Contemporary Romance

3 stars

I was really torn on the rating for this one, on one hand, I wanted to give it 4 stars for making me care about the characters, on the other hand I wanted to give it 2 stars for the sheer dumb f*cking stupidity of many of the main characters’ actions. Gah!

“I’ve wanted you … since I was old enough to know what want was. I’ll always want you. Always…. I love you so much, so very, very much.”

Carly and Brian have liked each other since they were kids and dated straight through high school. They were planning on getting married straight out of school and spending the rest of their lives together. On the night they were planning on announcing their engagement, their 6 best friends (including Brian’s brother) are killed in a horrific car crash. Carly is traumatized by witnessing it and goes into shock, rendering her mute – from that moment on, she just can’t bring herself to speak to anyone for anything, she doesn’t ever want to leave her house and she refuses to go near a car. At first, Brian sticks around and tries to be supportive but when she shows no signs of improvement, he makes a hard choice and decides move ahead with his plans for college (*SNIFFF*). Despite trying to get Carly to join him, she ultimately chooses to stay – unable to move past the trauma.

“Every dream I’ve ever had begins and ends with you. No matter how much time passes, if you want to come home, I’ll be here. I love you always. Only you.”

There is also a bit of a murder mystery twist to the story regarding how the accident came about that takes up a good chunk of the book. There is a serial rapist and murderer on the loose targeting the popular kids in their small town who is also tied to the accident. I have to say that this part of the story was pretty intriguing and kept me very interested to see who the bad guy was.

Then, about half way through the book, after 15 years of complete disconnect (no talking, no writing, no seeing each other, period) and 2 loveless, hollow marriages later, Brian returns home. When he sees Carly, they immediately reconnect as though they were only separated yesterday and just pick up their romance right where it left off prior to the accident. It was like he never left, they literally just lapse right back into being together. Despite the lighting pace though, it is rather swoony 🙂

“With his hands on her face, he asked, “Has there been anyone else?”
She shook her head.
“Carly,” he whispered as he leaned in to kiss her…
“I can’t start this all up again and then watch you leave,”…
“If we start this up again, I’ll never let you go. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.” He captured her mouth in a hot, passionate kiss that was full of longing… “And when the time comes for me to leave, either you’ll go with me, or I won’t go at all.”

And throughout all this, there is a murderer to catch!

I felt very conflicted about the book. I was just so torn back and forth between feeling all swoony over their romance and just frustrated to all hell over their decisions. It just seemed like every time there was a decision to make, they picked the wrong one. I mean, it still all worked out in the end, but it could have been SO much easier.

I kept trying to be sympathetic to Brian when he talked about his failed marriages and how they didn’t work because every time he said ‘I do’ his heart was crying out for her, but if that was the case, then WHY DIDN’T HE JUST GO BACK TO HER???

And how could they leave everything for 15 years being as in love with each other as they were?? I just couldn’t get over that. I guess , at first it made me question how much they could have really cared for each other, but by the end I realized that they both really just made a lot, and I mean a lot  of freaking dumb decisions. The love was there, but the brains… not so much.

It frustrated me to no end the way Carly and Brian reacted after the accident. Their separation made ZERO sense to me. About Carly, I understand that what she went through was traumatic, but it seems to me, if she actually cared about Brian, she’d make a bit more of an effort to get past her problems. And as for Brian, I would have thought that if he’d cared enough for Carly, he would have maybe pushed her a little more to try and get past her inhibitions that were preventing them from living their life together… but instead he just accepted her decision and left. Point blank, cold turkey, poof! Gone for 15 years! And I mean,  I know that Carly’s loss sucked from the accident, but Brian lost his brother and he was able to at least continue living. I totally understand her being a mute, but in my opinion, she should have been a mute if thats what she needed and still gone with him!!

While their reunion was very welcome, I felt it was a little rushed. But, if you could mentally get past the stupidity and speed of some of their actions, Brian and Carly were quite adorable and swoony together in the second half of the book – with plenty of steamy scenes (this is not a YA book). I liked them together but at the same time, I really just wanted to throttle them.

I also totally went through what I’m now gonna refer to as the “accident syndrome” in this book. Thats where a big huge (usually car) accident happens VERY early on in the books – within the first chapter or 2 and although you feel terrible for the characters, its hard to actually connect with their loss because you just don’t know the characters who died well enough.

