asks everything of him. That is selfish, but given that he has a history of casual encounters and she only does relationships, perhaps it was not as unbalanced as it seemed. I wish the book had ended with a cliffhanger 90% through, though. Cassie’s subsequent behavior is completely out of character, and cruel given Damon’s situation and his stated fears. Not surprisingly, it looks like it set him back in his recovery since he took much longer to approach her than anticipated. And their reconciliation is so tentative that I get the impression neither is into it. I don’t blame Damon for feeling like he needs space to protect himself from her. I would rather have seen them have a clean break, with perhaps a second book down the road giving them a second-chance romance. In my opinion, Cassie is not ready for a relationship yet.
Damon and Cassie’s story is the beginning of a new generation of Steele (and Webb) romances. There is no sign of Drew or Pete yet, but I hope to read about them and their families as the series progresses. The story is nicely written. The plot is fairly simple. The characters are flawed and real. The story is told in first person. The POV alternates between Damon and Cassie. I rate this book four stars.
I received an advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
January 14, 2024
DNF! Just kept repeating and going over the same things. I really wanted to enjoy it and finish it, but I felt like I was forcing myself.
October 25, 2023
Oh. My. Welcome to the Steele family!!! If you've read the Sinful Serenade series (and you really should because it is so good!!), then you'll recognize that name. Yep, Tom Steele is the patriarch.
First up is his daughter Cassie's story. She is fiery, sassy badass. She's a songwriter who needs a partner asap. She knows exactly who she needs Damon Webb.....yep, Miles Webb's son (IYKYK!). They were childhood friends who connected through music until Damon's life went off the rails, and he pushed everyone away. Can they put the animosity aside and get back to what they used to have? Can they pull off a fake relationship in front of the artist and her ex? There is only one way to find out!
Crystal Kaswell has this amazing way of writing characters that are real. They aren't perfect. They are a bit broken and damaged. They put in the work to heal. It makes their HEA that much sweeter.
First up is his daughter Cassie's story. She is fiery, sassy badass. She's a songwriter who needs a partner asap. She knows exactly who she needs Damon Webb.....yep, Miles Webb's son (IYKYK!). They were childhood friends who connected through music until Damon's life went off the rails, and he pushed everyone away. Can they put the animosity aside and get back to what they used to have? Can they pull off a fake relationship in front of the artist and her ex? There is only one way to find out!
Crystal Kaswell has this amazing way of writing characters that are real. They aren't perfect. They are a bit broken and damaged. They put in the work to heal. It makes their HEA that much sweeter.
October 24, 2023
Damon & Cassie’s Story Is The Beginning Of A New Generation Of Steele (& Webb) Romances! It Is About Addiction, Depression, & Expectations. There Is No Sign Of Drew Or Pete Yet, But I Hope To Read About Them & Their Families As The Series Progresses.
This is the first book in a new spin-off series that follows the Steele family from the Sinful Serenade series. It is a second-generation story. Presumably, this just follows Tom Steele’s children and not his foster brother Pete’s. This is Damon Webb and Cassie Steele’s enemies-to-lovers story.
This series (and this book) is a standalone, but there is much more depth and understanding when the generational issues are known. Thus I do advise first reading the Sinful Serenade series, or at the very least books one and three at this point, which follow Miles Webb (singer and lyricist) and Tom Steele (drummer and manager). The first two books in this new series involve both Tom’s and Miles’s children. Neither Drew nor Pete is mentioned here.
It must be noted that fans should prepare for a little heartbreak as we see that things have not always been smooth sailing for some characters from Sinful Serenade. I hope for a follow-up to the original series so we can see them earn their HEAs yet again. At this point, they might have already gotten over the roadblocks, but the only way to know would be another book in which the reader can get into their headspace again.
As a reminder for Sinful Serenade fans, or as background for new readers, the Sinful Serenade series follows emerging alternative rock band sensation Sinful Serenade, an L.A. area group, as its members find love amidst their newfound fame. It includes Miles Webb, the independently wealthy and troubled vocalist and lyricist who struggles with addiction. Female fans flock to him and his broken bad boy image, but despite his playboy ways, he longs for a connection that feels real. Drew Denton is the younger guitar god who hates all the attention and is skeptical of the intentions of anyone he doesn’t already know. He is jaded and quick to anger. Foster brothers Tom and Pete Steele round out the four-member band. Tom plays drums and might as well be manager since he likes to control everything. He is like the energizer bunny. While he is constantly interfering with his bandmates’ personal lives, he is also laser-focused on the band’s commercial and financial success. He absolutely loves being the center of attention and like Miles, he makes the most of his bachelor lifestyle. His brother Pete is a romantic and plays bass. He is easygoing compared to his bandmates, yet he also has a bossy side. Until their breakup, Pete’s mood depended upon where he currently stood with his high school sweetheart Cindi, who attended school in New York. Because of their long-standing long-distance relationship, it is perhaps not surprising that Pete developed a weird mix of romanticism and kink. He has a penchant for kinky phone calls and never minds an audience.
Their series begins at the end of summer when the band returns home to L.A. after a long tour. One by one, they find love.
Drew, easily angered, had been rather quiet as of late because he spent so much of his time texting his childhood best friend Kara, with whom he had reconnected while touring. He doesn’t trust easily, so he has no intention of losing that friendship even if it is obvious to everyone else that he has a crush on his friend. Meanwhile, after the tour ended, Drew invited Kara to a party the band was hosting at their Hollywood home - their first face-to-face in years.
Drew’s friend Kara brought her best friend - a fellow college senior named Meg - along to the band’s party, and that is the beginning of Miles and Meg’s story, told in book one. Miles’s emotional lyrics and evocative voice speak to the pain of his past, and Meg feels a deep connection to his songs because of her own recent experience.
After the holidays, Drew and Kara end up as roommates. The close proximity makes hiding from their true feelings difficult, and their friends-to-lovers story finally unfolds.
In the spring, Drew’s sister Willow needs to escape her stalker ex-boyfriend, so she leaves San Francisco and joins her brother on tour. A recent college graduate, she lands a job as a photographer’s assistant for the tour. Tom, who thrives on being the center of attention at all times and is cemented in his playboy ways, somehow falls for the more soft-spoken Willow in a forbidden romance, marking book three of the series.
In late summer, Pete was pressured to give up the playboy ways he adopted after his recent breakup (it was apparently bad for his image), so he forged a fake relationship with Jess, who is running from her own recent breakup and betrayal. As Jess starts a new life and law school all alone in L.A., Pete walks into her life and changes everything. Their fake relationship gives them both the courage to enjoy one another while safely hiding their true feelings, but it eventually becomes very real.
It is unclear how much time has passed since the Sinful Serenade series came to a close. Last we knew from book five, a compilation of extended epilogues, Drew and Kara were expecting by the time she finished her first semester of graduate school. No other couples had begun a family at the time. We do know that the band stopped touring over fifteen years ago - not enough is known yet to calculate an exact timeline - and it would seem that thirty or more years have passed since the series concluded based on Damon’s age.
As this series opens, Miles Webb continues to work as a lyricist and his wife Meg as a doctor. Their oldest is Damon, named after Miles’s beloved uncle, and Daphne is two years younger. Miles and Meg live in Malibu Hills, but they use the nearby Malibu home that he inherited from his uncle as a summer home.
Tom and Willow also live in Malibu Hills, and they remain close with the Webb family. The couples even vacation together. Tom started an indie label when his oldest began middle school and the band stopped touring; the label continues to keep him quite busy. Willow still runs her boudoir photography business, although she stepped back and took a lighter load for some time while raising a family. She and Tom have four children. Jackson, age unknown, was born first. He is an attorney who, like his father, needs to be in control of everything in his life. He is followed by Cassie, who is the same age as Miles and Meg’s daughter. Tom had long ago wanted to adopt children, so he and Willow adopted Zack and Laurel while Jackson and Cassie were still young. Both are now twenty-five, a year younger than Cassie. It is unclear whether or not the pair are related to one another by blood, but based on their zany personalities and close relationship, it might be the case. Despite not sharing Tom’s DNA, the pair have his intense energy and always get into other people’s business. Laurel works in fashion at a clothing company named Riot and has a side gig as a stylist. Zack is a professional athlete, sport unknown as of yet.
