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Soul Storm

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DAVE BALLARD is a tool. A high-level music exec with only one thing on his mind: getting ahead by leveraging the talents of others. When a coworker talks him into going to the middle of nowhere to scout a troubled singer, Dave thinks it will be an exercise in futility. But once he sees the mysterious silver-tongued Luca Wayne on stage, he changes his tune.

With his soulful voice, bad boy vibe, and sad green eyes that can pull you under, Luca is the kind of talent that comes along once in a lifetime. Even before the first song is over, Dave knows he has to sign him. Trouble is, Luca doesn’t want to be discovered.

LUCA WAYNE is perfectly content playing to a crowd of twenty in his father’s dive bar on Tybee Island. Never mind that he looks like a homeless street performer and eats just enough to survive. Luca doesn’t want more. He doesn’t want to be a star. Hell, he barely wants to live. And after what happened to him, who can blame him?

The heartbreaking discovery Dave makes about Luca’s past awakens something inside him, softening his heart and filling him with a need to wrap Luca in his strong arms and make everything okay. But can Dave reconcile the business shark in him with these new tender feelings? And even if he can, Luca’s problems may be more than even he can handle.

When Dave finds himself lost in the eye of the hurricane, he’ll find out once and for all if he has the strength to save Luca from his SOUL STORM.

124 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 28, 2016

28 people are currently reading
237 people want to read

About the author

Maris Black

19 books1,130 followers

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5 stars
123 (31%)
4 stars
147 (37%)
3 stars
88 (22%)
2 stars
28 (7%)
1 star
8 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
Profile Image for Starr (AKA Starrfish) Rivers.
1,181 reviews436 followers
August 30, 2020
It was good. Surprised it doesn't have higher ratings. For a short book, it was a complete story that was satisfying. And even better that it was on KU.

Luca:

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And the "pubs" shot:

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Profile Image for Elizabeth.
1,009 reviews26 followers
November 4, 2016
I'm a fan of this author's previous work but this one was just OK for me. Everything in this book happens lighting fast. I mean lighting.
Dave is a record executive who comes across Luca's youtube video and wants to sign him. Luca lost his brother in an accident who also was his duo partner. Luca refuses to do it without his brother so he doesn't want the attention, or does he?
Everything just felt like bullshit to me. Luca says he doesn't want to be signed because he doesn't want to do it without his brother but he really does.
Dave travels to see Luca play in the bar he works at to convince him to sign, what happens instead is the fastest coming together of two people in history. I mean they barely say hi to each other and the explosives begin.
Then begins the tug and pull of personal or professional, as soon as Dave says he doesn't want to sign Luca. Luca begins his pulling so that he will and vice versa.
This goes on throughout the whole book. Which really spans a week.
This book is well written and for someone who has no problem with Insta-everything it would probably rate higher, but it didn't work for me.
Profile Image for Viv.
299 reviews26 followers
December 30, 2016
I love Maris Black and I really liked this book. Dave and Luca had chemistry from the very beginning. This was an enjoyable read and I loved the epilogue.
Profile Image for Gerri.
204 reviews6 followers
November 4, 2016
Another winner

I love all of this author's books. She's an auto-but for me. She writes love, passion and all that good stuff like no one's business. I highly recommend this book and author.
Profile Image for Trio.
3,628 reviews209 followers
April 11, 2017
Something a little different from Maris Black so I liked it for that... but who the heck were these guys? What is going on and why? The way these two were set up from the beginning none of it really rang true. I'm kinda confused.
Profile Image for Brianda.
433 reviews8 followers
June 30, 2018
1.5

Everybody complained about the fast pace of the story. Me? I felt it was so slow I got bored. It was truly promising, but it didnt deliver. I have the Kage trilogy on hold, so I hope those are better.

On the narrators: Bruce Cullen sounded like a mix of Pennywise and someone's grandpa.
Peter Verbena was better, sexier, which made me sad he had less of the story to narrate.
Profile Image for ⚣Michaelle⚣.
3,662 reviews234 followers
October 29, 2016
2 Stars

DNF at 57%.

This is not the book that summary promised...it was actually quite juvenile and immature and I'm not even sure what the point of having this broken, soul-wrenching singer with the voice of an angel was supposed to be. I imagined a heart-broken, achingly damaged Kurt Cobain and got, well, a tamer less-bratty version of early Jory. Who could sing.

The rest of it was just a mess.

