“You’re a good man and she’s a good woman and it’s time she had some happy in her life.”
His eyes narrowed. “She’s not happy?”
Good point to hone in on.
Lee approved.
“I’m talking about the kind we’re hopin’ you can give her, not her boys givin’ her, not the Rock Chicks givin’ her, not her bossin’ around my men givin’ her. I think you get me.”
OMG. OMG. OMG. THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I’VE READ ALL YEAR!!!
Shirleen’s story has been intensely and highly anticipated by pretty much every single Kristen Ashley fan who has ever read her Rock Chick series. As one of the most awesome and beloved side characters in KA history, it was high time she had her moment to shine in the spotlight and let me tell you — ROCK CHICK REBORN was everything I’d hoped for and so much more!! It was full of heart, heat, happiness, Alpha badassery, and SO. MANY. FEELS!
As a fifty-three-year-old tough-as-nails foster momma and badass herder extraordinaire, Shirleen didn’t need any man to complete her. She’d been burned hard in the past and it had left scars she was sure would never truly heal. She filled her life with love for her sons and dedicated herself to giving them the best possible life. But even though she was sure that the ugliness in her past would keep most men away, it didn’t mean that she didn’t secretly years for the kind of love and joy such a man might bring into her life.
Cue the entry of Moses Richardson.
An honest-to-goodness gentleman and a tried and true badass in his own right — both professionally and personally, this man was almost too good to be true. I don’t want to give away too much about him but I can say is that I don’t care what your type is, Moses Richardson will convince you from the start that he’s the right man for Shirleen.
“I want to take you to dinner… Don’t say no,” he whispered… “Please God, woman, don’t say no.”
I shut my mouth again.
I opened it to warn, “Trust me, you do not want to take this on.”
He shook his head at that. “I do.”
“You really don’t.”
“I absolutely do.”
It was then, I looked right into his eyes.
“You absolutely do not.”
He was not deterred.
Damn it. “How about you let me decide that.”
“How about you move your cart so I can keep on keepin’ on.”
His head tipped to the side. “You not into me?”
Was he seriously living in that body, having that face, that voice, those crinkles on his nose and that manner and asking that shit?
I decided a question that stupid wasn’t worthy of an answer.
Amusement lit his eyes again. “You’re into me.”
“I got a job herding badasses, and I got two badasses hovering through Oreos and Doritos at my house. I don’t need another badass on my hands.”
I mean seriously. In the first scene alone of this book, I could not stop smiling and laughing. My heart felt like it was about to burst and I was squeeeeing to myself non-stop. And this was all in the first 9% of the book.
This book had SO. MUCH. HEART.
“Those your boys?”
“Uh… what?”
“At the entrance. Those boys you were with. Ten frozen pizzas in your cart. They yours?”
“Yep.”
Expressive eyebrows went up.
“Both of them?” he pushed.
“Yep,” I pushed out…
“Adopted?” he kept at me.
“Foster,” I shared.
That’s when it happened.
We were in the bakery section and it felt like the ovens had all been dialed up, doors open, warming the place with bakery-oven goodness.
“You’re a foster momma?” he queried softly.
“Just… just them.”
“How long they been with you?”
“Three years.”
“So they’re yours,” he pressed.
My chin lifted half an inch. “They’re mine.
More warmth, not from the ovens, coming direct from him.
It was a badass overload of the best possible kind. Shirleen was family to the Rock Chicks and the Hot Bunch and while it wasn’t easy to be welcomed into their fold, she’d stood by their side through dark times and she was undoubtedly one of them to the bone. So the way they all collectively and individually watched over her and protected her was heart-melting to a whole other level.
“So it’s all good,” Lee noted, straightening his long body out of my chair.
“The date was all good,” I corrected. “You men and your women interfering with my life and setting me up like that was all bad.”
“Can’t be bad if you had a good time,” Vance pointed out.
I positioned myself in front of the chair Lee had vacated and skewered him with my eyes.
“And what if it had been a disaster?” I asked.
“We would have killed him,” Vance answered casually.
This might have been sweet, or funny, if it wasn’t possibly true.
“You’re officially not allowed to kill or maim or otherwise torture Moses Richardson even if things don’t work out between us,” I decreed.
“SO you had a good time,” Hector remarked, having risen from the couch to stand between Mace and Vance in front of my desk.
He was grinning. I looked among the testosterone brigade. “You’re all pretty pleased with yourselves, aren’t you?”
“Pretty much,” Luke rumbled.
His lips had formed a half-grin.
Not to mention it was hilarious!
“Todd can buy you rubbers,” Annette declared.
Tod’s eyes got big.
At me.
“You don’t have any condoms, honey?” he asked.
“Can we give the condoms a rest?” I requested.
“I’ll talk to Eddie,” Jet murmured.
I guessed we couldn’t.
“Don’t talk to Eddie,” Indy advised swiftly.
“Why not?” Jet asked.
“Eddie’s not a big fan of buying condoms for other dudes,” Indy told her.
And just. HOLY FREAKING FEELS. I literally was sitting there just reading this scene about a school paper that one of her boys wrote and I had tears about streaming down my face from the feels. I’ve said it about a million times before this but it’s worth saying again — KA writes family like nobody else. It’s pure gold!!
“Sniff,” I whispered.
“Yeah, Shirleen,” he answered.
“I love you, boy.”
His body shot straight and turned to me.
I felt the air in the room go electric.
I also felt Roam’s attention hone in on me.
So I looked to him.
Right in the eye.
“I love you too, Roam. You’re the best thing to ever happen to me. In my entire life.” I included Sniff in my look. “Both you boys. Blessings. I can count my blessings on two fingers. But they’re the best ones I coulda ever got.”
By the end of the book I was pretty much just non-stop tearing up with happiness. The tears wouldn’t stop. It was an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT ending!!! And then — just when I thought it couldn’t get any better — that gorgeous epilogue was the cherry on top and I was just a blubbering mess of Rock Chick happy.
I was going to start crying again.
I swatted his arm and warned, “You’re gonna make me cry.”
“Have at it. All your mascara’s gone already. There’s no reason to hold back anymore.”
Also. LOLLL! If KA ever says she’s writing a “short story”, best believe she’s gonna deliver something just shy of a full page novel because this reads like a fully fleshed out book that doesn’t cut a single corner and delivers every bit of awesome that you could hope for.
Every single word in this book was exactly everything we have come to love and crave from Kristen Ashley. This was KA romance at its very best and all I have to say now is please please please give us books for Roam and Sniff.
Ok. I’m off to reread it! 😀
Rating: 5 STARS!! Contemporary Adult Romance, continuation of Rock Chick series