The story takes place in the L.A. area.
Damon Webb, twenty-eight, has grown up in the shadow of his famous father. It hasn’t been easy. Because he is the spitting image of Miles, it is easy for people to take one look at him and immediately draw their own conclusions. That includes strangers as well as his own family. Unfortunately, he has been living up to their expectations since he was a teen. There are many who would idolize his father, but Damon doesn’t have much love for the man. His father is an addict. His father broke his mother’s heart. Everyone looks at Damon like they expect him to mess up, too. And he has. He barely graduated from college. He feels like his DNA has sealed his fate. He is destined to mess up - it is only a matter of when. But it has been four months since he has taken a drink, and as hard as it is, he is really trying. He wants to keep news of his rehab quiet for now to avoid any outside pressure. He hasn’t gotten his head around his problem yet, but he is getting by day by day. He is staying in the family home in Malibu, biding his time, trying to keep to a routine and tame the thoughts that race through his head.
Although his family pops in from time to time, Damon is alone in the Malibu mansion. It gets lonely. He has friends, certainly, but now that he is sober, he realizes that it was the partying that held those relationships together. He isn’t sure if he is even capable of connecting emotionally. He has never been in love. Women are easy to come by for him - and he has had too many to count - but it has only ever been casual, a physical release and nothing more. He even struggles with that sometimes because of the alcohol. He has been under the influence so long that his feelings have been numbed to the point that he is unsure of himself. He once was able to immerse himself in music as an outlet, but even that was erased by his addiction. There was only one time when he saw himself in a potential relationship, but he finally gave up on that possibility when he was eighteen. It never would have worked. Not with his drinking and failures. The girl of his childhood dreams is a distant thought these days. Even though she is his sister’s best friend, they have managed to avoid one another for five years now. He succeeded in pushing her away.
Cassie Steele, twenty-six, hates living in her parents’ home. She had been living on her own since college, so moving back five months ago was a hard pill to swallow. They might mean well, but her parents have a tendency to be overbearing. Cassie is bold and outspoken like her father, so it doesn’t work out well. Cassie’s life blew up when she found her boyfriend, who was also her songwriting partner, in bed with another woman. She and Frederick were together for three years - since soon after finishing college. It seemed like the perfect relationship. They lived together and wrote together. He wrote the music; she wrote the lyrics. Music has always been an outlet for her, a way to process her feelings. She needs it in her life. She spent so much time growing up with her best friend’s father nearby, writing his own songs, that she picked up the bug at an early age. She and her best friend’s brother Damon used to spend hours together late at night writing their own music. He was her childhood crush, but then he changed. They are now nothing but enemies. She retained her love of music despite his cruelty, and she won’t let a bad breakup take it away from her now.
Cassie needs to find some new jobs and save enough money to get a place of her own, but in the meantime, she is putting professionalism first and working with her ex to finish their existing contracts. There is one left, and she anticipates a big payday. Bryce Bradley is an up-and-coming musician working on a new album. It could be the job that pushes her over the top and gives her the kind of commercial success that gets her noticed and earns her name recognition. But apparently, Frederick has another idea - he wants to cut her out of the deal. Bryce likes the idea of using a songwriting couple on his album because it fits with his romantic image, and Frederick has announced that he is replacing Cassie with his new girlfriend. But Cassie isn’t about to lose this job, even if it means lying. All she needs is a romantic songwriting partner of her own. She knows she and Damon are compatible when it comes to writing music together – they would just need to sell a fake romance. They might not be friends anymore, but if it means keeping this job, she isn’t above begging for his help.
Damon and Cassie are soon hard at work writing music together, but it isn’t just the music that they need to sell. They’ve hated one another for years, and they have just days to figure out how to convince everyone that they are in love. To pull this off, they must also lie to their families. It is no secret to Cassie that her father hates Damon, and Damon’s father has his own concerns about him dating so soon in recovery. In light of her recent breakup, Cassie has some soul-searching of her own to do as she dissects what went wrong with her relationship. Her struggle with depression has made her feel judged and less-than, so she hasn’t always been open about it. She has always been a relationship type of person - and she goes both ways - but perhaps she has leaned too far into being a couple and lost herself along the way. She has to step back and find herself again to learn how to be honest with both herself and her partner in a relationship. Damon and Cassie face enormous outside pressure as they try to sell their romance, and when real feelings begin to emerge, there is a lot at stake. They each face personal challenges, but they eventually find a happy-for-now ending.
Watch for book two in the series, A Match Made in Vegas, which follows Miles and Tom’s children in a second cross-family romance. Jackson Steele and Daphne Webb seem to be hiding secret crushes, but when they wake up accidentally married in Vegas, things get real.
Damon and Cassie’s story is about dealing with addiction and depression. It is about the pressure of expectations. It is also about honesty to oneself and to those around you. Both have tried to hide their problems with disastrous effects, so they must work on themselves before they can be good together. Damon has obvious demons, but Cassie’s are a real problem as well. Their love story doesn’t have the feel-good ending I had expected. They find a very tentative happiness, and I am not at all convinced they pull it off in the end. That isn’t necessarily bad, but be aware of that if you want a strong ending for the couple. I loved Miles and Meg’s story. Sing Your Heart Out is their story from Meg’s POV. Just a Taste is also their story but with large chunks told in Miles’s POV. I enjoyed Tom and Willow’s story in Rock Your Heart Out as well. I expected something that resembled those stories, so I wasn’t prepared for this.
The ending merits mention. *Spoilers* As the couple decides to work on their personal issues and heal, Damon asks nothing of Cassie despite his fears of losing her, but she asks everything of him. That is selfish, but given that he has a history of casual encounters and she only does relationships, perhaps it was not as unbalanced as it seemed. I wish the book had ended with a cliffhanger 90% through, though. Cassie’s subsequent behavior is completely out of character, and cruel given Damon’s situation and his stated fears. Not surprisingly, it looks like it set him back in his recovery since he took much longer to approach her than anticipated. And their reconciliation is so tentative that I get the impression neither is into it. I don’t blame Damon for feeling like he needs space to protect himself from her. I would rather have seen them have a clean break, with perhaps a second book down the road giving them a second-chance romance. In my opinion, Cassie is not ready for a relationship yet.
Damon and Cassie’s story is the beginning of a new generation of Steele (and Webb) romances. There is no sign of Drew or Pete yet, but I hope to read about them and their families as the series progresses. The story is nicely written. The plot is fairly simple. The characters are flawed and real. The story is told in first person. The POV alternates between Damon and Cassie. I rate this book four stars.
I received an advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is the first book in a new spin-off series that follows the Steele family from the Sinful Serenade series. It is a second-generation story. Presumably, this just follows Tom Steele’s children and not his foster brother Pete’s. This is Damon Webb and Cassie Steele’s enemies-to-lovers story.
This series (and this book) is a standalone, but there is much more depth and understanding when the generational issues are known. Thus I do advise first reading the Sinful Serenade series, or at the very least books one and three at this point, which follow Miles Webb (singer and lyricist) and Tom Steele (drummer and manager). The first two books in this new series involve both Tom’s and Miles’s children. Neither Drew nor Pete is mentioned here.
It must be noted that fans should prepare for a little heartbreak as we see that things have not always been smooth sailing for some characters from Sinful Serenade. I hope for a follow-up to the original series so we can see them earn their HEAs yet again. At this point, they might have already gotten over the roadblocks, but the only way to know would be another book in which the reader can get into their headspace again.
