The Luckiest by MJ O'Shea & Piper Vaughn

Well the first thing I can say is that this novel has a HELL OF AN OPENER...I gotta give props that was a hook and a half.

Nicky Ventura who we met in Moonlight Becomes You has finally hit rock bottom when we catch up with him in this second installment of the Lucky Moom Series. Nicky's partying and drugging has caught up to him and he has fucked up IN A BIG WAY. It's done, he finally has managed to become the old strung out rockstar cliche...And the only way to keep his dumb, arrogant ass out of the slammer is to do three months in rehab. Nicky is not a happy camper and he lets EVERYONE fucking know it, because he's Nicky Ventura MOTHERFUCKERS!! and there is no way he's gonna go quietly.

Nicky gets to the rehab facility with a chip on his shoulder the size of a glacier, and he just cannot stop bitching about it, and I SWEAR that this book is worth reading IF ONLY for the part when he is filling out the questionnaire they give him during check in... I was ROFLMAO, I think I broke something I was laughing SO FUCKING HARD...However, his posturing only lasts so long, specially once he lays eyes on his nutrionist, Luka Novak, who is a big ray of ULTRA GAY SUNSHINE, and well Nicky can't stop looking. The guy is hot, and so nice it's nauseating, but he starts getting Nicky out of that 20 foot wall of bullshit that he's built around himself, and little by little him and his cute little dog Steph make a place in Nicky's Life.

Luka is a strong guy, despite his sunny, flaymboyant personality, he gives back as good as he gets from Nicky. Luka can see that Nicky is broken and lost, he wants so badly to help him, to love him...He knows Nicky is trying, he still gets hurt though. Nicky just can't figure himself out, by the time he gets out of rehab he know he's a different person. Problem is he can't reconcile this new guy with his old life, and the more he tries to move forward the more he makes things worse.

He's adrift, his brother Shane the only person Nicky has ever had is now married to Jesse the love of his life. Nicky feels like he has no one left...The only thing that feels real is Luka, but he still can't seem to stop himself from fucking up with him. He is new at this emotions thing, and every time he builds something good with his hands, before he knows it he is kicking them down with his feet...They travel a rocky road these two men, they are both broken in different ways, but they still manage to make a home and a little family together. Even when things looked like they have been too damaged, and I wanted to rip out EVERY SINGLE ONE OF NICKY'S EYELASHES FROM HIS FOOL HEAD!!!! I still rooted for them, because the love was so genuine, but also also so new and fragile I just wanted them to have BIG HAPPILY EVER AFTER...And they did!! Cute puppies and all!

Most of the issues I had with MBY were not present in this book, both Luka and Nicky were well developed characters, I knew them equally and bought what they had completely. The secondary characters were well done as well, Luka's BFF Jeana, his mom Anna, were great. My favorite part though was getting some time with Shane and Jesse. If anything this book helped me to understand what Shane and Jesse had a lot better than their own story, I felt something missing in MBY and this book filled that in very nicely. There were very tender moments with Shane and Jesse, and Shane and Nicky that really made this book so much better for me.

The SEX...Well there was lots of it and IT WAS FUCKING HOT..All I can say is that I had the lyrics from "Anything Goes" by GnR going in my head for like three hours after I finished the book...Damn that was some hot sex. Like all kinds too! Angry sex, kitchen table sex..."Oh shit this book just melted my Kindle" sex...HOTNESS AND HALF.


Going back to Nicky and Luka, for the most part their characters were solid. Nicky was a bit TOO much at times, and his assholyness might have felt like overkill here and there, but not in a way that turned me off, just like in a "humm oookkkaaayyy I get it Nicky YOU TOTALLY SUCK" kind of way. Luka was not as flamboyant as I expected, he was toned down, which honestly I prefer to a character soooooo out there that he feels like a caricature. So, not what I expected but still good, he was very likable and I really enjoyed the contrasts in his personality. Sweet but STRONG, romantic but SO NAUGHTY. Oh Luka what a DIRTY MOUTH you had!!!

As far as this being a rocker book, to me it didn't really feel like one, the music was not really a big part of the story. So, to me it was more like an overarching theme in the book than an integral one.

All in all this was a solid romance, LOTS O' DRAMA, but also lots of sweet loving moments, BIG ending, good characters, and well just a satisfying read.

This sophomore novel my Ms. Vaughn and Ms. O'Shea from this reader, gets A for effort and A for Awesome. RECOMMEND.

The Luckiest is available at the Loose Id Website or Amazon.com