Whiskey River Rockstar is the third sweet romantic book in this series written by author Justine Davis. Thanks to NetGalley and Tule Publishing for the advance copy.

What a great end to Justine Davis’ Whiskey River series! Whiskey River Rockstar is third in the line-up and works just as well as a stand alone as it does if you’re into reading a series from start to finish.
This is a story of second chances, though healing is also a very strong theme throughout. Zee and Jamie were teenage lovers until his music career took off and he left Whiskey River for the the world of writing, recording and concerts. With the death of one of his band mates, Jamie finally accepts that he’s hit a stalemate. Emotionally drained he heads home to Whiskey River to heal and finds his attraction to Zee is just as strong as it was when he left.
Both Jamie and Zee have demons to face and pasts to come to grips with. I thought author Justine Davis handled their issues really well. I also liked the way she showed the growing love between these two. This book is sensual and really shows how important Jamie and Zee are to each other. It caught my attention on the first page and held it to the end.

This is the first book I have read by Justine which shocks me as I am a huge Harlequin fan. This was a really good read and I cannot wait to read more from her. Zee and Jamie's story was such a sweet read these two lost their parents when they were teenagers Zee's brother left college to look after her while Jamie went to live with his Aunt. Zee encouraged him to follow his music dreams even though she knew she would lose him now seven years have past and Jamie is back home. This was a great second chance romance I really enjoyed it

This was a very enjoyable book! This was the first book I had read by Justine Davis, but I will be reading more. The chemistry between Jamie and Zee was powerful. As the reader you could feel the pull between Jamie and Zee. As the reader you could feel the pull between Jamie and Zee even when she was angry and he was hurting. We should all find a love like theirs!

I'll start out by letting you know that Justine Davis is, and has been one of my favorite authors for decades, and I've yet to read a book of hers that bored me, seemed silly, annoyed me, angered, or disappointed me. I've also never been a fan of rockstar romances, and I tend to avoid them, but since Justine Davis wrote this one, there was no way I wasn't going to read it, and Whiskey River Rockstar didn't disappoint. It gets a 5-star rating from this reviewer.

If you're looking for the typical rockstar romance, with its screaming fans and mindless sex and drug use, this isn't it. Instead, Ms. Davis has written a heart-wrenching tale of love, loss, and personal redemption, and she's imbued it with so much honest emotion and wisdom that it brought me to tears more than once.

The story is a rather simple one, two young, small-town teenagers, Jamie Templeton and Zee Mahan (short for Zinnia Rose), who've both suffered the tragic loss of their parents, met and fell in love. Jamie, thanks to the guiding hand of his Aunt Millie who took him in, and bought him his first guitar. She encouraged and supported his love of music, and his second love, writing songs and performing them. Zee, recognized Jamie's talent, and knew that someday he was bound for greatness, and leaving Whiskey River and pursuing his dream of musical stardom was something she actively encouraged. However, deep down, she always knew the he would leave her to pursue his dream, and when he did, and when, because of the death of her brother's wife, she couldn't leave town with him, she was heartbroken. Seven years later, he still hasn't returned, or even called to see how she was doing, and he didn't even attend his Aunt Millie's funeral 3 years earlier, and Zee's love turned to anger.

Seven years later, after the death of one of his band-mates, and three years after Aunt Millie's death, Jamie finally returns to town, a mere shadow of the star he'd become, and keeping a deep, dark secret that's tearing him apart. He's never forgotten Zee, nor she him, so he's in many ways shocked by Zee's anger, and Zee doesn't quite fully understand it herself. Since Zee was the one who so encouraged his career in music and the pursuit of his dream, he doesn't understand her anger, but he soon will, and so will she.