Honestly though, I have to say that while Brian did do a few throttle-worthy things, it was Carly that really kept making the face-palm-enducing decisions. She’s like that character who, in a horror movie, you just know is gonna die first  or be the one to give away their position to the bad guys *shakes head* lol, sigh.

Overall, if you are a bit of a tolerant reader, you might really enjoy this book. I know it had a lot of high ratings, but in order for me to fully enjoy a book, I have to be able to respect their decisions more. So overall, it was okay. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it, I even liked many parts of it, but my frustration prevented me from rating it higher.

The story did have a HEA but the ending was rather abrupt and could definitely have benefited from an epilogue.

• Buy THE WRECK (Kindle)

 

 

• Buy ROCK CHICK REGRET (Kindle)

“I want you in my bed, I want you in my house, I wanna come home to you.”

Pure 5-star swoony awesomeness!! 🙂 

This book just grips you right from the start. I literally gasped my way through the first chapter with wide eyes and all sorts of “oh my god, did that really just happen?!” thoughts.

This story, much like the last one (Rock Chick Reckoning) deals with some very intense scenarios.  Sadie is the rich, beautiful daughter of a high ranking drug dealer.  She is used to being judged for her father’s sins and since her mother disappeared when she was young, she grew up with very little family connections and/or friends. As a defense mechanism, she becomes cold and emotionally untouchable – a way of protecting herself from the world. Hector worked as an undercover agent in an operation to take down her father during which they first met. But despite their undeniable connection,  it wasn’t the right time them and although he had already decided that she was his, he couldn’t do anything about it or he would have blown his cover and he ends up pushing her away and deeply hurting her feelings. But when her father is put in jail, she starts to feel threatened by some of his enemies and comes to Nightingale Investigations for help… I don’t want to give too many details but very early on in the story, she ends up being attacked and raped (yes, raped!) by some of her father’s enemies and let me tell you, if you thought you’d seen the Hot Bunch pissed before, you should see them now!

“Lee recruited men who, it turned out, had a strong ethic about women and how to treat them and an even stronger ethic about how they felt about men who didn’t treat them right. This wasn’t on the job application but, bottom line, it was the only kind of man Lee would have in his employ.”

After being released from the hospital, Sadie’s two gay buddies take her in and slowly, through constant love and support, they help her heal, and learn to trust again and to let her guard down that she has spent her whole life building up. Hector gives her alone time to heal before pushing into her life but when he senses that she is ready, he very slowly, gently, and carefully begins to show her how much she means to him and what he’s willing to do to make her his.

Hector “Oh My God” Chavez. How can I say enough good about him? He is kinda perfect actually. And because he’s dealing with a rape victim who is still healing, it makes him bring out his “Gentle Alpha” side in spades.

“And you think you can help me find my way?”
He shook his head, his eyes went warm and I got another neck squeeze, coupled with a tightening of his arm around my waist. “Mamita, only you can find your way. I just wanna be along for the ride.”

He is just so carefully tender, incredibly gentle and endlessly patient with her. Never rushing her, never pushing her, just constantly showing her through his actions and words that he’s there for her, that he’s gonna always be there for her, and that he’s not going to let anything ever hurt her again.

“You okay?” he asked.
“No,” I answered…
Then… He promised, “You will be.”

That being said, he’s still an Alpha and his intentions are clear from the start. He views Sadie as his woman even though he’s willing to take the long road to get there.

Watching Sadie’s transformation from from this cold and totally emotionally guarded Ice Princess Stepford Sadie to this strong, sassy, and feisty Rock Chick was just so beautiful. Seeing her finally stand up for her self, and not let anyone get the better of her was cute, humorous and just so heart warming.

“Hector? You call him Hector ?”
“Well I can hardly call out, “Agent Chavez, oo Agent Chavez, when he makes me climax, now can I?” I snapped“

Almost the whole story is told from Sadie’s POV and the main focus of the story is her healing and her relationship with Hector. It was so wonderful to see the story focus on them together as a couple for so much of the book. Hector doesn’t ever let anything come between then and once he gets through her emotional defenses enough for her to feel comfortable being herself around him, we actually get to see them functionally together despite them their fair share of issues to work though.

Oh and their sexy scenes were HOTTTT!!! Gentle, swoony KA Alpha …

“Mamita,” his voice was rough with what sounded like laughter and something else altogether, “You think you could handle my mouth between your legs without you freaking out?”  