As a reminder for Sinful Serenade fans, or as background for new readers, the Sinful Serenade series follows emerging alternative rock band sensation Sinful Serenade, an L.A. area group, as its members find love amidst their newfound fame. It includes Miles Webb, the independently wealthy and troubled vocalist and lyricist who struggles with addiction. Female fans flock to him and his broken bad boy image, but despite his playboy ways, he longs for a connection that feels real. Drew Denton is the younger guitar god who hates all the attention and is skeptical of the intentions of anyone he doesn’t already know. He is jaded and quick to anger. Foster brothers Tom and Pete Steele round out the four-member band. Tom plays drums and might as well be manager since he likes to control everything. He is like the energizer bunny. While he is constantly interfering with his bandmates’ personal lives, he is also laser-focused on the band’s commercial and financial success. He absolutely loves being the center of attention and like Miles, he makes the most of his bachelor lifestyle. His brother Pete is a romantic and plays bass. He is easygoing compared to his bandmates, yet he also has a bossy side. Until their breakup, Pete’s mood depended upon where he currently stood with his high school sweetheart Cindi, who attended school in New York. Because of their long-standing long-distance relationship, it is perhaps not surprising that Pete developed a weird mix of romanticism and kink. He has a penchant for kinky phone calls and never minds an audience.
Their series begins at the end of summer when the band returns home to L.A. after a long tour. One by one, they find love.
Drew, easily angered, had been rather quiet as of late because he spent so much of his time texting his childhood best friend Kara, with whom he had reconnected while touring. He doesn’t trust easily, so he has no intention of losing that friendship even if it is obvious to everyone else that he has a crush on his friend. Meanwhile, after the tour ended, Drew invited Kara to a party the band was hosting at their Hollywood home - their first face-to-face in years.
Drew’s friend Kara brought her best friend - a fellow college senior named Meg - along to the band’s party, and that is the beginning of Miles and Meg’s story, told in book one. Miles’s emotional lyrics and evocative voice speak to the pain of his past, and Meg feels a deep connection to his songs because of her own recent experience.
After the holidays, Drew and Kara end up as roommates. The close proximity makes hiding from their true feelings difficult, and their friends-to-lovers story finally unfolds.
In the spring, Drew’s sister Willow needs to escape her stalker ex-boyfriend, so she leaves San Francisco and joins her brother on tour. A recent college graduate, she lands a job as a photographer’s assistant for the tour. Tom, who thrives on being the center of attention at all times and is cemented in his playboy ways, somehow falls for the more soft-spoken Willow in a forbidden romance, marking book three of the series.
In late summer, Pete was pressured to give up the playboy ways he adopted after his recent breakup (it was apparently bad for his image), so he forged a fake relationship with Jess, who is running from her own recent breakup and betrayal. As Jess starts a new life and law school all alone in L.A., Pete walks into her life and changes everything. Their fake relationship gives them both the courage to enjoy one another while safely hiding their true feelings, but it eventually becomes very real.
It is unclear how much time has passed since the Sinful Serenade series came to a close. Last we knew from book five, a compilation of extended epilogues, Drew and Kara were expecting by the time she finished her first semester of graduate school. No other couples had begun a family at the time. We do know that the band stopped touring over fifteen years ago - not enough is known yet to calculate an exact timeline - and it would seem that thirty or more years have passed since the series concluded based on Damon’s age.
As this series opens, Miles Webb continues to work as a lyricist and his wife Meg as a doctor. Their oldest is Damon, named after Miles’s beloved uncle, and Daphne is two years younger. Miles and Meg live in Malibu Hills, but they use the nearby Malibu home that he inherited from his uncle as a summer home.
Tom and Willow also live in Malibu Hills, and they remain close with the Webb family. The couples even vacation together. Tom started an indie label when his oldest began middle school and the band stopped touring; the label continues to keep him quite busy. Willow still runs her boudoir photography business, although she stepped back and took a lighter load for some time while raising a family. She and Tom have four children. Jackson, age unknown, was born first. He is an attorney who, like his father, needs to be in control of everything in his life. He is followed by Cassie, who is the same age as Miles and Meg’s daughter. Tom had long ago wanted to adopt children, so he and Willow adopted Zack and Laurel while Jackson and Cassie were still young. Both are now twenty-five, a year younger than Cassie. It is unclear whether or not the pair are related to one another by blood, but based on their zany personalities and close relationship, it might be the case. Despite not sharing Tom’s DNA, the pair have his intense energy and always get into other people’s business. Laurel works in fashion at a clothing company named Riot and has a side gig as a stylist. Zack is a professional athlete, sport unknown as of yet.
The story takes place in the L.A. area.
Damon Webb, twenty-eight, has grown up in the shadow of his famous father. It hasn’t been easy. Because he is the spitting image of Miles, it is easy for people to take one look at him and immediately draw their own conclusions. That includes strangers as well as his own family. Unfortunately, he has been living up to their expectations since he was a teen. There are many who would idolize his father, but Damon doesn’t have much love for the man. His father is an addict. His father broke his mother’s heart. Everyone looks at Damon like they expect him to mess up, too. And he has. He barely graduated from college. He feels like his DNA has sealed his fate. He is destined to mess up - it is only a matter of when. But it has been four months since he has taken a drink, and as hard as it is, he is really trying. He wants to keep news of his rehab quiet for now to avoid any outside pressure. He hasn’t gotten his head around his problem yet, but he is getting by day by day. He is staying in the family home in Malibu, biding his time, trying to keep to a routine and tame the thoughts that race through his head.
Although his family pops in from time to time, Damon is alone in the Malibu mansion. It gets lonely. He has friends, certainly, but now that he is sober, he realizes that it was the partying that held those relationships together. He isn’t sure if he is even capable of connecting emotionally. He has never been in love. Women are easy to come by for him - and he has had too many to count - but it has only ever been casual, a physical release and nothing more. He even struggles with that sometimes because of the alcohol. He has been under the influence so long that his feelings have been numbed to the point that he is unsure of himself. He once was able to immerse himself in music as an outlet, but even that was erased by his addiction. There was only one time when he saw himself in a potential relationship, but he finally gave up on that possibility when he was eighteen. It never would have worked. Not with his drinking and failures. The girl of his childhood dreams is a distant thought these days. Even though she is his sister’s best friend, they have managed to avoid one another for five years now. He succeeded in pushing her away.
Cassie Steele, twenty-six, hates living in her parents’ home. She had been living on her own since college, so moving back five months ago was a hard pill to swallow. They might mean well, but her parents have a tendency to be overbearing. Cassie is bold and outspoken like her father, so it doesn’t work out well. Cassie’s life blew up when she found her boyfriend, who was also her songwriting partner, in bed with another woman. She and Frederick were together for three years - since soon after finishing college. It seemed like the perfect relationship. They lived together and wrote together. He wrote the music; she wrote the lyrics. Music has always been an outlet for her, a way to process her feelings. She needs it in her life. She spent so much time growing up with her best friend’s father nearby, writing his own songs, that she picked up the bug at an early age. She and her best friend’s brother Damon used to spend hours together late at night writing their own music. He was her childhood crush, but then he changed. They are now nothing but enemies. She retained her love of music despite his cruelty, and she won’t let a bad breakup take it away from her now.
Cassie needs to find some new jobs and save enough money to get a place of her own, but in the meantime, she is putting professionalism first and working with her ex to finish their existing contracts. There is one left, and she anticipates a big payday. Bryce Bradley is an up-and-coming musician working on a new album. It could be the job that pushes her over the top and gives her the kind of commercial success that gets her noticed and earns her name recognition. But apparently, Frederick has another idea - he wants to cut her out of the deal. Bryce likes the idea of using a songwriting couple on his album because it fits with his romantic image, and Frederick has announced that he is replacing Cassie with his new girlfriend. But Cassie isn’t about to lose this job, even if it means lying. All she needs is a romantic songwriting partner of her own. She knows she and Damon are compatible when it comes to writing music together – they would just need to sell a fake romance. They might not be friends anymore, but if it means keeping this job, she isn’t above begging for his help.