First, Dave wants to sign him to the record label but Luca has steadfastly refused (somehow thinking he's unworthy and it would be wrong without his brother, torturing himself and singing to pay the bills I guess); then Dave tells his assistant that he doesn't want to sign him because he's too big a risk, broken and in need of serious therapy...but at this point Luca gets butt-hurt and starts to show out. Dave has to go back to Nashville for a scouting gig (even though he says he doesn't want to/have to and until this point seems like he's in charge of those kind of decisions but no, there's some other guy CEO who inherited the label from daddy and isn't worthy or something) and decides to drag Luca there...where he proceeds with a Pretty Woman montage of shopping/hair cut to make Luca fit some mold of appropriate in order to make him appeal to potential fans (other scouts? Label execs? IDK) and Luca acts out throwing a bit of a hissy. They go to the concert, Luca acts out some more after picking apart perfectly everything that was wrong with this band that every label in the city wants...some threats of spankings and Ugh, I give up.

It's actually worse than all that, though, because the self-reflection and internal dialogue is just painful. I couldn't put myself through the rest of it in case it got even worse.
Profile Image for Ivan  Sumblingo .
103 reviews
Read
October 30, 2016
Oh My Gosh!!!

I am a Maris Black fan and proud of it... Luca and Dave are such an unlikely pair, but boy do they have so much chemistry. I guess when you fall in love, you just do. It was so emotional when the two met and sparks flew as soon as they did!

I love books with singers in them. I can just picture Luca sing Soul Storm. What's great with the author is that I can actually picture both Luca and Dave initially at the bar when they first met and it was love at first sight really!!! This is the part I liked best about this book.

I just wished that Miles will have his own story with Junior Grimes. I saw some sparks there during the last part of the book. Miles keeps on mentioning him at the beginning of the book as well. I'm wondering...
Profile Image for Justin Nova.
215 reviews1 follower
January 24, 2017
I am a fan of this author and her SSU series but I found this book to be only so-so. The plot seemed rushed and while there were some cute moments I was never fully engaged with the couple or their story. I also found a couple of typos which I usually don't even notice but it added to the overall feeling of the plot going too fast and my not connecting with it. I do enjoy the author though so I will try future works that she creates.
Profile Image for Jess.
998 reviews68 followers
October 29, 2017
I needed a short, light story as a break between several longer books, so I figured one of my last unread Maris Black e-books would be a good choice. It certainly occupied a good two hours, but it left me longing for the dark tone of her Kage series and the fun atmosphere of her SSU Boys series.

This is a much shorter and condensed romance than previous pining-filled stories from Black. Dave Ballard, a music executive with an eye for country singers, is immediately drawn to the moody, closed-off performances of Luca Wayne, so he heads off to the coast to snatch his newest find. But Luca doesn't want to be snatched--he's still wallowing in guilt and self-flagellation .

The plot gets lost quickly in the eroticism between these two men. I liked the idea of the two men playing coy with each other on the topic of Luca being signed to the record label--Luca acting like he doesn't want it until Dave's interest peaks, Dave writing Luca off as a "bad risk" until Luca proves his worth onstage, etc. It would've been a fun cat-and-mouse if the book wasn't so short and sacrificed a potentially juicy conflict for inane stripteases, lukewarm spanking foreplay, and inappropriate oversharing with friends and colleagues. All of the above may be hallmarks of Black's campier settings, but in her two other most popular works, the characters are much younger and much less world-weary. The boyish sex appeal just doesn't work for the characters Luca and Dave were set up to be.

Luca was the biggest problem for me. I could see Dave pretty clearly--he has a smarmy, Ben Affleck-type charm that gets him what he wants until he meets someone who doesn't give an inch. I was invested in him because he's a character who is forced to change for the better because he falls in love, which is always a win for me in a romance. But Luca went from a tortured, sheltered, soulful singer who wore ripped wife-beaters and performed in dive bars to a flirty, pouting, leather-wearing sex kitten in a matter of a few chapters. He turned into Jamie from Kage or Jeremy from Pinned--a twinky cardboard cut-out. It didn't bother me so much with the other books, but this whole story feels like a lot of wasted potential.

I also thought the inclusion of original lyrics at the end was corny. It just doesn't work with the written word. Raine O'Tierney does that, too, which only distracts from the story.

All in all, despite a new setting and interesting character dynamic, it was a pretty weak offering from an author I really enjoy. There were things I definitely did enjoy--the first quarter of the book had a wonderfully bleak, hazy tone with Dave and Luca shacking up in Luca's literal beach shack, getting a feel for each other while trying to ignore how broken Luca really was. It set a false tone for the book that I thought really worked. If the story cared a little more about Luca's character growth, I would've enjoyed this book as a whole a lot more.
Profile Image for J.
3,104 reviews50 followers
November 6, 2016
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. M/M. A record producer goes to a small Georgia town to find a singer that performed on a You Tube video with the hopes of signing him to his record company. What the producer finds is a broken down young man with a terrible tragedy in his past who has no interest in becoming rich or famous. The producer is attracted to man (almost instantly) and so begins their story.

