New Review! Rising West (Turner Artist Rocker #1) by Alyson Santos 5 Cranky Stars

Rising West by Alyson Santos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5 Cranky Stars


Ok I’m not crying it’s just my allergies. Darn pollen outside and all that jazz. I knew an Alyson Santos book was going to tug at my emotions but this one darn near did me in. I felt empathy for Mason West because I too just dug myself out of a dark hole. I didn’t spiral like Mason, but I was feeling it on the edge there that anything at any moment might set me off. Like Mason I too have the best support system and got myself back to rights. You can tell Alyson writes from a place of knowing. It’s like she is going through what Mason is going through and bled that out onto the pages. She took us on a journey and not just a sad one but a musical one. We seen how Mason and Liberty both bled their art for the world to see. “Crisis. Breathe. Deal”


Mason West has seen loss and knows what it means to struggle. He’s a single father to an amazing little girl but he feels like he isn’t enough. He gave up on his dream to be a dad and he wouldn’t change that. He settles for playing little venues here and there to appease his artistic side. He struggles mentally and places a lot of blame on himself. When he is scouted at a bar one night, he thinks it’s all a joke. Mason has been here before and has suffered the impact of that star crashing. He wasn’t expecting the band of Burn Card to want to take him on much less it’s enigmatic and quirky keyboard player Liberty Blake. Liberty knows heartache. Their lead singer just up and left both the band and her without a glance back. Yes, she has trust issues and is unsure of using Mason to replace Chris. She denies her feelings at every turn. She knows Mason is beyond talented, but she knows more is lying beneath the surface. When things take a turn, she proves she can be Mason’s sun in his dark world. She fights for him and falls in love with Brooklyn in return.


Oh. Em. Gee. Ok at first, I was like I don’t understand all the musical beat references and I was unsure if I would understand this book then I realized how wrong I was. This book is so much more than a musical guide it’s a journey into mental illness. It’s about love and sacrifice. It’s about the lengths we will go to protect someone but it’s also about how our mind plays tricks on us. That even people with the world at their feet suffer behind a friendly smile. It’s not all sadness and dark though there were some funny moments tossed in when Liberty’s internal monologue about hugging and of course Chris and his birdhouse song that he swore was a Grammy winner. In the words of Liberty Blake “You’re still breathing today. You’re still feeling today. So breathe Mason. And feel.”




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