Rock Redemption was tender, heart breaking and hopeful and it wasn’t at all what you would expect from a book that centers around rock star and an up and coming actress. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures
Description:
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.
Review copy provided for an honest review
Upfront I will say this is my first book by author Nalini Singh and so yes, I am coming into the middle of a series but I didn’t feel lost doing so. This author did a very nice job of incorporating information from the other books into this one so that it was easy for me to pick this one up and start right in. I liked this book quite a bit, but I didn’t love it and it had nothing to do with the writing or even the characters although I will say the term “hero” is used very loosely to describe the lead male character in this book. Rock Redemption was tender, heart breaking and hopeful and it wasn’t what you would expect from a book that centers around rock star and an up and coming actress, it was surprisingly very tame in the sex department which was okay as it was warranted for this story and for that I do applaud the author in not forcing the characters into something that would have been out of character.
Kit, an up and coming actress and Noah, a member of famed band Schoolboy Choir were friends, very close friends until Noah ruined it by showing Kit his true colors. I won’t lie because what Noah did was pretty damn crappy and knowing he did it on purpose to supposedly free Kit was just a crap line he used to make himself feel better. Noah has issues stemming from his childhood and refuses to get help (and I will admit this is one of areas of this book I had HUGE issues with). There are too many famous people out there who see trained medical personnel whose private information is never leaked so I simply could not buy his reasoning for not getting help with his problems. The fact is Noah didn’t want help, he wanted to be a miserable bastard and he did everything in his power to make sure he remained that way and when he was at his lowest in his darkest hour he reached out to the one person he knew would be there for him even though he’d treated her badly. I liked Kit and the fact that she earned her way on her own talent and merits and not on her parent’s name. However, there were so many times I had to question her sanity for allowing Noah to constantly manipulate her feelings and her heart. It was so obvious he loved Noah completely despite everything but I honestly wanted her to take a stand and call him out completely on everything he’d done. In his own way Noah did love Kit and had for a long time, yet he was too selfish to try and get a handle on his life so he could be the man he thought she deserved.
This was an ugly romance from start to finish and filled with a lot of past anguish, hurt and some really codependent behavior. While I enjoyed watching them move forward at a pace that they needed to go in order to overcome some big obstacles, I really wanted to see them grow a bit more outside of the relationship. I wanted to see Noah do some more soul searching about his life and see Kit realize she was stronger than the thought she was and in reality deserved better than what Noah had to offer. I’m not a lover of angst filled books and this one had angst in spades and honestly I think that in reality some of it was unnecessary and could have been cut but it was put in there to try and lead down a path as to who was stalking the heroine and even more angst was added in to set up what I’m assuming will be the next book (with characters other than the H/h of this one). Although I had never read the other books in this series, I knew almost from the start who Kit’s stalker was which frustrated me that no one from Kit herself, the police or her crack security team could figure it out which just proves I’m not meant to read mysteries or most romantic suspense books because I can always see my way to the bad guy long before anyone in the book gets a clue.
After reading Rock Redemption I’ll admit I want to go back and read the beginning of this series, I want to see how the other books in this series compare to this one. I’ve heard such great things about this author and while there was fluidity to her writing that drew me in I’m just not sure if this author’s writing meshes with my tastes, but I am going to read another book before I decide completely. While not without some problems, Rock Redemption proved that sometimes love can trump all and it was enticing enough to make me want to read the beginning of this series.
3.5 stars
I don’t mind angst, it’s the unnecessary kind I can’t stand…thanks for the review Slick