u/Distracted-Damsel

I just read the first two books in the 3 book series {lest is moore series by rebecca rathe}

Remember My Name is the first, and it's Rockstar x NFL player chance encounter turns second chance romance. I LOVED this one! It was both sweet and delightfully angsty

What I loved:

• Luc (nfl player) is a shy and easily embarrassed cinnamon roll who doesn't experience lust/attraction like other people do, and only felt it truly when he met Jesse
• Addiction/mental health rep - Jesse is a recovering addict and deals with anxiety & depression
• There's a focus on political activism within the bands work that's a strong thruline
• The spicy times are gooooooooooood in this one (no set roles, toys, piercings, "need you now")

Things I didn't:

• Miscommunication galore - usually I can deal with this but like. It just kept happening?!
• Dumb mistakes making things 10x worse for them - the main conflict in this series is how the powers that be and media keep interfering and smearing the band because they don't like their politics, which I liked!! But....the boys keep hiding things while also ya know HOOKING UP IN PUBLIC AREAS and then are shocked when shit gets leaked.

The second book {say it again by rebecca rathe} is two bandmates + foster brothers. I love a slightly taboo setup for a book so I was excited but man oh man it's like they took the things about book 1 I didn't like and 10x'd it

• The focus on political activism that was good in the first book felt borderline preachy in this one. Like repeated uses of "kids in cages"etc and really hits you over the head with it when, let's be honest, most of us reading this book are already in full agreement on. It got exhausting
• Similar to first book, we see our MC's experience what happened to Luc & Jesse with being exposed before they're ready and what do they do?? Oh the same fucking thing.
• The conflict didn't stick the landing - we're teased with something very specific blowing up for them and it never comes to fruition and is then neatly wrapped up within the final 5% of the story
• I didn't really feel the chemistry between our 2 MC's here and was way more interested in the stern band manager + his sassy and sweet little assistant

Overall I defo recommend Remember My Name and tbh give Say it Again a go if you're feeling it too but I was kinda shocked by how different my experiences were with these two!