The Official Description: Rutherford Fitzhugh, shy, repressed financial advisor, is happy to stay in his professional and personal rut. But his world gets shaken up when his new boss insists the firm take on more exciting clients and assigns Rutherford to Mak, the brilliant bassist and chief songwriter for the mega-popular rock band, Memo to Myself.
Mak Makana, extroverted prankster goofball, hasn’t had a serious or lengthy relationship in years. He learned early on in his band’s meteoric rise to fame that a lover he’d fallen hard for was more interested in his fame than him.
The sparks between the two men are immediate and intense, despite their disastrous first meeting when Rutherford walks into a gooey prank Mak meant for a bandmate. Rutherford discovers that Mak isn’t the spoiled, shallow rock star he expected, and Mak finds that Rutherford has a hidden artistic and quirky side. They can’t keep their hands off each other—even as they work to convince themselves it’s just a fling.
Rutherford’s never been able to please his conservative, traditional Virginian parents—or get them to accept his sexuality—and the sudden paparazzi attention brings their disapproval on full force. Mak’s got a supportive family back home in Hawaii and another one in his bandmates, neither batting an eye at his pansexuality. But that early experience with a fame-collector makes him wary of opening up to anyone who’s not birth family or band family.
Mak and Rutherford’s very different lives threaten to pull them apart, but could it be they’re different enough to be perfect together?
Just the facts: M/M romance, novella, friends to more
A short, steamy novel about two men who both think they can “keep it casual.” – Kinzie Things
My thoughts bit: Rutherford is a financial advisor who gets assigned to work for a rock band. When he gets the first glimpse of gorgeous bass-player, Mak – it’s through blue slime that has just dropped on his head. It turns out that the bandmates get up to some serious pranking in their downtime.
Rutherford is well put together, serious about his job, and … all together different from Mak. Mak is carefree…and has sworn off dating. He’s all about having fun for a couple of weeks and then heading off on tour. Rutherford finds himself kissing Mak one afternoon and has to slink back to the office to get taken off the account. Fortunately, that leads to him and Mak being able to see each other.
Both men enter into the relationship believing that they can keep things light and don’t worry about the future. Until that is, they are faced with Mak going away on tour.
This is a light-hearted quick read that’s got some steamy scenes. There’s a lot of chemistry between the two main characters … and I loved the descriptions of the band members and their relationships.
Links: Goodreads // The Author // The Publisher
I received an ARC of Business and the Beat by Kellum Jeffries from NineStar Press via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Kinzie Things 