Title: Rock Redemption
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Rock Kiss #3
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance, Music
Dates read: 16th June 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Nalini Singh
Year: 2015
5th sentence, 74th page: No photographers, no stalkers, nothing but a wild beauty that would suit Kit’s grounded nature.

From New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh comes the next contemporary romance in the Rock Kiss series…

Kit Devigny could have loved rock guitarist Noah St. John. Their friendship burned with the promise of intense passion and searing tenderness… until the night Noah deliberately shattered her heart.

Noah knows he destroyed something precious the night he chose to betray Kit, but he’d rather she hate him than learn his darkest secret. All he has left is his music. It’s his saving grace, but it doesn’t silence the voices that keep him up at night. Chasing oblivion through endless one-night-stands, he earns a few hours’ sleep and his bad boy reputation.

When a media error sees Noah and Kit dubbed the new “it” couple, Kit discovers her chance at the role of a lifetime hinges on riding the media wave. Wanting – needing – to give Kit this, even if he can’t give her everything, Noah agrees to play the adoring boyfriend. Only the illusion is suddenly too real, too painful, too beautiful… and it may be too late for the redemption of Noah St. John.

Even when I sit down to write this review a few days after I finished reading Rock Redemption, I still don’t quite have the words for the absolute awesomeness that is this novel. I loved the first three Rock Kiss stories, but there was just something… extra wow about this novel. It is brilliant, complex and kind of beautiful. But also incredibly heart-rending and serious. A perfect mix in a contemporary romance novel if you ask me (which you probably didn’t, but I’m still going to give you my opinion…).

Throughout this story, my heart broke multiple times. Not just because of Kit and Noah’s different issues, but there were moments I wasn’t even sure if a happily ever after was going to be reached. Although Kit’s issues were there… it was, in particular, Noah’s that were really tragic. I kept guessing and hoping I was wrong about his past (I wasn’t). But even that moment of reveal made me gasp out loud and cover my mouth with my hand. Even when expected… that moment of reveal was so heart breaking and tragic. And enough that you truly wondered whether or not they would actually get the happy ending…

The first three Rock Kiss books have got much smaller stakes compared to this one. Not only is Noah’s past WAY more screwed up and dark, but Kit also has to contend with a stalker and someone threatening her very life. The raising of the stakes is intense and made it completely impossible to remove my nose from this book. It also made my heart palpitate in ways that I wasn’t quite expecting. But, honestly, that is just what made this story so damn good… the stakes were raised, but the eventual happily ever after moment was just that much sweeter.

One of my favourite aspects of this novel was the way in which Kit figures out how to help Noah sleep at night. The construction of the outside bed is such a great, picturesque detail. And it kind of made me want an outside bed too…

Image source: Amazon

Title: Rock Courtship
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Rock Kiss #1.5
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance, Music
Dates read: 15th – 16th June 2020
Pace: Fast
Format: Novella
Publisher: Nalini Singh
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: I’ll be your wingman.

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s new contemporary romance novella is pure hard rock and scorching heat…

What happens when the Gentleman of Rock decides to play dirty?

A drummer for the hottest rock band on the planet, David has a single, powerful weakness: Thea, the band’s publicist and the woman who steals his breath away with her every move.

Only problem is, Thea doesn’t date clients–or musicians. Emotionally scarred by a cheating ex, she’s not about to risk her heart with a man who has groupies buzzing around him like flies. Even if his sexy smile ties her up in knots.

What she doesn’t know is that David is a one-woman man…and he’s madly in love with her. David’s determined to prove he’s worth the risk, and willing to court her, step by exquisite step. Thea’s about to discover just how long and hard this handsome drummer can play.

David and Thea’s relationship begins to blossom and be heavily hinted at throughout Rock Addiction. But it isn’t until this novella that you get to find out the truth. Mostly, I was seriously curious about the “bad thing” that happened at some point in the timeline and their need to be together, alone for a while. Now I know. And it was a brilliant little side point in the story line.

This novella, like the first novel in this series was seriously just so damn sweet! My heart completely skipped a beat while reading this. It made me all gushy and melting-in-a-puddle. Which is exactly why I love Singh’s writing. Although, her contemporary romances are a little less conspiracy-driven (at least thus far) and the sweetness just exudes from the pages of my Kobo in this novella.

In Rock Addiction, Molly suggests to David that he use a memo to get Thea’s attention. I laughed at the idea, but honestly, wasn’t really sure how it would work out… but now… now, I also want to be seduced by a memo. They were professional, cute, and seriously hot and steamy. Exactly what I would love in a seduction… even though I can’t imagine my other half being able to write that professionally…

Alongside a great romance, this novella shows you wonderful aspects of both David and Thea’s pasts. They don’t have the issues that the other couples in this series have, but they do have a number of little hang ups that they need to get over. And that they find a great way to overcome. It’s sweet, it’s beautiful and it will definitely make you believe in true love.

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Rock Addiction
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Rock Kiss #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance, Music
Dates read: 13th – 14th June 2020
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Nalini Singh
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: Knuckling it away, she got up and found the phone as well as the chocolate-fudge icecream and took both back to the couch.

A bad boy wrapped in a sexy, muscled, grown-up package might be worth a little risk…

Molly Webster has always followed the rules. After an ugly scandal tore apart her childhood and made her the focus of the media’s harsh spotlight, she vowed to live an ordinary life. No fame. No impropriety. No pain. Then she meets Zachary Fox, a tattooed bad boy rocker with a voice like whiskey and sin, and a touch that could become an addiction.

A one-night stand with the hottest rock star on the planet, that’s all it was meant to be…

Fox promises scorching heat and dangerous pleasure, coaxing Molly to extend their one-night stand into a one-month fling. After that, he’ll be gone forever, his life never again intersecting with her own. Sex and sin and sensual indulgence, all with an expiration date. No ties, no regrets. Too late, Molly realizes it isn’t only her body that’s become addicted to Fox, but her heart…

There are certain authors that every time I pick up one of their books, I genuinely wonder how I forgot how damn good their writing is. And Singh is definitely one of these authors! I walk away from her books for a little while, but then I pick up the next one in my pile… and WA BAM! I just can’t forget about the story. And it makes me want to scour my shelves for all the other Singh books so that I can have that enjoyment again and again and again.

This is the first contemporary romance of Singh’s that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. It is very different from her other two series; Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter. Yet, there is still that same sweetness and simplicity to the storyline that I absolutely adore. The fact that it was contemporary mostly just made it feel all that much more realistic and likely. Alright, it’s still a romance and that doesn’t mean that this is actually going to happen. But it’s still a little easier and nicer to imagine…

I love that this story combines the horrors of the past with issues in the present. That even though at the beginning it’s Molly’s issues that you think could cause issues, Fox’s also play a pretty major part in their relationship. It’s a great reminder that even if you are knee-deep, drowning in your own issues… a happily ever after is, in fact possible. And something that it is worth aspiring to. And I also love how they accept each other for those issues, and find ways to work with each other and around them. To me, that’s what true love is all about.

I’m now hanging out for the rest of these stories. I just can’t wait for the other band members to start falling head over heels in love! Actually, the moment I write the last letter of this review… I’m going to grab my Kobo and get started on Rock Courtship. Because I just have to know what happens to David and Thea…

Image source: Nalini Singh