Don't Tell Me Twice

Buck Miller is having a bad day. She loses her girlfriend, her bass player, and has to stop her concert tour all in one-day. Now her manager and her bandmates want to hire someone who could replace her...could it get any worse?

Buck Miller was on cloud nine or well pretty close to it. She is the lead singer of the Jems and the Jamz. Her girlfriend is in the band and travels with her until one day she suddenly breaks up with her and the band. So now the concert tour is on hold until they find another bass player.

Buck ends up going back home to recoup and in the meantime her manager and bandmates find a new member they really like: Ziggy. The problem is that not only can she play guitar, she can sing too. Plus she is charming, pretty, nice...and really pretty.

Can't everyone see that Ziggy does not belong and all she is trying to do is take Buck's spot in the band? This makes touring a lot more interesting especially when Buck's ex-girlfriend comes back into the picture.

Gotta love a girl in a band and Nicole Higginbotham-Hogue knows that in Don't Tell Me Twice (B07WPYR7Y6, 2019) the first book in the “Jems and Jamz” series. I think Buck is an interesting character study of how we can fool ourselves when we want love to work so bad. Buck's relationship with Olive is an excellent example. I do not want to give any spoilers away, but Buck's emotional journey is well-written and at times tough to read without being able to give the character a hug.

Don't Tell Me Twice is a slow-burn romance. Higginbotham-Hogue deals with the past in this book and basically cleans it up. This is not to say that we do not carry the past with us or the scars, I am not trying to minimize anything - just summarizing (laugh).

I had a completely different ending paragraph and then I looked at the description of the next book in the series (laugh). See what happens when you look ahead?! I would have given you a different path (laugh). Same result just a different walk - Let's check out what else Higginbotham-Hogue has in store for us with the ladies in the band in the “Jems and Jamz” series. See you on tour!

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.