Damon and Cassie are soon hard at work writing music together, but it isn’t just the music that they need to sell. They’ve hated one another for years, and they have just days to figure out how to convince everyone that they are in love. To pull this off, they must also lie to their families. It is no secret to Cassie that her father hates Damon, and Damon’s father has his own concerns about him dating so soon in recovery. In light of her recent breakup, Cassie has some soul-searching of her own to do as she dissects what went wrong with her relationship. Her struggle with depression has made her feel judged and less-than, so she hasn’t always been open about it. She has always been a relationship type of person - and she goes both ways - but perhaps she has leaned too far into being a couple and lost herself along the way. She has to step back and find herself again to learn how to be honest with both herself and her partner in a relationship. Damon and Cassie face enormous outside pressure as they try to sell their romance, and when real feelings begin to emerge, there is a lot at stake. They each face personal challenges, but they eventually find a happy-for-now ending.
Watch for book two in the series, A Match Made in Vegas, which follows Miles and Tom’s children in a second cross-family romance. Jackson Steele and Daphne Webb seem to be hiding secret crushes, but when they wake up accidentally married in Vegas, things get real.
Damon and Cassie’s story is about dealing with addiction and depression. It is about the pressure of expectations. It is also about honesty to oneself and to those around you. Both have tried to hide their problems with disastrous effects, so they must work on themselves before they can be good together. Damon has obvious demons, but Cassie’s are a real problem as well. Their love story doesn’t have the feel-good ending I had expected. They find a very tentative happiness, and I am not at all convinced they pull it off in the end. That isn’t necessarily bad, but be aware of that if you want a strong ending for the couple. I loved Miles and Meg’s story. Sing Your Heart Out is their story from Meg’s POV. Just a Taste is also their story but with large chunks told in Miles’s POV. I enjoyed Tom and Willow’s story in Rock Your Heart Out as well. I expected something that resembled those stories, so I wasn’t prepared for this.
The ending merits mention. *Spoilers* As the couple decides to work on their personal issues and heal, Damon asks nothing of Cassie despite his fears of losing her, but she asks everything of him. That is selfish, but given that he has a history of casual encounters and she only does relationships, perhaps it was not as unbalanced as it seemed. I wish the book had ended with a cliffhanger 90% through, though. Cassie’s subsequent behavior is completely out of character, and cruel given Damon’s situation and his stated fears. Not surprisingly, it looks like it set him back in his recovery since he took much longer to approach her than anticipated. And their reconciliation is so tentative that I get the impression neither is into it. I don’t blame Damon for feeling like he needs space to protect himself from her. I would rather have seen them have a clean break, with perhaps a second book down the road giving them a second-chance romance. In my opinion, Cassie is not ready for a relationship yet.
Damon and Cassie’s story is the beginning of a new generation of Steele (and Webb) romances. There is no sign of Drew or Pete yet, but I hope to read about them and their families as the series progresses. The story is nicely written. The plot is fairly simple. The characters are flawed and real. The story is told in first person. The POV alternates between Damon and Cassie. I rate this book four stars.
I received an advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
October 21, 2023
Fake is a convenient coverup for what's really beneath the surface neither wants to admit to let alone act on
Kiss and Fakeup (A Steele Family Novel - Sinful Serenade Next Gen Book 1) by Crystal Kaswell piques my curiosity from very beginning. These characters are intriguing in that there's something broken within, but it's not entirely clear what it is. There's hints and suggestion when it comes to Damon, but Cassie is clearly heartbroken and angry. The friendly, family oriented past Damon and Cassie once shared as children/teenagers went sour making the present a sort of emotionally fueled, barb-filled battlefield. They are one land mine away from combustion the longer they interact. Lines begin to blur, the difference between hate and love becomes more and more indistinguishable. At times, Cassie starts to ask herself why she hated him to begin with. Damon's past behavior led them to a frenemy state and thanks to this work project competition, they get to know one another as adults and professionals, putting each other in a new light of perception and understanding through the present as well as memories.
This book is filled and fueled by conflict that doesn't stop at friends to enemies to "fake" relationship. Cassie's best friend is Damon's younger sister lending a taboo attraction to long list of why they can't/shouldn't. They have entered an agreement for professional reasons and the close proximity of working and sometimes living together, creates real feelings. Reminding themselves of the actual reality being 'fake' gets harder and harder. The chemistry and attraction generated by a slow burn doesn't help either. Choices are made that sets off a chain reaction that cannot be stopped.
As this author does regularly, with sensitivity, is bring reality of life to her characters. The brokenness that Damon and Cassie experience are common to real life. Mental health is often a focus and so it is in this book too. Dealing with problems head on, even when it’s hard is a theme. Along with this real to life approach, this author will break your heart while smoothing the edges leading the reader back to hope for love after all.
I love the setting of the music world. It's beyond interesting, a little cut throat and a lot competitive. Hence the fake relationship to earn the right to the song writing contract. I also love how these characters unfold and reveal themselves to the reader and each other. Being vulnerable is hard, allowing that vulnerability while also broken is almost unthinkable.
Overall, Ms. Kaswell breaks my heart in a variety of ways in her books, including Kiss and Fakeup, but softens and smooths the jagged edges with hope for the future of these characters I became fully invested in. Cassie and Damon do the hard work and are rewarded with a promising future; professionally, personally and individual well-being.
I read an ARC of this book and voluntarily share my review.
Kiss and Fakeup (A Steele Family Novel - Sinful Serenade Next Gen Book 1) by Crystal Kaswell piques my curiosity from very beginning. These characters are intriguing in that there's something broken within, but it's not entirely clear what it is. There's hints and suggestion when it comes to Damon, but Cassie is clearly heartbroken and angry. The friendly, family oriented past Damon and Cassie once shared as children/teenagers went sour making the present a sort of emotionally fueled, barb-filled battlefield. They are one land mine away from combustion the longer they interact. Lines begin to blur, the difference between hate and love becomes more and more indistinguishable. At times, Cassie starts to ask herself why she hated him to begin with. Damon's past behavior led them to a frenemy state and thanks to this work project competition, they get to know one another as adults and professionals, putting each other in a new light of perception and understanding through the present as well as memories.
This book is filled and fueled by conflict that doesn't stop at friends to enemies to "fake" relationship. Cassie's best friend is Damon's younger sister lending a taboo attraction to long list of why they can't/shouldn't. They have entered an agreement for professional reasons and the close proximity of working and sometimes living together, creates real feelings. Reminding themselves of the actual reality being 'fake' gets harder and harder. The chemistry and attraction generated by a slow burn doesn't help either. Choices are made that sets off a chain reaction that cannot be stopped.
As this author does regularly, with sensitivity, is bring reality of life to her characters. The brokenness that Damon and Cassie experience are common to real life. Mental health is often a focus and so it is in this book too. Dealing with problems head on, even when it’s hard is a theme. Along with this real to life approach, this author will break your heart while smoothing the edges leading the reader back to hope for love after all.
I love the setting of the music world. It's beyond interesting, a little cut throat and a lot competitive. Hence the fake relationship to earn the right to the song writing contract. I also love how these characters unfold and reveal themselves to the reader and each other. Being vulnerable is hard, allowing that vulnerability while also broken is almost unthinkable.
Overall, Ms. Kaswell breaks my heart in a variety of ways in her books, including Kiss and Fakeup, but softens and smooths the jagged edges with hope for the future of these characters I became fully invested in. Cassie and Damon do the hard work and are rewarded with a promising future; professionally, personally and individual well-being.
I read an ARC of this book and voluntarily share my review.
November 6, 2023
I read Kiss and Fake Up by Crystal Kaswell in a single day, but it's taken me over a week to write the review.
Why? Because it touched me so deeply and I wanted to do the book justice. Cassie and Damon were best friends turned enemies due to Damon's drinking problem. Both are children of musician royalty, but only Damon struggled with his addiction. It caused him to lash out at friends and family, and sent him to rehab so he could turn his life around.
