Blog Tour Book Review & Giveaway ~ Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh

Kit and Noah’s rock star romance is finally here in the newest addition to Nalini Singh’s 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.

NOW AVAILABLE
 

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1hP7G54
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1XBZsOB
Nook:http://bit.ly/1VIYkH2
iBooks: http://apple.co/1ITi0i7
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1VIYoXo

I've been waiting for Noah and Kit's story for what seems like forever and finally it's here!

Noah and Kit have a genuine friendship, a real connection and more baggage than you can throw a stick at. Put to the test more than once they try to push past their differences and re-build their fractured relationship, but at every turn there is something keeping them apart - secrets.
 

Rock Redemption is far from a perfect love story - but life aint perfect people and that's what makes for an interesting story - seeing how people overcome adversity, fear and self loathing to carry on and thrive, becoming their true selves. This love story felt extra real to me because of the parallels between Noah and Kit's relationship and the one I have with my hubby - I love a good friends that become lovers story, even with a ton of drama along the way!

Funnily enough the one thing that I really liked about this story is also the thing that annoyed me - the amount of time it took for the friendship to finally blossom into a love story! Which was why I was only going to award RR 4 stars. However the delicacy with which a certain part of this story was told really stole my breath and deserves to bump it up a bit... so yeah, Rock Redemption gets 4 1/2 stars from me.

Excerpt from ROCK REDEMPTION 
by Nalini Singh

Kit groaned at the sound of her phone. Reaching out blindly toward the nightstand, she hurled mental curses upon herself for forgetting to turn it off so she could catch some uninterrupted sleep before her four-a.m. makeup call.

It’d be fun and great for her career, her agent had said when recommending Kit take the superhero flick. Coming off two serious and emotionally wrenching projects, Kit had taken Harper’s advice and jumped on board the high-budget, high-octane venture. Unfortunately, Harper had forgotten to mention the four hours it would take to put her into the head-to-toe makeup required for the role. Daily.

“What?” she snarled into the phone without checking to see who it was.

“Hey, Katie.”

Every cell in her body snapped wide awake. Lifting her eyelids, she just stared at the ceiling through gritty eyes. Her heart thumped, her throat moving convulsively as she swallowed. She hated that he could still do this to her, hated it, but her visceral response to Noah wasn’t something she could stop. She knew because she’d tried for the past two years and three months.

“Noah,” she said flatly. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Two fifteen,” he answered.

Kit should’ve hung up. God, he’d hurt her. So much. But there was something in his voice that had her sitting up. “Are you drunk?” One thing she knew about Noah: no matter his bad-boy rep, he was never wasted. He might give a good indication of it, but look closely and those dark gray eyes were always sober.

“Probably.” A silence, followed by, “I just wanted to hear your voice. Sorry for waking you.”

“Wait,” she said when he would’ve hung up. “Where are you?”

“Some dive.” He took a deep breath, released it in a harsh exhale. “I’m sorry for being an asshole. I wanted to tell you that. I don’t want to go without saying that.”

“Noah,” she said, a horrible feeling in her stomach. “Where exactly are you?”

“The Blue Flamingo Inn off Hollywood Boulevard. Far, far, far off.” He laughed, and it held no humor. “It has a neon sign of a blue—surprise!—flamingo that’s flashing right through my window. Looks like someone stole the curtains.”

Having already grabbed her laptop, which she’d left beside the bed after answering some e-mails before sleep claimed her, she found the Blue Flamingo Inn. But Noah was already gone, having said, “I love your voice, Kit,” in an oddly raw tone before hanging up.

He didn’t pick up when she called back.

“Damn it! Damn it!” She shoved aside the blanket under which she’d been buried, having turned the AC to ice-cold as she usually did at night. Shivering, she tugged on a pair of jeans and an old sweatshirt over the panties and tank top in which she’d gone to sleep.

Pulling her black hair into a rough ponytail to keep it out of her eyes, she ran through the house, phone in one pocket, credit card and driver’s license in the other. In the kitchen, she grabbed her keys off the counter and shoved her feet into the tennis shoes by the door that led to the garage.

She was in her car and on the way to the motel three minutes after Noah had hung up, mouth dry and an ugliness in her gut. “Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay,” she kept saying, the mantra doing nothing to calm her down, but at least it kept her mind focused.

