Adder

Title: Adder
Author: Ally Blue
Publisher: Samhain
Genre: M/M Contemporary romance
Length: 141 pages
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A Guest Review by Jenre

THE BLURB

Music. Sex. Fame. What’s missing? Surely not the “L” word…

Adder has a plan for his life: play his music for millions of adoring fans, who will reward him with money, fame and as much sex as he can handle. It’s a goal he’s been working toward since his teens and is on the cusp of achieving. The idea of a relationship never entered his mind—until a new drummer joins his band. One taste of Kalil, and all he wants is more.

For Kalil, playing drums for Adder is a dream come true, the creative connection he’s always wanted. What he never reckoned on is the deeper connection he finds with Adder. Kalil would rather avoid sexual involvement with a bandmate, but Adder seems just as determined to break through his resistance.

Attraction aside, music and sex are about the only things the hedonistic Adder and the increasingly jealous Kalil can agree on. Still, before they know it they’re on the brink of something deeper, something lasting.

And it scares the hell out of both of them.

THE REVIEW

This book begins with a bang when Adder the titular hero, punches the drummer of his band and causes a fist fight on stage. The drummer is high on drugs and can’t keep time properly so, in Adder’s thinking, deserves all he gets. Adder gets up off the floor, kicks the defeated drummer, picks up his violin and continues the set, much to the delight of his screaming fans. Thus we instantly find out three things about Adder: He’s got a quick temper, he’s an exhibitionist, and he takes his music very seriously. The rest of his band, comprising of Harpo and Vi are also serious about their music and share Adder’s dream of hitting the big time. At the moment they are only playing small clubs but Adder’s got his eye on fame, fortune and adoring fans – and what Adder wants, he generally gets. Their drummer is replaced by Harpo’s friend Kalil. Adder takes one look at Kalil and wants him in his bed. He then sets a determined pattern of the most unsubtle seduction in history in order to achieve that goal. Kalil wants Adder too, but he’s sworn off sleeping with band members. Added to the mix is the band’s increasingly quick rise to the top and the pressures that puts all the band members under.

Adder is one of those characters who you will either love or hate. I really liked him. He’s completely shameless, dyes his hair green, wears outlandish clothing and exudes sensuality through every pore. He has a charisma both on and off stage that proves irresistible to most people and Adder, being bisexual, takes advantage of this to sleep with anything on legs. He even sleeps with Vi occasionally in a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship that they both seem quite comfortable with. Some people may not like that fact that he is an unabashed man-slut, but I felt that it fitted in with his larger than life personality. He is single minded in his pursuit of fame, but has the talent to back that up. He is also single minded in his pursuit of Kalil so much so that Adder even puzzles over why he should be so determined to have him, especially as Kalil has told him that he won’t sleep with band members. In the end, Adder resorts to some pretty underhand methods to get Kalil, which again I can see may put some reader’s off. It’s all for a good cause though when Adder eventually breaks down Kalil’s defences and Adder becomes, almost overnight, a changed man in that he loses interest in sleeping around.

Kalil is quite opposite to Adder in many ways. He’s just as committed to the band and his music, but this is overlaid with a caution which causes friction amongst the band members. The other three people in the band are more willing to take risks, whereas Kalil likes to think things through before making decisions. He is also rather possessive, especially when it comes to Adder. He burns with jealousy whenever Adder flirts with other people, even when Adder repeatedly tells Kalil that he is not sleeping round and has no interest in doing so. Later in the book Vi tells Kalil:

“It’s unbalanced, that’s what.”
“Unbalanced?”
“Yeah. Like I said before, you’re too possessive, and he’s not possessive enough. Unbalanced.”
Kalil peered through the heaving press of bodies to where Adder was now slow dancing with a girl who looked like she didn’t even remember what planet she was on. The sight made Kalil’s gut burn. “I see your point.”
“Uh-huh.” Vi drew back enough to look Kalil in the eye. Her expression was solemn. “If you and Adder are going to last, something has to change. Y’all have to restore the balance.”

It is Kalil’s possessiveness and his overly cautious attitude which eventually begins to draw a wedge between his relationship with Adder, leading to the inevitable misunderstanding. This part of the book was the only part which didn’t ring true. Adder fights tooth and nail to have Kalil at the beginning of the book and then just lets him go, even when he knows that he loves him. I felt that, if Adder had been acting in the way I would’ve expected from the start of the book, then he would have chased Kalil down and forced him to talk to the band and clear up any misunderstanding quickly. In fact, this is what I expected to happen. I was rather disappointed to find that Adder just gave up which was so wholly unlike him that I read that section in frustration, annoyed that the book had taken such an irritating turn.

Apart from the Big Misunderstanding, I felt that Adder was an interesting book about the pressures facing an up and coming band. All the parts to do with their ascension to the heights of fame were done with an obvious inside knowledge of the music industry; all the main characters were well rounded and, Adder especially, unusual; and the relationship between Kalil and Adder was a realistic representation of how possessiveness and jealousy can damage even the strongest of bonds. I would recommend Adder to those of you who enjoy books about the music industry and like larger than life characters.