Like many of Ms. Davis' novels--some of my favorites among them, this one doesn't have much in the way of action, but what it does have is so much heart, such a strong emotional impact, and such a deep and abiding understanding of the frailties of human heart and psyche, that it was simply impossible to put this one down. Perhaps it affected me so deeply because when I was the same age as Zee, I too met and fell in love with a brilliant young musician, lost track of him for many decades, and found him again 15 years ago. We're both happily married to other people now, and yet the understanding, friendship, and closeness we shared as young teens is still there. After all, does anyone ever really forget the first person they fell in love with? Certainly not in my case, and clearly not in Zee and Jamie's case either. Both are characters with whom I could easily identify, and whose emotions are emotions I've experienced first-hand, but even had I not mirrored their experiences in my own life, Ms. Davis has such an incredibly deft hand at creating memorable, fully fleshed-out characters, ones that will live in your memory long after you've turned the last page and closed the book.

In short, Whiskey River Rockstar was an utterly fabulous and heartfelt read, and one I highly recommend. Although it's the third novel in this series, and the main characters from the two previous novels show up in this one, it works just fine as a standalone, although I would suggest reading this series in the order in which it was written. If you're new to this series, I'm guessing you'll want to backtrack and read the earlier novels because if you're not already a fan of Justine Davis' books, you will be after reading this one.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

I gave this book a good go but it just wasn't for me, I tend to find that romance can seem the same and this brought nothing new to the cards, others may love this though.

Justine Davis continues the Whiskey River series telling Zee and Jamie's second chance story. Zee felt betrayed when Jamie left Texas to pursue his music and found massive success, even though she always believed in his gift and in fact encouraged him to pursue his dream. Emotions run high when Jamie returns home after the overdose death of a band-mate. How these two wounded souls come together for the second time is a beautiful and rewarding story, enhanced by re-visiting previous Whiskey River family and friends.

Zee and Jamie - wow. This one tiger at the heartstrings and was a poignant tale of friends/lovers, tension and miscommunication - and just raw want. I loved this installment of this addition to the Whiskey River collections.

Whiskey River Rockstar by Justine Davis is a lovely story about second chance love. I for one love second chance love stories and small town settings and this story has it all.
It´s part of the "Whiskey River" series and this is book 3 but you can easily read it as a stand-alone type of book.

This story takes us back to Whiskey River, as we revisit old memories and learn about new ties. Plenty of humor fills this poignant tale of love fighting to find a way, despite tragedy and the consequences of miscommunication. By times fun and heartwarming, this is another great entry to this series.

"A story about childhood sweethearts reunited mingled with a lot of grief and the effects of an artist’s creative crisis.
Jamie and Zee are young, thinking and feeling as such and yet wise for their ages, tragedy and loss already having made damage in their souls.
I found it sweet and endearing how they lived alone in their separated lives but still thought of each other and wished they were together, because they were “meant to be” – something they are slowly discovering now.
I enjoyed seeing again Kelsey and Deck, True and Hope.

Excellent book! This is a second chance story that will make you swoon and warm your heart. High school sweethearts, Zee Mahan and Jamie Templeton, are reunited when Jamie returns to Whiskey River. They always knew he would leave. He had that something special and Zee knew he would be a star. What she didn't know was how long it would take him to come home. Now he's back but he doesn't have that same confidence he once had. Can she and will she help him get it back? Can her heart handle him leaving again?

These were great characters and their's is a story you don't want to miss. I recommend it.

Whiskey River Rockstar takes readers back to the fictional town of Whiskey River, Texas. Here we get to know Zee (Zinnia Rose) and Jamie. Jamie, the rockstar, returns home following the overdose death of a bandmate. Unbeknownst to his friends, he is also dealing with a music writing block. Zee is the woman he loved and left, creating many interesting complications. We also have the chance to look into the lives of the two couples featured in the earlier books in the series, as we watch Zee and Jamie come to terms with their past.

Zee Mahan and Jamie Templeton were best friends until they became lovers before the very talented Jamie left Whisky River to make it big with his music. Now he's coming back to town having touched rock bottom. Is there a second chance for them?

As Zee and Jamie pick up the threads of their friendship they both have a lot of emotional growing to do most particularly Zee. The author builds a beautiful story of forgiveness and redemption as both Zee and Jamie finally work through their child hood traumas that programmed them to react a certain way hurting each other.

