Stolen Moments by A. B. Jackson

Timy reviews Stolen Moments, the first book in the Stolen Romance trilogy by A. B. Jackson.

An eARC was received by the author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Out now!

Possible fit for The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge 2026 prompts:

Joker prompt that goes with anything: Freefall

The first book in The Stolen Romance series trilogy. An insta-lust, male-male, forced proximity, spicy, contemporary, rockstar romance with all of the drama, all of the feels, and ending on a nail-biting cliff-hanger… Loosely inspired by a true story.

Stolen Moments comes complete with its own original songs , which can be heard in the audiobook version, or found by searching Alexander Morgan on your preferred music platform (Spotify, Apple, YouTube etc).

Synopsis

Alexander Morgan stands at the pinnacle of pop superstardom—desired by millions, envied by all. But behind the dazzling lights and deafening applause lies a man haunted by secrets. To the world, he’s flawless, untouchable. In truth, he’s barely holding on.

Christopher Foster, back in London for his sister’s wedding, has his own ghosts to bury. He never expected to collide with Alexander’s turbulent orbit—nor to stir something in the superstar that refuses to stay hidden. As sparks fly and old wounds reopen, the carefully constructed world Alexander lives in begins to fracture under the weight of a passion too fierce to deny.

With the world clamouring for a piece of Alexander, the stolen moments he shares with Christopher become his only escape from the suffocating grip of fame. But in a world where image is everything and the spotlight never fades, can something real survive?

Or will one exposed truth destroy them both?

“I think I can handle myself if he ends up posing a threat,” Alexander says, pointing his thumb at me.
“I’m not so sure. I do have a blackbelt in origami.” I place my hands on my hips and arch my brows, triggering another laugh from Alexander as Rob looks on with a perplexed expression.
Clearly his sense of humor isn’t as strong as his physicality.
“You know…to fold you into an aeroplane and turn you into a flying fuck I no longer give.” I motion flinging a paper plane at him.

This was such an obvious choice. Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne gets referenced a lot in the book. Plus, I also love this song like Alex, so there is that. Okay, maybe not as much as Alex.

I requested Stolen Moments on a whim, because…well, you know me. I can’t really say no to a book that features musicians, *especially* if it’s an M/M romance. These days, I’m a sucker for those, although I might be getting a bit of an overload lately. But that’s beside the point. The point is that I could dive into this one without any expectations, and that’s a good thing.

Stolen Moments has two POV MCs, Alexander and Christopher. One is a world-famous pop star who is burned out on all the touring, pressure, and expectations put on his shoulders since his teens, while he also needs to hide his identity. Because Alex happens to be gay, which is only known to a handful of people in his team. Christopher is your regular guy (compared to Alex, anyway), with a job in marketing, and a family he basically ran away from to live on the other side of the world. Well, his mom, specifically. And as fate would have it, they both happen to be in London at the same time – Alex has a series of concerts to close his tour, and Chris is back to celebrate his sister’s wedding.

The moment they meet, sparks fly. I’m not a particular fan of insta anything, but insta-lust is still better than insta-love so I could let that slide. At least they took their time to actually have sex, so there was some buildup. Fair warning: Stolen Moments has a few very explicit sex scenes, just so you know. Maybe one or two too many, but again, this wasn’t a particular issue for me. The fact, however, that I pretty much only liked the two MCs and even then sometimes they were frustrating AF, was an issue. Like, okay, Alex and Chris clearly have their own issues, they are not perfect, but they were still likable, and I particularly liked the humor. But other than that, I wanted to strangle most of the others, and was questioning why the fuck they let people treat them like that.

“We’re at that stage between fun fling and future therapy session,” he says. His sarcasm is delivered with such coldness that it sends a shiver down my spine.

On Alex’s side, I kind of get it that he can’t really jeopardize his own career, so he has to put up with assholes like Paul, his manager, and Connie, his marketing person, who has the empathy level of a rag, but come on. I really hoped he would stand up for himself sooner or more, or something. But this is the first book in a trilogy, so there is still hope for him yet. As for Chris, I really don’t see why he is friends with Stephen, who can’t shut up and didn’t seem to get the memo about bro code. At least they live continents apart now, but seriously, I hoped Chris would at least address some issues with him. And OMG don’t even get me started on his mom. JFC. I was so proud of Chris for how he handled things toward the end with her.

My biggest issue, however, was that the book ends on a cliffhanger. I’m not a fan of cliffhangers. At all. And I’m not talking about an open ending to leave room for later development. I mean a full-on cliffhanger. It kind of makes me feel manipulated into picking up the next book, and I don’t like that feeling. I get it, you need to hook people, but come on. Cliffhangers ain’t the way, IMO. That said, I still might pick up the second book at one point, because I did become invested in Alex and Chris’ story, proven by the fact that I read the last 70% of the book in basically one sitting. But let me tell you, I’m not amused.

Stolen Moments is a romance full of drama and trauma, both coming from issues related to identity and family. It doesn’t really bring anything new to the genre, and the tortured artist trope can be a bit old, but A. B. Jackson does a good job at bringing this side of the industry to life – not surprising, given that he worked in it. Still, working in it and actually putting it on paper aren’t exactly the same. He captures well the characters, their inner and outer conflicts, and doesn’t shy away from a gut punch or two when needed. Stolen Moments is an impressive debut into the world of fiction, and I think it would appeal to those who like Alexis Hall‘s work. Oh, and it gets bonus points for having a playlist!