Cassie doesn't know this though. All she knows is that her boyfriend has dumped her as a girlfriend AND as a lyricist, and she needs a fake boyfriend immediately so she doesn't lose a contract. Who better to contact than her sister's brother even though he broke her heart when they were younger?
The base layer of this book is pretty simple: you have the fan-favorite tropes of childhood friends turned enemies, best friend's brother, and fake dating. It's the layers above, though, that will sink their teeth into you.
"Once a woman is angry, that's all she is. None of her other thoughts or feelings matter."
The author does a great job of showing the struggles women in music go through without feeding into a victim mentality. She has Cassie report the facts without bemoaning her lot in life. I felt like grabbing my AARP card a few times when she talked about the "aughts" and how she was barely alive for them (I graduated high school in 2001, so it physically hurt me to think about), but I loved reading about the music from that era that made up a huge part of my late teens/early 20s.
"How does anyone live and breathe without numbing everything all the time? It's too much. Way too f***ing much."
Damon's character has my whole heart. Yes, he was an alcoholic, womanizer, and hurt his family over and over. But I've been there. For a few years. And the way he was depicted was spot-on. Even when you get sober, you constantly worry about your family and friends thinking you're a disappointment, and you get to deal with them treating you like a child after. Even the cause of the third act breakup was spot-on. I am SO GLAD Damon did what he did. Even though the decision was difficult, it was the right one!
My one complaint, my one tiny complaint, happened after the breakup. Cassie tells Damon she understands why they need to part ways, and she tells him she'll be mad if he does something...THEN SHE GOES AND DOES THAT THING. I was not a happy camper. It obviously didn't affect my enjoyment of the book enough to knock it down from 5 stars, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
I will highly recommend Kiss and Fake Up to anyone who loves low angst, high satisfaction, steamy love stories with real life situations and beautiful endings!
Thank you, Crystal Kaswell, for the opportunity to read this and your patience while I gathered my thoughts! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Why? Because it touched me so deeply and I wanted to do the book justice. Cassie and Damon were best friends turned enemies due to Damon's drinking problem. Both are children of musician royalty, but only Damon struggled with his addiction. It caused him to lash out at friends and family, and sent him to rehab so he could turn his life around.
Cassie doesn't know this though. All she knows is that her boyfriend has dumped her as a girlfriend AND as a lyricist, and she needs a fake boyfriend immediately so she doesn't lose a contract. Who better to contact than her sister's brother even though he broke her heart when they were younger?
The base layer of this book is pretty simple: you have the fan-favorite tropes of childhood friends turned enemies, best friend's brother, and fake dating. It's the layers above, though, that will sink their teeth into you.
"Once a woman is angry, that's all she is. None of her other thoughts or feelings matter."
The author does a great job of showing the struggles women in music go through without feeding into a victim mentality. She has Cassie report the facts without bemoaning her lot in life. I felt like grabbing my AARP card a few times when she talked about the "aughts" and how she was barely alive for them (I graduated high school in 2001, so it physically hurt me to think about), but I loved reading about the music from that era that made up a huge part of my late teens/early 20s.
"How does anyone live and breathe without numbing everything all the time? It's too much. Way too f***ing much."
Damon's character has my whole heart. Yes, he was an alcoholic, womanizer, and hurt his family over and over. But I've been there. For a few years. And the way he was depicted was spot-on. Even when you get sober, you constantly worry about your family and friends thinking you're a disappointment, and you get to deal with them treating you like a child after. Even the cause of the third act breakup was spot-on. I am SO GLAD Damon did what he did. Even though the decision was difficult, it was the right one!
My one complaint, my one tiny complaint, happened after the breakup. Cassie tells Damon she understands why they need to part ways, and she tells him she'll be mad if he does something...THEN SHE GOES AND DOES THAT THING. I was not a happy camper. It obviously didn't affect my enjoyment of the book enough to knock it down from 5 stars, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
I will highly recommend Kiss and Fake Up to anyone who loves low angst, high satisfaction, steamy love stories with real life situations and beautiful endings!
Thank you, Crystal Kaswell, for the opportunity to read this and your patience while I gathered my thoughts! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
October 24, 2023
I have read almost all of Crystal’s books. I was able to get an advanced copy of this one and was so excited for it. I loved the story. I loved the characters, but I have a few caveats that I also shared with Crystal. This is a second generation book so don’t expect it to be a standalone. If you are a new reader to Crystal Kaswell, please start with Sing Your Heart Out. I freaking loved The Sinful Serenade series and this book is the second generation for that series. With all that said, I really did love this book.
Kiss and Fake Up had it all. It had all the feelings. The characters had their ups and downs and I was here for the character development. Being an empath, I love to immerse myself in the character development.
Cassie Steele, who is Tom and Willow Steele’s daughter (Rock Your Heart Out), is a strong, independent, and scorned woman. She hates to lose and will do whatever it takes to win. Watching her unpack all her baggage was very relatable. She finds trust in the last person she ever expected too. Depression is very common and the more books that address it the better. This isn’t a dark book but does talk about deep topics.
Damon Webb, who is Miles and Meg Webb’s son (Sing Your Heart Out), is a very complex character. He has been weighed down by who his father is. What his father has done. And unfortunately is expected to follow all his father’s missteps. I was sad when I read Miles had several relapses battling his addiction. However, that is the realistic battle of addiction in reality. I felt compassion for Damon because he felt that he was always meant to follow his father's missteps. Being compared to a parent is relatable and heavy baggage to carry, Crystal wrote his character in a way you felt it but it wasn’t dark.
I understood why Damon kept his sobriety close to him, however in order for him to truly heal and move on with his life. Especially, any future he has in the music industry and any future relationships he has. That includes Cassie. The roller coaster ride that Cassie is on trying to figure out what is going on with Damon is interesting. They have known each other all their lives and she thinks he still drinks and is untrustworthy but the only option she has in order to win the contract she needs.
I loved this story. It was complex but the story moved. There were heavy topics but it wasn't dark. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and would actually read it again because I am sure I would find things I missed the first time. I can’t wait to read book 2 and what happens with Daphne Webb and Jackson Steele. If you haven’t read Sinful Serenade, start there. You won’t regret it. If you have read it, you need to read this book!
Kiss and Fake Up had it all. It had all the feelings. The characters had their ups and downs and I was here for the character development. Being an empath, I love to immerse myself in the character development.
Cassie Steele, who is Tom and Willow Steele’s daughter (Rock Your Heart Out), is a strong, independent, and scorned woman. She hates to lose and will do whatever it takes to win. Watching her unpack all her baggage was very relatable. She finds trust in the last person she ever expected too. Depression is very common and the more books that address it the better. This isn’t a dark book but does talk about deep topics.
Damon Webb, who is Miles and Meg Webb’s son (Sing Your Heart Out), is a very complex character. He has been weighed down by who his father is. What his father has done. And unfortunately is expected to follow all his father’s missteps. I was sad when I read Miles had several relapses battling his addiction. However, that is the realistic battle of addiction in reality. I felt compassion for Damon because he felt that he was always meant to follow his father's missteps. Being compared to a parent is relatable and heavy baggage to carry, Crystal wrote his character in a way you felt it but it wasn’t dark.
I understood why Damon kept his sobriety close to him, however in order for him to truly heal and move on with his life. Especially, any future he has in the music industry and any future relationships he has. That includes Cassie. The roller coaster ride that Cassie is on trying to figure out what is going on with Damon is interesting. They have known each other all their lives and she thinks he still drinks and is untrustworthy but the only option she has in order to win the contract she needs.
I loved this story. It was complex but the story moved. There were heavy topics but it wasn't dark. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and would actually read it again because I am sure I would find things I missed the first time. I can’t wait to read book 2 and what happens with Daphne Webb and Jackson Steele. If you haven’t read Sinful Serenade, start there. You won’t regret it. If you have read it, you need to read this book!