Seriously though, this book is has some intense action scenes and KA really knows how to write BADASS like no one else. I swear, you feel like you are right there. And after so long knowing these characters, when they are put into life threatening situations, let me tell you, I felt real fear while reading.

But the real thing about these books that makes me smile (even while writing this), SQUEEE out loud, and keeps me absolutely desperate to just read more and more of KA’s books is the way she writes her Alpha males. Just the depth of the emotion behind their protectiveness of their women and each other, the way they all have each others back and  how they will literally let no one fuck with them or their women is just so incredible swoony, it makes my heart race even just thinking about it. These guys really are the human equivalent of the Black Dagger Brotherhood vamps.

And the side characters! I fell in love with her gay best friend Ralphie. He brought the perfect blend of tender love and comfort as well as great comedic relief in the midst of some really serious subject matters.

“I call them as I see ‘em. He’s Hispanic…” Ralphie lifted one hand and then continued, “And he’s hot.” He lifted his other hand and then shoved them together like he was squeezing an accordion. “Hence, Hispanic Hottie.”

The emotional side of this book is deep and beautiful – I cried once and got teary 3-4 times. Especially the ending – oh it tugged at my heartstrings! And not to mention the absolutely amazing epilogue where we are treated to 2 (yes, TWO!) utterly swoony weddings *happy sigh* and given a delightful intro into the next, and sadly last, book in this series.

Buy ROCK CHICK REGRET (Kindle)

** SERIES READING ORDER **

Book #1 — ROCK CHICK (Lee & Indy)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #2 — ROCK CHICK RESCUE (Eddie & Jet)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #3 — ROCK CHICK REDEMPTION (Hank & Roxie)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #4 — ROCK CHICK RENEGADE (Vance & Jules)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #5 — ROCK CHICK REVENGE (Luke & Ava)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #6 — ROCK CHICK RECKONING (Mace & Stella)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #7 — ROCK CHICK REGRET (Hector & Sadie)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #8 — ROCK CHICK REVOLUTION (Ally & Ren)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

 

• Buy ROCK CHICK RECKONING (Kindle)

5 stars!

Oh Lordy be! I’m still wiping away my happy tears as I write this… This probably is the darkest and emotionally deepest of the Rock Chick books but it also had some of the happiest and most beautiful moments of the series as well as an INCREDIBLE epilogue!

Kai “Mace” Mason. The insanely hot, dark, broody and emotionally broken member of Nightingale Investigations. From the beginning of the series, we’ve always known that Mace’s back story was going to be tragic and heart breaking. Whatever could have made such an unflappable, badass man live under the constant shadow of haunting memories just had to be really bad and in this book, we finally learn his story…. and yes, it broke my heart. I still just want to find him and give him a big huge hug…. and I mean that sincerely, lol, not just cuz he’s a smokin’ hot, utterly drool-worthy badass Alpha 😛

“What I’m sayin’ is shit happens to couples, In any relationship, there’s ebbs and there’s flows. You want that relationship to work you put on your life jacket and ride it out.”

Mace and Stella used to be an item. They dated for five months and when he broke up with her, Stella was utterly broken-hearted and, as the lead singer of the Gypsies, threw herself back into her music. She misses him badly but is too stubborn to tell him (duh, she’s a Rock Chick lol). And unbeknownst to her, ever since their HOT little moment in the last book where she sung to him on stage, he still considers her his woman. He knows it, and unfortunately, so do his enemies. When the Hot Bunch’s women are all targeted by a criminal overlord intent on bringing war to the Nightingale Investigations turf, things quickly get out of hand. And, when Stella is targeted as well,Mace’s natural solution to him needing to protecting her, as per the Hot Bunch law, is to move in with her. Under fire from their enemies, Stella and Mace begin to work through their issues, figure out their feelings, deal with their misunderstandings and realize that throughout it all, they are both utterly in love with each other.

“You two solid?” Vance asked.
“I’m workin’ on it,” Mace told Vance.
Vance grinned. “By my count, it takes about 2 weeks to really wear ’em down.”

I just LOVE a guy who has no problem admitting he made a mistake, apologizing, and who is willing to go out of his way to prove himself.

“I fucked up and hurt you. It won’t happen again.” His fingers tensed around my head and his deep voice dropped low. “I promise you, Kitten, it won’t happen again.”

That being said, Stella doesn’t make it easy for him at first, as per Rock Chick law.

