Fans of rockstar romances have much to celebrate today! So grab your favorite tale of rockstar love, get comfy on the couch wrapped in a blanket, and enjoy a few hours of re-reading happiness. There's another reason to celebrate today as well...Happy National Hug a Musician Day! MJ Roberts is celebrating it with her rockstar romance, ROCK HARD and ROCK ON: Kenner Brothers Book 8. So definitely check them out and grab a rockstar to hug today! You can even grab these books for FREE on Amazon from 11/14-11/19 HERE.
ROCK HARD
Drummer Ryder Chord has been living half a life since he was sixteen and his twin sister was murdered. He throws himself into his music. When Lexi Evanovich joins the band, life becomes almost tolerable. Until one day when the rest of the band isn’t there and Ryder and Lexi have to share a hotel room: with only one bed.
Rule number one of band-dom: You never sleep with anyone in the band.
Rule number one of bro code: You never sleep with anyone’s sister. You definitely never sleep with your best friend’s little sister.
Rule number it’s so obvious it’s a count even a drummer can keep: You Never. Ever. Sleep with your best friend’s little sister when she’s in the band…and he is too.
Around 2:19 AM I finally fall asleep. At around 3:30 there’s a soft knock on my door. I’m fully awake in an instant. I jump up, run to the door and throw it open.
“Lexi, what’s wrong!” I put my hands on the side of her face. I search her expression, which seems, I don’t know, slightly scared. Which makes me worried.
“Lexi, what is it?” I ask.
But she doesn’t say anything. She just stares up at me. She’s wearing a short, silk burgundy- colored robe I’ve never seen before.
“Lexi, what is it?” I ask again. “What do you need?”
“You,” she says.
I blink. I stare down at her, and my brain refuses to understand. My tongue plasters to the roof of my mouth. Lexi reaches up and touches my biceps, and the spell that has me frozen is temporarily broken.
“Ryder? Ryder, say something.”
I blink again.
“Lexi. I’m not sure what you mean. I’m right here.”
Her voice is soft. So soft I have to bend down a little to hear her. I’ve been playing drums long enough that I have a bit of hearing loss.
“I haven’t been able to sleep since Detroit.”
I straighten up. “Sure you have,” I say like an idiot. “You don’t toss and turn.” I think of myself, the hours I spend staring at the ceiling of my own bunk.
“But I don’t really sleep, not well.” Lexi takes a step closer, and the smell of bursting orange blossoms wafts up.
“Ryder...” she says softly.
She opens the sash of her robe, and it reveals a mostly see-through, burgundy-tinted babydoll nightgown that barely reaches the top of her thighs.
I groan. “Lexi, we can’t.”
She closes that last inch between us and plants a tiny kiss on my chest. The barest of touches. And I snap.
I grab her, haul her up my body, and smash our lips together. All the pent-up need and want I’ve been so good at keeping caged in, tethered, is pulsing out into her. I fist her hair, tilt her head, and plunder her mouth.
God. She tastes so good. Incredible. God. Fuck.
“Lex...” I say as I break away.
“More,” she breathes.
“We shouldn’t,” I manage.
“Right,” she says, but then she kisses me again, and fuck, I don’t give a damn, because, yes, this is Lexi, and all I can think about is tasting her again, more, yes. How soft her tongue is and how out of control I am. I carry her to the bed and part of me tries to reel it in, take it slow, but I don’t want to. Not even a little.
I want to devour her. Every single inch.
Lexi. My Lexi.
Yes.
The blood is pounding in my ears. I can’t think, everything becomes a haze of pure lust, heat, a throbbing sound of need, the contrast between hard and soft, and the perfection of our rhythm together.
I manage to break for a second. “Lex, are you sure?”
“So sure.”
FIND MY REVIEW ON GOODREADS here.
ROCK ON (Kenner Brothers Book 8)
Knife-Edge “Ears” Kenner is the well-known lead guitarist of Dirt Cherry. He sees the woman who makes his heart race and she doesn’t recognize him, doesn’t answer his pick-up lines, doesn’t even look at him. What do you do if you think you meet the woman of your dreams and she acts like she doesn’t hear you?
Lucy Shaanti lives her whole life in silence. Between work, school, volunteering, and overwhelming family obligations that threaten to crush her, she doesn’t need a rock star with an even rockier past.
Will Knife-Edge be able to convince Lucy to risk everything to give them a shot?
