Review: Redemption by Robin Covington (Nashville Nights #3)

Note: This ARC was provided by Barclay Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

Zane Wyatt has a dream and achieving that dream involves a plan he has never veered from—his main priority has been and always will be the music and becoming a solo artist and getting a recording contract that will give him the total creative freedom and control that he wants is non-negotiable. Going on tour with Kit Landry, one of country’s biggest stars, as both an opening act and a member of her band is just another step in the right direction, but what he doesn’t plan for is the intense connection he shares with Kit’s half-sister Emory Cabell, a nineteen-year-old with true musical talent and a combination of naughty and nice.

Saying that Emory was shocked to find out that the father who taught her how to play the guitar had another family and that she had a half-sibling who just happened to be a darling in the country music industry is an understatement. Now she finds herself as a back-up singer for her sister Kit and is experiencing everything being on the road can offer—including the very talented and very hot Zane. Working together as a songwriting duo flourishes into both a promising professional and personal relationship, and even though Emory feels herself wanting more Zane, he’s always made it clear that he’s never been one to commit.

When I received the advanced reader’s copy (ARC) of Redemption, the third book in the Nashville Nights series by author Robin Covington, the night before its release (night here, morning in the US), I had a choice to wait to read it and post my review at a later date or to do exactly what I knew I was going to do the minute the book was on my tablet: read Zane Wyatt and Emory Cabell’s love story. Both Zane and Emory were introduced to readers in the second book but I will admit that I was quite surprised by the background stories these two had. While Zane makes no secret of his being with a lot of people, regardless of gender, he’s always been upfront about the fact that there should be no expectations. Then you have Emory who may be flirtatious with Zane and has had some experience with her high school boyfriend but is still a V-card-carrying girl. They’re attracted to one another but it’s their passion for music that brings them closer together and enables to discover that they’ve got way more in common than either of them thought.

While the first two books, Temptation and Salvation, had one or both of the lead characters being saddled with very heavy pasts and/or issues that are still affecting them in one form or another, Zane and Emory’s issues, which were mostly family-related, did not feel as burdensome. Yes, Emory put a greater premium on trust because of what her father did, and yes, Zane felt he had something to prove to his father, who questioned Zane’s dream of becoming a musician, but I felt that it didn’t make them into jaded and wary individuals who veered away from relationships. I like that this book had lead characters who were still able to surprise me and that you could see them developing from two flirty singles to creating a friendship and a working relationship as songwriters and singers until they decided to level everything up. Their love story wasn’t overly complex but the struggles were very much there, both personally and professionally, even though they were more understated and things only really came to a head in the book’s inevitable climax.

I may have yet to read all of Robin Covington’s books, but of the ones I’ve had the pleasure of reading, it’s safe to say that she continues to come up with characters that you become invested in and she creates stories that do not merely entertain but make you feel as well. Zane Wyatt and Emory Cabell move in the same industry, with him being the veteran and she being the newbie, and he’s someone who’s seen more action in bed with a multitude of people while she’s been limited to reaching third base with her ex-boyfriend. While Zane is able to teach Emory a few things in both aspects of their relationship, she’s also able to open his eyes and his heart to the possibilities that they have before them if they choose to become more committed in their working partnership and their own unlabeled relationship. It was difficult to not cheer these two on, and that surprise at the end makes me wonder if there’s a novella waiting in the wings for my favorite characters from the entire series. ^.^ I recommend you read Redemption and I give it five stars. ♥

Release Date: 15 June 2015

Date Read: 14 June 2015

Learn more about Robin Covington here.

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