October 25, 2023
Kiss & Fake Up - The Next Generation
Cassie is the daughter of Tom Steele (Sinful Serenade fans know Tom the frenetic drummer) and she loves music. So much, she has become quite the songwriter. Unfortunately for her, the boyfriend she’s been partners with has decided he wants to not only end their professional team, he’s cheated on her with another woman.
Now said ex thinks it would be best for Cassie just to drop out of the project she truly wants and needs. She’ll be damned if she allows her smarmy ex to be handed the project. She decides to make up a boyfriend of her own and new partner. Enter Damon Webb.
Damon is the son of Miles Webb (Sinful Serenade’s sensual singer) and he knows he’s screwed up royally when it comes to his life, his career and friends. His sister Daphne is best friends with Cassie. The same Cassie he used to be friends with, the one he shared so much in common with. Until the alcohol came along and made them enemies. Damon is now a recovering alcoholic but his writing has suffered.
Cassie comes to Damon hoping to salvage her name and win the contract for the project. The only hitch is, she needs to convince him that not only can they work together, but they need to convince his ex and new girlfriend/partner and the producer that they are madly in love as well as the better writing team.
Damon agrees but knows this is going to be a bad idea once Cassie walks in on him in a compromising position with his hand on the goods, so to speak. The act itself isn’t the embarrassing part, no that would be that he was fantasizing about Cassie while in the middle of ‘taking care of himself’.
The two embark on an agreement that they can not only win this contract but can rekindle their friendship. Of course, Damon hasn’t told Cassie about his new sobriety and Cassie hasn’t told Damon the details about her ex.
Can Damon let Cassie know about his past without damaging their friendship, or before someone else tells her? Can Cassie let down the walls around her heart and allow Damon to be more than friends?
Crystal Kaswell gives the reader a great emotional rollercoaster of laughs, tears, and steamy scenes to tell the story of Cassie and Damon. If you are a lover of her Sinful Serenade series, this next generation will keep you satisfied and wanting more. A must read for romance lovers.
Cassie is the daughter of Tom Steele (Sinful Serenade fans know Tom the frenetic drummer) and she loves music. So much, she has become quite the songwriter. Unfortunately for her, the boyfriend she’s been partners with has decided he wants to not only end their professional team, he’s cheated on her with another woman.
Now said ex thinks it would be best for Cassie just to drop out of the project she truly wants and needs. She’ll be damned if she allows her smarmy ex to be handed the project. She decides to make up a boyfriend of her own and new partner. Enter Damon Webb.
Damon is the son of Miles Webb (Sinful Serenade’s sensual singer) and he knows he’s screwed up royally when it comes to his life, his career and friends. His sister Daphne is best friends with Cassie. The same Cassie he used to be friends with, the one he shared so much in common with. Until the alcohol came along and made them enemies. Damon is now a recovering alcoholic but his writing has suffered.
Cassie comes to Damon hoping to salvage her name and win the contract for the project. The only hitch is, she needs to convince him that not only can they work together, but they need to convince his ex and new girlfriend/partner and the producer that they are madly in love as well as the better writing team.
Damon agrees but knows this is going to be a bad idea once Cassie walks in on him in a compromising position with his hand on the goods, so to speak. The act itself isn’t the embarrassing part, no that would be that he was fantasizing about Cassie while in the middle of ‘taking care of himself’.
The two embark on an agreement that they can not only win this contract but can rekindle their friendship. Of course, Damon hasn’t told Cassie about his new sobriety and Cassie hasn’t told Damon the details about her ex.
Can Damon let Cassie know about his past without damaging their friendship, or before someone else tells her? Can Cassie let down the walls around her heart and allow Damon to be more than friends?
Crystal Kaswell gives the reader a great emotional rollercoaster of laughs, tears, and steamy scenes to tell the story of Cassie and Damon. If you are a lover of her Sinful Serenade series, this next generation will keep you satisfied and wanting more. A must read for romance lovers.
October 24, 2023
Brandon and Cassie #FRIENDS #ENEMIES #LOVERS
Kiss and Fake Up: An Enemy to Lovers, Fake Relationship Romance by Crystal Kaswell is a 2nd generation rockstar romance about guitarist and songwriter Damon Webb, son of front-man Miles Webb of Sinful Serenade, and songwriter, lyricist Cassie Steele, daughter of Sinful Serenade's drummer Pete Steele. Cassie is reeling from her songwriter ex-boyfriend's betrayal by cheating on her and then dumping their songwriting partnership for someone else. To qualify for a new songwriting gig, Cassie must show she is in a relationship per the artist's request. Cassie calls upon her childhood friend Damon Webb, fresh out of rehab. She wants him to pretend to be her boyfriend while they work together again to write songs. If the artist and music producer like their songs, they could be compensated in the seven-figure range for their work. Damon agrees to help Cassie and hopefully write good music so he would also have an influx of income. Cassie always had a crush on Damon, but he managed to hurt her when he began indulging his vices to drown out his inner demons. As Cassie and Damon work closely together, their earlier friendship emerges, as their public PDA becomes a spicy interlude for them both. Yet, Damon must try and remain sober in the face of music industry parties and the inevitable cocktail hours. Cassie's ex's rejection still stings with his new love being flaunted in the songwriting competition. Crystal Kaswell draws on real-life issues, such as overcoming alcoholism and partner betrayal, and brings them to life in the characters in her books. A HEA is always a given, and Kiss and Fake Up is no exception. I love every single book Crystal Kaswell has written. The next book, A Match Made in Vegas, will be about another Webb/Steele family, 2nd generation, falling in love. I can't wait to read it.
Kiss and Fake Up: An Enemy to Lovers, Fake Relationship Romance by Crystal Kaswell is a 2nd generation rockstar romance about guitarist and songwriter Damon Webb, son of front-man Miles Webb of Sinful Serenade, and songwriter, lyricist Cassie Steele, daughter of Sinful Serenade's drummer Pete Steele. Cassie is reeling from her songwriter ex-boyfriend's betrayal by cheating on her and then dumping their songwriting partnership for someone else. To qualify for a new songwriting gig, Cassie must show she is in a relationship per the artist's request. Cassie calls upon her childhood friend Damon Webb, fresh out of rehab. She wants him to pretend to be her boyfriend while they work together again to write songs. If the artist and music producer like their songs, they could be compensated in the seven-figure range for their work. Damon agrees to help Cassie and hopefully write good music so he would also have an influx of income. Cassie always had a crush on Damon, but he managed to hurt her when he began indulging his vices to drown out his inner demons. As Cassie and Damon work closely together, their earlier friendship emerges, as their public PDA becomes a spicy interlude for them both. Yet, Damon must try and remain sober in the face of music industry parties and the inevitable cocktail hours. Cassie's ex's rejection still stings with his new love being flaunted in the songwriting competition. Crystal Kaswell draws on real-life issues, such as overcoming alcoholism and partner betrayal, and brings them to life in the characters in her books. A HEA is always a given, and Kiss and Fake Up is no exception. I love every single book Crystal Kaswell has written. The next book, A Match Made in Vegas, will be about another Webb/Steele family, 2nd generation, falling in love. I can't wait to read it.
November 2, 2023
Cassie Steele is a talented lyricist and part of a songwriting duo with her ex-boyfriend who cheated on her. Now her ex wants to drop her as a writing partner and wants her to drop out of their current project. Cassie needs this project and agrees to drop out only if her ex and his new partner are chosen over her and her new partner. Damon Webb is fresh out of rehab and staying at his parents' Malibu home. Damon knows he has done serious damage to his relationship with his family, his friends, and his career. Cassie needs to convince Damon to be her writing partner and that they are madly in love to win the contract. Can Damon and Cassie rekindle their friendship while working together? Do the lines between fake and real become blurred as Damon and Cassie create music together? Will Cassie understand when Damon needs space to work on his sobriety? Will Cassie and Damon find their way back to each other after time apart? I loved Kiss and Fake Up by Crystal Kaswell. Damon and Cassie each have baggage they work through to be the person each of them need. I especially loved when Damon and Miles had their heart to heart. Kiss and Fake Up is an emotional roller coaster ride of highs and lows. I would highly recommend getting Kiss and Fake Up by Crystal Kaswell. I received an ARC copy of this book, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.