MY IMPRESSIONS OF THIS BOOK:
As a fan of rockstar romances I've found much to enjoy about the previous books in this series...and the books found in the series of sequels. The rockers are loud, vividly depicted, and oh so sexy in what they show the world. When they find their other half though a sweet and romantic side emerges that makes them even easier to love. The hero in this story will need all the help he can get as he attempts to woo a sheltered young deaf woman who's weighed down by cultural and familial pressures, fighting against prejudice to prove that hardened rockstars can be the perfect gentleman when the right woman comes along.
Knife-Edge had a rough childhood until he was adopted, along with the other members of Dirt Cherry, into the Kenner family when he was young. Until then, his life was one stressor after another that left him pulling out his hair and that led to his trademark of wearing a bandana on his head. To help him further he learned meditation techniques that he frequently employs as his bandmates sometimes become a bit too much. He'll especially need those techniques as he traverses the rocky road to winning Lucy's heart. Knife-Edge was a truly kindhearted guy, someone who went out of his way to be a part of Lucy's life by immediately learning ASL (along with his bandmates), figuring out how to incorporate her deafness (cleverly and sweetly done actually) into his world of music, along with encouraging her to be more than what she's been defined as thus far. Every step of the way he showed her respect, showed her her true worth to him, in a slow burn romance that was a bit too slow for me at times.
Lucy Shaanti was born deaf, the daughter of Indian parents who are also deaf, and yet another member of an extended family who's deaf. She works in IT but doesn't seem to love her career. She's also coming to the end of her college career while spending time losing herself in the world of online games. All in all, life seemed a bit boring for Lucy...until she caught the attention of rockstar Knife-Edge and soon found herself on a sweet and endearing journey that had him wooing her non-stop. Lucy was hesitant at first about his attention as there's a big secret she's keeping from him that makes their relationship more complex. Her being deaf doesn't seem like too big of a challenge to him, but the cultural implications are much bigger as Lucy doesn't want to disappoint her parents or be shunned by her family for not going through with the plans they have for her. Her parents also feel anger towards the hearing community and hold all those who hear accountable for those few who hurt and mocked them. Though I liked Lucy, I wish she'd been a bit tougher. For far too long she let her family rule her life, accepting their demands far too easily. Through their actions her parents made her weaker in my eyes, made her dependent instead of independent in a world where she needs to stick up for herself and roll with the bumps and bruises of life. Maybe my having a disability makes me more frustrated to see Lucy treated as a child than the average reader, but I was definitely happy that Maddie (the lone hearing member of the family whose backstory intrigues me and who I’d love to see more of too) and Knife-Edge were there to help Lucy start living life to the fullest instead of hiding from it as her parents planned.
The author dealt with the issue of disability head-on, usually in a respectful way but one scene involving a stranger on the street was cringe-worthy. The author clearly did her research though and came up with some clever ways to combine the hearing/deaf world, romantic ways too. Issues of culture were also dealt with in ways that were realistic and fueled the narrative in a meaningful way. Knife-Edge was a truly wonderful hero (after a bumpy first meeting) and was always Lucy's biggest champion, showing respect by letting her set the pace, but bringing on the steam when it's time. The other members of Dirt Cherry were their usual loud and funny selves, but were definitely there to support Knife-Edge as shown by their willingness to learn ASL. There was a playfulness to their banter, sometimes crude but always showing that they cared when all was said and done. Hair-Trigger was especially loud this time and as one of the last single men standing he was definitely in playa mode. An interaction with an equally larger than life woman left an impression on me, as well as him, in a crackling connection I hope to see more of in the future. This was another solid read in a series that's been enjoyable so far, so fans of rockstar romances have yet another book to add to their shelves.
My rating for this is a B-
*I got this book from the author for review in exchange for my honest opinion.
AUTHOR INFO:
M. J. Roberts is a writer, editor, and teacher – with more than two million copies of her stories in circulation worldwide, Roberts is well loved for creating characters who feel as real as your most cherished friends. Roberts works to diligently create believable, lovable characters, witty dialogue, prose ripe with metaphor, exciting plot twists, action that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and romance scenes that sizzle.
Roberts is a multiple award-winning author including first place in the prestigious Summer Lovin’ Romance Literary Contest 2015 for the novel Risk Your Heart.
Roberts also writes under the pen name Natasha Action. Roberts is originally from New York but lives in the southern United States for the purpose of endless comic material.
She’s married to a professional musician (A.K.A. The Rock and Roll God) because she is too busy tormenting imaginary characters and counting her blessings to pursue her longtime dream of Rock n’ Roll stardom herself.