The author does a beautiful job of building the story and rekindling the embers that never died in a small town setting with a wonderful cast of characters.

An emotional rollercoaster of a story.

Jamie Templeton was Whisky River’s very own celebrity, a local boy who turned into one of the country’s biggest rock stars. After the death on one of his band mates, he decided he wanted to return home to lay low for a while. He knew his old friends would be there to welcome him with open arms. But there was one person that he knew might not be as open as the rest, his old girlfriend, Zee Mahon. He knew how upset she was when he left town to follow his dreams seven years ago.

Zee was still in love with Jamie even though he broke her heart all those years ago. The thought of having him back in town was unsettling, but she would still be there for him even if it still hurt. They had been through so much in the past. Helping him now was the least she could do.

Working together fixing up Jamie’s aunt’s house brought back so many memories for them both. Those memories were so strong that they ended up finding themselves wanting to pick up where they left off. But Jamie has been keeping a secret that he hasn’t told anyone. Will it destroy what they have built once again when he lets it come out?

This was a book that I couldn’t wait to read and it didn’t disappoint. I could just feel the passion through the author’s words. I loved both characters. They were flawed and felt real. The emotional story made me happy and sad over and over again. It was a great read all the way to the end. I also enjoyed catching up with characters from the previous Whisky River books.

Sometimes what we want most, what drives us, what we dream of doesn’t turn out quite the way we expected. When his world fell apart, when the music no longer was enough, it was then that Jamie returns home. Home to the people who knew him best, to his roots and to the one woman who always held his heart – Zee. Except now, even though they both knew that he’d leave for his talent and drive were too much for this small town, his return is bittersweet. Yes, Jamie has come home to the one person who matters above everything else – but can she forgive his drive for the dream and leaving her and their love behind.

Whiskey River Rockstar has such an emotional kick to it… not that the other stories weren’t emotional, but this one digs deep into that lost feeling when the one person you loved beyond reason left and didn’t take you with them. There is a different feel, an underlying sadness that makes this story almost difficult at times to read. That’s the kind of story that will win my heart hands down. I cried with Jamie and Zee, got angry with and for them both, felt the loss of love and the hope that it could be found once again. This one touched my heart, and the heartache is still fresh in my mind. You “could” read this story before the others in this series, but then you’d miss connections and events that make more sense when the series is read from the beginning – in my opinion. This story will touch your emotions, your heart and I would highly recommend it for any Contemporary Romance reader who loves a good story, believable characters and events, a strong family connection and secondary characters that add so much to the overall story.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

I liked the small town feel and the angst of Jamie and Zees’s story and just how they went about their second chance at love.
I loved they way the book was wrote with the old sayings and advice and of course the character of Aunt Millie and how she shares her wisdom .
Seeing into Jamie’s heart and soul to how he wrote his music and the fire in him to become a rockstar kept me enraptured, it just went so deep, such a personal inside look.