A big problem I had with the story is that just didn't seem fleshed out to me. I liked the MC's but I didn't feel that I really knew them like I wanted to. I also felt that there were parts of the story that were just glossed over and needed more depth. This could have been a great read but it was just kind of average.
Profile Image for Dana.
Author 6 books23 followers
November 4, 2016
I am a big fan of this author's writing. Maris Black is really good at creating alpha characters like Dave. He holds back emotionally from everyone and everything. Until he hears the soulful voice and sees the haunted eyes of Luca.

Luca barely cares that he is alive after losing his brother. Until he meets Dave and finds himself challenged to live a little more.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between the two men. I thought Luca was refreshing with his honesty, and was happy to see Dave's shell break around him. I hope there will be a follow up book because the side character Miles definitely seems like he needs somebody to love.
70 reviews
October 31, 2016
Storms, sadness and music

Luca & Dave couldn't be more worlds apart but they find each other and Dave knows that Luca is broken. Loved the ending :) the lyrics are awesome.. You might have a second career in writing county music!! I've read all your books and although the Kage trilogy is my all time fav, soul storm could be my new fav!!
Profile Image for Mandy Ryder.
57 reviews
October 29, 2016
I couldn't put this book down. Loved everything about it. The music the love. Making me cry !!!!
Profile Image for Kochka94.
1,221 reviews10 followers
Read
April 6, 2021
Etats-Unis, Géorgie, Tybee Island.
Il y a un an, Luca Wayne a perdu son frère Logan, sorti en mer en plein ouragan. Les deux frères, musiciens, allaient réaliser leur rêve en signant un contrat avec un major pour un album. Depuis, le jeune homme brisé noie son chagrin dans l'alcool et travaille dans le bar que tient son père, en se produisant certains soirs pour 2/3 morceaux en live, ne pouvant malgré tout se passer complètement de musique.
Nashville. Dave Ballard, Directeur du département Artistes chez Hydra Records, est un homme d'affaires froid qui ne pense qu'au profit que peuvent lui faire gagner les poulains qu'il signe sous son label. Son ami Miles lui fait alors découvrir une vidéo Youtube qui fait le buzz : un jeune chanteur à la voix magique, au visage caché par des cheveux trop longs, sur la scène d'un bar miteux... qui ferait des merveilles sous leur banière. Sauf que le jeune homme, harcelé depuis un mois par Miles, fait la sourde oreille et ne veut pas de producteur. La machine de guerre Dan va alors y aller et se charge de le faire signer, il le veux.
Sitôt arrivé dans le bar, il est absolument captivé par la prestation et par Luca, dont le visage, magnifique, dégage une sensualité et un magnétisme torride. Il va alors tout tenter pour le faire changer d'avis... mais peut-être que lui aussi va changer...
Poursuivant le vidage de ma PAL, en lisant le résumé, je me suis dit, tout y est : le jeune homme brisé, l'homme alpha viril protecteur qui va ouvrir son coeur, la musique, l'océan, Nashville, toussa toussa... L'auteur a une écriture plutôt agréable, donc... mais ça n'a pas suffit. Tout va beaucoup trop vite, à mon sens, pour être crédible : après un an au fond du trou, Luca voit Dan, lui saute dessus, une nuit passée ensemble et hop, ils s'envolent ensemble dès le lendemain pour Nashville, juste pour visiter hein... mais aller, 3 jours après, okay Luca est d'accord pour signer, juste en réaction à un mâle qui s'approche de son producteur et pis non, il est plus d'accord et il repart. Mais un ouragan qui passait par là.... et ils finirent heureux et eurent beaucoup de petits albums. Fin de l'histoire, next.
844 reviews2 followers
March 9, 2017
If you liked the Kage trilogy, then you will love this book. It had drama, love and some funny moments too. The characters Luca and Dave are mostly closed off with other people yet when they are with each other, they open up more in a very deep and personal level. They are trying for form a strong relationship, Luca having trouble letting the past go and Dave trying to help while not smothering Luca. I greatly enjoyed their love scenes and the importance of music for them that bonded them together. In the epilogue there is a hint of secondary characters getting their own story in the future.
Profile Image for X.
1,253 reviews1 follower
January 28, 2019
Definitely one of the best for this author.

I liked that it was short and not part of a series. She seems to thrive better without the shadows of stretching the books.

Thought she would dwell more on the sadness, but it was OK regardless.

The good thing was that the sex was not all over the novella.