“I’m not going there again. Not with you.”
“You’re already there,” he informed me.
“I am not!” I snapped back.
The amusement returned. “Babe, you’re sitting naked in my lap on the morning after a night where you begged to suck my –”
I put a hand over his mouth to stop his words and drowned out the muddled words…
Shit.“

But can I just say how much I love a book that is able to poke fun at it’s own character’s flaws 😛

“Bullets flyin’, Hot Bunch boys puttin’ their asses on the line, threats against all you all…” Shirleen whirled her finger around to take in all the Rock Chicks. “Still, you all act like getting a booty call from one of the Hot Bunch was like being tortured. I just don’t get it.” …
“You don’t understand,” Roxie put in.
“Nope. That’s right, girl, Shirleen does not understand. So what trauma are we up against now?” Shirleen’s eyes moved to me. “You havin’ too many orgasms or what?” 

LOL!!! The humor in this book is just brilliant and so well placed – perfectly offsetting the heavy emotional drama and action packed scenes that saturate the book. And I’m not kidding about the action – it starts off with an execution and drive-by shooting, and pretty much reads like the most kick ass, adrenaline-packed movie imaginable – complete with turf wars, grenade launching, exploding buildings, evil villans (and the Supreme Asshole of All Time), snipers, shoot-outs at concerts and more.

But somehow, throughout it all, KA weaves this absolutely beauuuutiful, deeply emotional story about healing, camaraderie, and love…. oh *swoon* …. this author is freaking brilliant!!! How her books aren’t just everywhere lining the shelves of every major bookstore is an honest-to-God mystery to me.

Stella and Mace were just wonderful together. Both of them have have really big emotional demons they have to deal with – Mace especially. And it was just SO sweet to see them figure each other out and help each other heal. <3

For some reason, the emotional tug on Mace and Stella’s stories really hit a lot deeper than some of the past books and brought me to tears several times. But at the same time,  they have, hands down, the most brilliant rapid-fire, toe-to-toe banter of any of the couples yet!

And I loved that KA blended music into this story. She has a list of songs at the beginning that she suggests listening to at certain parts of the story and let me tell you, those parts are beeeauuuuuutifull!! *Swooooon* What is it about PDA on a huge stage that just makes your heart flutter uncontrollably? *Sigh* LOVED it!

Here are the songs:
Pearl Jam’s “Black”
Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes”
Journey’s “Open Arms”
Blink-182’s “All the Small Things.”

One more thing which made me ridiculously happy was the alternative POVs (!!!). Although Stella’s POV is by far the main one and her and Mace’s story is the focus of this book, we also get absolutely GORGEOUS scenes from Jet, Indy, Roxie, Jules and Ava’s POVs as well as a few special scenes from Mace’s and the Hot Bunch’s side.  … In so many big series, the couples from previous books just fade into the background and while still there, are no longer the focus. But I just LOVED how refreshing it was to read the different POV’s in the middle of this story and to be able to reconnect with each of the Rock Chick/Hot Bunch couples. Completely and utterly squee-worthy!! 🙂

And I gotta say for the last 12% of the book I literally did nothing but wipe happy tears, grin and squee!! We finally get to see the wedding that we’ve been waiting for for several books now (yes, it was absolutely PERFECT) and the absolutely EPIC epilogue set 5 years into the future featuring all the couples’ swoony HEA’s…. *sigh* *grin* …  There is something just so deeply, heart achingly beautiful about watching characters you have come to know and love for the last 6 books get everything they deserve. And also just to see all of them heal, grow together, and live their lives…… just absolute Rock Chick perfection <3

If you haven’t started reading this series yet, you should bump it way up on your to-read pile. You are seriously missing out!

CASTING:

• Mace
• Stella

Buy ROCK CHICK RECKONING (Kindle)

** SERIES READING ORDER **

Book #1 — ROCK CHICK (Lee & Indy)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #2 — ROCK CHICK RESCUE (Eddie & Jet)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #3 — ROCK CHICK REDEMPTION (Hank & Roxie)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #4 — ROCK CHICK RENEGADE (Vance & Jules)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #5 — ROCK CHICK REVENGE (Luke & Ava)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #6 — ROCK CHICK RECKONING (Mace & Stella)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #7 — ROCK CHICK REGRET (Hector & Sadie)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #8 — ROCK CHICK REVOLUTION (Ally & Ren)
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review