Zee finally heard her brother calling her by her full name. True was grinning at her that’s all he did lately but he had found Hope. Literally and figuratively. True deserved to be happy as he was the most honorable, stand up guy Zee knew. Zee had been afraid true would never try again after Amanda had died. But Hope had changed all that. Hope had blossomed herself after she took a stand to face what she had ran away from. Zee kept track of anything about Scorpions On top and their music. She had been in love with the man- jamie- who had started the band. Many people from Whiskey river kept track as it was a local person done good. But Zee kept track out of fear, fear from what she might read someday. True asked her for a big favor , to go to Millie’s house for a big delivery. It was actually Jamie’s place now as his Aunt Millie left him everything when she had passed away. But what Millie had really given Jamie in life had mattered more. Millie had gotten Jamie through the years after the horrible accident that had taken his parents as well as Trues and Zees. she had also noticed and festered his talent and she had brought him his first guitar for his sixteenth birthday. Jamie still had that guitar and always would. It was the guitar he brought with him when he came home as it was the only one he wanted. True had given up college and came home to finish raising fourteen year old Zee and became Jamie’s adult male role model and best friend. She had been a sort of mother to Zee also when she needed female avise and True when he needed advice about women. For a female who had no children of her own she had acquired three that night. Zee got a notice on her phone that Jamie was dead but then true called his fiancee Hope who was with Zee and told her it wasn’t Jamie who had died he had talked to Jamie himself. It was Derek the new guitarist who had od’ed and died. Jamie and Zee had been lovers and each others first but then Jamie left to pursue his dreams. He had never lied to her and she had pushed him to leave yet hoping in her heart he wouldn’t leave her and their love. Jamie and Zee had almost three years together although the last two years they had been apart as much as together as the band took every gig it could get but jamie always came home to Zee then. Zee and Jamie would never lose two things - they had that terrible bond of being orphaned in the same instance, and Zee was the only one who always and ever understood the music. After Derek’s death all jamie wanted to do was go home. No other woman had ever made Jamie feel like Zee had but he had still left her behind. Boots was Jamie’s closest friend in this crazy business. They even rented a house together in the hills. They sat out by the pool and Boots asked Jamie if he was going home to his girl and then added jamie was the straightest arrow he’d ever seen for a front man. Jamie had broken jamie’s heart seven years ago and she was still mad. After coming home jamie sat in the treehouse he and Jamie had made love in and faced the truth- the music was gone.
I loved this book. I didn’t want to put it down. It had my attention from the first page until the last. I loved the plot and pace. This was such a beautiful but heartbreaking romance. I felt like I was actually there with Jamie and Zee, Hope, and true and the rest. I loved how the author described small town life as I had been from a small town. I loved Zee and Jamie together and how they found their way back to each other. I loved true and how he gave up his own life to come back and be with Zee and also was there for Jamie. I advise you to read the other books in this series just so everything flows smoothly. I loved the ending of this story also. I now have a new favorite rockstar book. I found nothing to criticize in this book and that was GREAT!!! I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I highly recommend

Whiskey River Rockstar by Justine Davis
Zee Mahan had always known the boy she loved would leave one day–Whiskey River was too small to hold the talent and charisma of Jamie Templeton forever. She just didn’t realize that when he left, it would break her hometown heart.
Jamie had never lied to Zee about his plans, and when he’d left for the bright lights—and made it big—he’d thought she understood. She’d loved him and his music and had encouraged him to chase his dream. Sure, he could have gone home for a visit, but when his band caught fire, he was afraid to interrupt their momentum.
When the crazy world he was living in turned on him, Jamie walked away—back to the only place he could think of to go….home. But was it too late to find forgiveness and rekindle the fire with the only woman he’d ever loved?
this is Zee Mahan and Jamie Templeton’s story.
“Zinnia Rose Mahan!” Zee snapped out of the reverie she hadn’t realized she’d slipped into at the sound of her brother’s exasperated voice. She dropped her pen on the desk and looked up at him.
“What?”“Boy, I know you’re down deep when it takes that name to snap you out of it.”
“You’re different,” Boots said. “Only drug you ever needed was the music.”
Jamie met and held the bassist’s gaze at last. “That’s what I don’t get,” he said, hearing the pain echoing in his own voice as he glanced toward the double doors that led into the emergency room. “Why isn’t the music enough?”
Was it too late to find forgiveness and rekindle the fire with the only woman he’d ever loved?
Whiskey River Rockstar by Justine Davis is a wonderful well written 4 star book.
I am looking forward to reading more books by Justine Davis.
I received a complimentary copy of this book but was not required to leave a review.
more books by Justine Davis.
Whiskey River Rescue
Whiskey River Series
Whiskey River Runaway
Whiskey River Series
Whiskey River Rockstar
Whiskey River Series

This is a well written, engaging story and one of the really well done Whiskey River series. I have enjoyed the previous two books, Whiskey River Rescue and Whiskey River Runaway. This book does not disappoint. The references to the first two books are incorporated in a way to help the two main characters come to a better understanding of the pent up emotions and fears they harbor and add to the story in a brilliant manner.
If you read Whiskey River Rockstar first, I can guarantee you will want to read the others in the series, too.