The ending was sweet HEA, surprised that the got married so fast. It was reasonable as well that he didn't shoot to stardom overnight and had collected several awards

All in all a very nice afternoon read.
Profile Image for Cassie.
395 reviews31 followers
January 2, 2020
I wanted more! That is how this book left me. I enjoyed the book. While it was extremely fast paced, and due to the length, that was to be expected, I devoured it, and it left me wanting. To me, that is the definition of a great book. The development of the characters was well done, and I think even some of the side characters were developed enough to have yourself asking what had become of them. I loved Luca, he was so great. I both listened to the audio as well as read this book. I preferred when I was reading it over the audio, unless Luca's narration was on:)
1,089 reviews10 followers
July 11, 2018
Wow.

This was raw, brutal, mesmerizing, beautiful, raunchy, crazy. The list of controversial adjectives could continue for pages - it still doesn't cover all the emotions evoked by this story of Luca, his lost brother Logan, and Dave, the upstart suit who fell in love with the complete, wondrous package that was Luca. It'll make you cry, laugh, mourn, and rejoice. Buy it! It is one of the best books I have read in years!
Profile Image for Maxine Wilson Perry.
143 reviews
September 24, 2020
Wild, just wild!🎸🎤

Dave and Luca's story took my breath away. It made me smile, laugh, and shade a few tears. Their story was so amazingly good, that I could hear Luca's soulful, country voice singing in his smooth falsetto. And Dave save his man from a life of painful memories. They captured each others' heart, and my heart as well. And the narrator did an outstanding joy. I totally recommend their story. You will not be disappointed. ENJOY! ❤💙
Profile Image for Jennifer Veer-Boyes.
Author 1 book1 follower
March 27, 2020
This Book was Ok

Pretty good read. I liked the storyline, it was sad and made my heart hurt for Luca.

Dave was definitely arrogant and an ass at times, but he kinda grew on you.

I loved the ending and the HEA.
8 reviews
November 5, 2016
Good quick read

Another well written book by this author. Good chemistry amongst main characters. Quick read. Wish it was longer for the price.
Profile Image for Eolia.
119 reviews
February 2, 2017
The typos were annoying. Didn't anyone care enough to proofread? "Bust so you know", having a "honer"?
Profile Image for Mikel A.
61 reviews2 followers
September 24, 2024
Miss. Black is one of the most gifted and profound mm romance storytellers of our generation! I highly recommend her entire body of romance literature!
Profile Image for Joyfully Jay.
9,130 reviews522 followers
December 15, 2016
A Joyfully Jay review.

3.5 stars


I have read most of Maris Black’s work and have liked her style throughout most of her books. After the first chapter of Soul Storm, however, there wasn’t much momentum to keep things going for me for an entire novel.

At first, we have Dave being instantly captivated by a video of Luca singing. Initially it’s dollar signs he sees, but almost in the same instant he is drawn to Luca. But since Luca will not take calls from Miles, Dave sets out to close the deal.

Luca was a singer on the rise and after tragedy struck, he barely exists. He sings in a small local bar and has no interest in seeking a larger limelight. Dave sticks out immediately in his slick suit and executive persona, but that doesn’t stop Luca from being attracted to him. Luca has no intention of having a professional relationship with Dave, so a personal one is all he offers. And while the men get to it almost immediately, I couldn’t latch onto their desire or their sudden need to consume each other.

The book was slow. When I finally looked at the numbers, I was at 60% and I didn’t feel that much had happened. I often take notes to capture the feelings and thoughts I have while reading the book to incorporate into a review and by 75%, I had no notes because nothing was standing out. Even Luca’s back story, which was indeed tragic, lacked that emotional punch I was looking for and everything just had a neutral slant to it.

Read Michelle's review in its entirety here.
129 reviews1 follower
January 20, 2017
This is an incredibly moving story. Two men who are searching for nothing and want nothing stumble into each other and wham, a category four love affair finds them. One man is a cocky music executive the other a reluctant singer/songwriter. One is a tool the other a lost boy. They meet on a coastal Georgia island in a dive bar and the rest, as they say, is history. I listened to this story on audiobook and the narration by Peter Verbena and Bruce Cullen is perfect for this story and beautifully executed. I am planning to stalk this writer and these voice actors as soon as I can.
Profile Image for joani.
1,645 reviews6 followers
November 20, 2016
It's all in the name

I love Dave and Luca!!!! I think I have a thing for Luca's because I just loved him to the bottom of my soul. Dave is an awesome character which he shows so many different and emotional sides of himself. Just hooked me in but it was over to quick...how many parts were cut from the final product?? I just wanted more...
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