December 21, 2024
I did not care for this book at all. I felt that the characters were both in a psychological place where a relationship was ill advised. I am glad I read to the end to find out that they took a break to work on healing themselves. Still I found their relationship to be largely co-dependent and the reading was depressing.
I have read many books by this author. She usually writes about somewhat broken characters navigating their way. This book was more depressing than most. Also it is apparent to me that she has some sort of fascination with public intimate encounters and voyeurism. It occurs in almost every single book I have read of hers. I would just like to point out that the behavior of this couple on numerous occasions wasn't just exhibitionism it was also downright rude. Why would anybody think it is okay to engage in pre-coitus touching, and kissing in front of others that are not expecting it. It is not. The rest of the world probably doesn't want to bear witness to a couple that forgets they are not the only ones in existence and are about to copulate before their eyes. Gross and incredibly rude. Even if it was done to make another party jealous, what about all of the other people in the room whose activities and conversations were put on hold by their public display.
I have read many books by this author. She usually writes about somewhat broken characters navigating their way. This book was more depressing than most. Also it is apparent to me that she has some sort of fascination with public intimate encounters and voyeurism. It occurs in almost every single book I have read of hers. I would just like to point out that the behavior of this couple on numerous occasions wasn't just exhibitionism it was also downright rude. Why would anybody think it is okay to engage in pre-coitus touching, and kissing in front of others that are not expecting it. It is not. The rest of the world probably doesn't want to bear witness to a couple that forgets they are not the only ones in existence and are about to copulate before their eyes. Gross and incredibly rude. Even if it was done to make another party jealous, what about all of the other people in the room whose activities and conversations were put on hold by their public display.
November 23, 2023
This book had all my fav tropes (enemies to lovers, fake dating, he falls first) but, unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I didn't feel any connection to the main characters or a real urge to pick the book up and see what happens next. The dialogue felt almost monotone (if that makes sense?) and matter a fact. All their relationships especially with the side characters felt very surface level so it's possible that's why I didn't feel much of a connection. I also went into it thinking I was reading a light and funny romcom but this one had some dark themes I wasn't expecting which could be why we didn't click. This book wasn't for me but it could be for YOU!
Thank you to the author for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to the author for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
October 27, 2023
Damon and Cassie.
Cassie needs help with a job and now that she is single, she needs a partner that is also her “partner”. Her best friends brother fits the bill. They start off playing the part that they are in a relationship pretty quickly. They have to post pictures and videos really portraying this relationship and it lights a fire with her ex. He doesn’t really believe their relationship is real and tries to make Cassie feel bad about it. Luckily he doesn’t put a dent in what they are building together and they continue on as planned. Now without giving any spoilers I just say, this book is hot! The angst and banter they have together is so steamy and I enjoyed every minute of it!
Cassie needs help with a job and now that she is single, she needs a partner that is also her “partner”. Her best friends brother fits the bill. They start off playing the part that they are in a relationship pretty quickly. They have to post pictures and videos really portraying this relationship and it lights a fire with her ex. He doesn’t really believe their relationship is real and tries to make Cassie feel bad about it. Luckily he doesn’t put a dent in what they are building together and they continue on as planned. Now without giving any spoilers I just say, this book is hot! The angst and banter they have together is so steamy and I enjoyed every minute of it!
October 23, 2023
Frenemies for so many years, Cassie and Damon reunite in a fake relationship to win a music contract. Cassie has been hurt by her former boyfriend and business partner, while Damon lost his way from music in the bottom of a bottle. But when they come back together, not only do they make beautiful music together, they begin to rekindle old feelings.
Angsty love story full of crazy musicians, nosy relatives, hot sex and demons to slay. A definite must read!
I read an ARC of Kiss and Fake Up, and willingly left this review.
Angsty love story full of crazy musicians, nosy relatives, hot sex and demons to slay. A definite must read!
I read an ARC of Kiss and Fake Up, and willingly left this review.
October 24, 2023
I am overjoyed that this author has come back to what she does best, brooding, broken men full of angst with vulnerable yet fiesty female lead characters, expect curvy, intelligent, punk rock type with a dash of purple here and there!
Unlike their parents books (which is not a prerequisite to read before this one) whose stories were rockstar romance, this book brings musicians in a different aspect and I thoroughly enjoyed the different take on it.
This author has a way of writing that is unique to her and she has created another amazing read.
Unlike their parents books (which is not a prerequisite to read before this one) whose stories were rockstar romance, this book brings musicians in a different aspect and I thoroughly enjoyed the different take on it.
This author has a way of writing that is unique to her and she has created another amazing read.
October 25, 2023
Cassie has grown up with her best friend Daphne and Her brother Damon. She was close to Damon until she turned 16. Then he changed and started ignoring her. And they have never gotten along since. When Cassie breaks up with her boyfriend she loses her musical partner. So when the musician that her and her ex were going to work with wants a couple the one person that can help her is Damon. Damon is a recovering alcoholic. And he’s not ready to share that yet. But working with Cassie will be the perfect distraction for him. This is a touching story. I can’t wait to read Daphne’s next.
October 25, 2023
Kisses that take your breathe away
I loved these two and everything they had to work through to become friends. The way Damon and Cass collaborate never changes, they still bring out the best in each other even when they're not their best selves. But once they find that connection pulling them like magnets, it's like fireworks. Damon's talk with his dad was what he's needed for a long time and fully opens his eyes.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a complimentary copy
I loved these two and everything they had to work through to become friends. The way Damon and Cass collaborate never changes, they still bring out the best in each other even when they're not their best selves. But once they find that connection pulling them like magnets, it's like fireworks. Damon's talk with his dad was what he's needed for a long time and fully opens his eyes.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a complimentary copy
October 31, 2023
Second Gen Series
When I saw that Crystal Kaswell was going back to her roots and writing a second Gen rockstar book, I was all in.
I enjoyed submerging myself back into her rockstar world. Although this is a second gen book, there is only a few glimpses of the parents. This book totally stands on its own.
Damon and Cassie's story has all the elements that make a Crystal Kaswell book. Struggle, real life issues, love, and chemistry.
I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
When I saw that Crystal Kaswell was going back to her roots and writing a second Gen rockstar book, I was all in.
I enjoyed submerging myself back into her rockstar world. Although this is a second gen book, there is only a few glimpses of the parents. This book totally stands on its own.
Damon and Cassie's story has all the elements that make a Crystal Kaswell book. Struggle, real life issues, love, and chemistry.
I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
November 2, 2023
wow
Wow, just wow! Cassie and Damon’s story threw me for a loop. I felt so bad for her that somebody could treat her so poorly when she just needed support and love. I was so happy when she found that with Damon. Even though they had been enemies in their head, they were true love in their heart. Damon gave her the support she needed while she did the same for him. They were able to see the best in each other, Helping the other see it as well. Their families were hilarious and kept me in stitches. Can’t wait to see what happens with Daphne and Jackson!
Wow, just wow! Cassie and Damon’s story threw me for a loop. I felt so bad for her that somebody could treat her so poorly when she just needed support and love. I was so happy when she found that with Damon. Even though they had been enemies in their head, they were true love in their heart. Damon gave her the support she needed while she did the same for him. They were able to see the best in each other, Helping the other see it as well. Their families were hilarious and kept me in stitches. Can’t wait to see what happens with Daphne and Jackson!
November 3, 2023
This was a fantastic book. I'm so excited for all the characters to come. What a series it will be. Cassie was awesome. I loved her personality or the personality she was discovering. Damon was just trying to keep his act together and show that he could succeed. Together they were amazing. I loved the song writing and the passion they shared. They had so much chemistry but their families dynamic was so much fun too. Laurel and Zach are hilarious!!! This book was so good and there's more to come. Can't wait!!!💜
October 24, 2023
5 stars
Cassie Steele and Damon Webb (Yes, that Steele and Webb) have been frenemies their whole lives. When Cassie needs try and get a song-writing job, she leans on Damon, her best friend's brotherfor his help. Damon is just out of rehab and only his family knows. There has already been sparks between these two, but can they keep it professional? I absolutely adored this new book back in this world. 5 stars!!!!!!
Cassie Steele and Damon Webb (Yes, that Steele and Webb) have been frenemies their whole lives. When Cassie needs try and get a song-writing job, she leans on Damon, her best friend's brotherfor his help. Damon is just out of rehab and only his family knows. There has already been sparks between these two, but can they keep it professional? I absolutely adored this new book back in this world. 5 stars!!!!!!
October 29, 2023
loved it!!
I really loved the legacy story! It was good to see the stories continue plus new couples come into play. Love how the author makes you feel the pain that her characters are going through. Can’t wait for the next story. I would like to see more past couple interaction though, it would have been great to see Miles and Meg not just Miles. Especially since Damon is their son.
I really loved the legacy story! It was good to see the stories continue plus new couples come into play. Love how the author makes you feel the pain that her characters are going through. Can’t wait for the next story. I would like to see more past couple interaction though, it would have been great to see Miles and Meg not just Miles. Especially since Damon is their son.
December 16, 2023
This was a great read.
Cassie and Damon had trouble getting along when Damon started drinking.
Cassie wants to show her ex boyfriend that she has what it takes to be a songwriter and musician, so she contacts Damon and he was willing to go along with her.
This was a fabulous read and can’t wait for the next book.
I received a free copy of this book for a voluntary and honest review.
Cassie and Damon had trouble getting along when Damon started drinking.
Cassie wants to show her ex boyfriend that she has what it takes to be a songwriter and musician, so she contacts Damon and he was willing to go along with her.
This was a fabulous read and can’t wait for the next book.
I received a free copy of this book for a voluntary and honest review.
October 21, 2023
Loved Cassie and Damon's story. This story balanced on the sharp edge between poignant and sweet, and I thought that it did a marvelous job doing it. These two squeezed so much feeling from my heart, and I enjoyed every second of it.
December 8, 2023
Excellent
This book kept me interested the whole time. I would have to make myself put it down. I loved that the fake relationship brought them together with music & finally admitting to their real feelings for each other. Love this Author.
This book kept me interested the whole time. I would have to make myself put it down. I loved that the fake relationship brought them together with music & finally admitting to their real feelings for each other. Love this Author.
November 9, 2023
Too many dark themes. Couldn't relate to the bi MC. Not the romance book in thought it would be.
dnf-2023
December 14, 2023DNF , too much inner dialogue
November 28, 2024
excellent book
Absolutely loved this book, I wished it could have gone on longer, such a lovely story. Do not hesitate to read this.
Absolutely loved this book, I wished it could have gone on longer, such a lovely story. Do not hesitate to read this.
November 2, 2023
Kiss and Fake Up
It's such a great read! Kaswell returned to her roots, and not only was it fabulous, it’s better than ever! The writing and the characters show so much growth. I’m drawn into their story and want more. While given the steam we’ve come to love and expect, it doesn't become a crutch for the story. Each of them has their journey without becoming depending on the other. This is everything I want from a second-generation story - hints of the past but wholely independent! So excited for the next book!
It's such a great read! Kaswell returned to her roots, and not only was it fabulous, it’s better than ever! The writing and the characters show so much growth. I’m drawn into their story and want more. While given the steam we’ve come to love and expect, it doesn't become a crutch for the story. Each of them has their journey without becoming depending on the other. This is everything I want from a second-generation story - hints of the past but wholely independent! So excited for the next book!
October 24, 2023
Kiss and Fake Up is the first book in the new Steele Family series by Crystal Kaswell and the series features the next generation of Sinful Serenade. For those who are fans of the Sinful Serenade series, you might know who this book/series is about. And for those like me, who hadn’t read the Sinful Serenade series before reading KAFU, here is a little background on who these two characters are. Cassie Steele is the daughter of Tom and Willow Steele. Tom was the drummer for the band, Sinful Serenade. Damon Webb is the son of Miles and Meg Webb. Miles was the lead singer of Sinful Serenade. If you want to read more about Sinful Serenade, Miles Webb, and Tom Steele, make sure you check out Sing Your Heart Out. It’s book one in the SS series.
Cassie and Damon have known each other for as long as they can remember and their love for music became more than a hobby. It was the very thing that brought the two of them together until they were torn apart- making them enemies to one another. It was expected that at least one offspring of the two rockstars (Miles and Tom) would want to pursue a career in the same industry they once were big shots. Cassie became a lyricist and was working with a label that has her partnered with an artist that could take her career to the next level. The only issue is that her current songwriting partner is her ex-boyfriend and he wants to work with his current girlfriend instead. Cassie is faced with a dilemma and like any girl she wants to get back at the man who hurt her and make him regret stepping out on her. She ends up entering a wager with her ex involving a current enemy of hers. Now all she has to do is figure out a way to tolerate the man who makes her blood curl and convince him to help her out with this project that could benefit the two of them in more ways than one. As these two work together and get into a familiar groove of songwriting and being in each other’s space like they used to, they find that the line between fake and real is hard to keep straight and they find themselves blurring the lines and mixing all the colors as they create beautiful music together and more.
After reading this book, I had to go and read Sing Your Heart Out because I was dying to find out what happened between Miles and Meg. And now I’m hooked on reading the whole series to find out how they all find their HEA. Since I read these two backwards, I have no idea if that is the right way to do it or not. But I do know that you do not have to read SYHO before reading Kiss and Fake Up since it’s a standalone book.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a steamy angsty rockstar romance, best friend’s brother romance, and/or fake relationship. This book had all the elements that I love when I read a book by Crystal Kaswell. It had the flirty snarky banter, the music references, the tattooed bad boy, the independent girl who knows what she wants and how to get it, the real life issues faced by our MC, the coffee/tea/gin items, and the steamy spicy scenes. I did read that there will a bonus scene available soon for this book and I can’t wait to get my hands on that!
Cassie and Damon have known each other for as long as they can remember and their love for music became more than a hobby. It was the very thing that brought the two of them together until they were torn apart- making them enemies to one another. It was expected that at least one offspring of the two rockstars (Miles and Tom) would want to pursue a career in the same industry they once were big shots. Cassie became a lyricist and was working with a label that has her partnered with an artist that could take her career to the next level. The only issue is that her current songwriting partner is her ex-boyfriend and he wants to work with his current girlfriend instead. Cassie is faced with a dilemma and like any girl she wants to get back at the man who hurt her and make him regret stepping out on her. She ends up entering a wager with her ex involving a current enemy of hers. Now all she has to do is figure out a way to tolerate the man who makes her blood curl and convince him to help her out with this project that could benefit the two of them in more ways than one. As these two work together and get into a familiar groove of songwriting and being in each other’s space like they used to, they find that the line between fake and real is hard to keep straight and they find themselves blurring the lines and mixing all the colors as they create beautiful music together and more.
After reading this book, I had to go and read Sing Your Heart Out because I was dying to find out what happened between Miles and Meg. And now I’m hooked on reading the whole series to find out how they all find their HEA. Since I read these two backwards, I have no idea if that is the right way to do it or not. But I do know that you do not have to read SYHO before reading Kiss and Fake Up since it’s a standalone book.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a steamy angsty rockstar romance, best friend’s brother romance, and/or fake relationship. This book had all the elements that I love when I read a book by Crystal Kaswell. It had the flirty snarky banter, the music references, the tattooed bad boy, the independent girl who knows what she wants and how to get it, the real life issues faced by our MC, the coffee/tea/gin items, and the steamy spicy scenes. I did read that there will a bonus scene available soon for this book and I can’t wait to get my hands on that!
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