She wanted to call Molly and Fox, or the others in the band, but no one was currently in the city. Schoolboy Choir had completed the final show in the band’s hugely successful tour just over two weeks earlier. Day after that, they’d all gone their separate ways to recharge and regroup.

“Much as I love these guys,” David had said with a grin that reached the dark gold of his eyes, “I’ve been looking at their ugly mugs daily for months. We need to go blow off some steam separately before we start snarling at each other.”

At the time, Kit had nodded in understanding, having had that same experience while working on location for long periods. Tonight, however, she wished the others were all here, not scattered across the country, because something was very wrong with Noah.

 “Noah doesn’t do drugs,” she told herself as she drove as fast as she dared, not wanting to risk getting pulled over and further delayed. “He isn’t the kind to—” She couldn’t say it, couldn’t even think of Noah ending his life. “No,” she said firmly, her hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel. “Noah isn’t like that.”

If you’d like to read the rest of this chapter, as well as the next, click this link: http://nalinisingh.com/books/rock-kiss-series/rock-redemption/

The Rock Kiss Reading Order

Rock Addiction (Book One) Rock Kiss Series

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/WqA2rj
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1G9piir
Nook: http://bit.ly/1t5T7Zt
iTunes: http://bit.ly/1ng9zE9
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1lPqB19

Rock Courtship (Book 1.5) A Rock Kiss Novel

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/XXjjxG
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1G9pmhZ
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1lzgNIi
Nook: http://bit.ly/1COgaC6
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1pEeCy6

Rock Hard (Book Two) Rock Kiss Series

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1BXhHWB
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1G9oslz
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1utQDee
Nook: http://bit.ly/1KEyBIx
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1APyqnU

Rock Redemption (Book Three) Rock Kiss Series

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1hP7G54
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1XBZsOB
Nook:http://bit.ly/1VIYkH2
iBooks: http://apple.co/1ITi0i7
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1VIYoXo

Meet The Author

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling, Guild Hunter, and Rock Kiss series Nalini Singh usually writes about hot shapeshifters and dangerous angels. This time around, she decided to write about a beautiful, charismatic guitarist with a dark past. If you’re seeing a theme here, you’re not wrong.

Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand, and is passionate about writing. If you’d like to explore her other books, you can find lots of excerpts on her website. Slave to Sensation is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, while Angels’ Blood is the first book in the Guild Hunter series. Also, don't forget to swing by the site to check out the special behind-the-scenes page for the Rock Kiss series, complete with photos of many of the locations used in the books.

STALK HER: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Book Review ~ Fake by Beck Nicholas

Title: Fake
Author: Beck Nicholas
Release Date: October, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Source: Won a copy

Seventeen-year-old Kath McKenny has a date to the end-of-term party with her since-forever crush. He publicly messaged her to confirm, but there’s been a recent status update: he’s taking the new girl — giggly, pretty, well-developed Lana Elliot — instead.

After being thoroughly humiliated in front of half the school, best friend Chay talks Kath into revenge: a scheme to create the perfect — and very fake — online guy for Lana. Once she falls for him, they’ll show her what it’s like to get brutally dumped.

Everything is going to plan until Kath starts spending more-than-just-friends time with the other new kid in town — Lana’s dreamy older brother, Sebastian. Kath finds herself getting in deep — in love and drowning in guilt, she tries to put an end to her prank, but it’s taken on an unstoppable momentum of its own, with very real consequences.

As her plotting begins to unravel, so do the people Kath thought she knew:
Her mother has a secret online life.
Her father has a whole new family.
Her best friend is barely recognisable.
Her boyfriend has a disturbing hidden past.
And her enemy is more familiar than she knew.

 
I have to say I was extremely surprised by Fake.
I was expecting another typically immaturely voiced, overly dramatic teenage angst filled read; and while that can be true if only in subject matter, Fake is so much more than that.

It has been written in a way that made me feel for the characters. I connected with them and their story resonated with me. My teenage years may be far behind me but I have teen aged kids in my house a lot and so the drama in Fake definitely felt real and relatable to things I’ve seen and heard happening.

A refreshingly realistic representation of teenagers and the social media monster that is so seemingly innocent and fun – turns bad.
4 ½ stars

Book Review ~ Reaper's Stand by Joanna Wylde

Title: Reaper's Stand (Reapers MC #4)
Author: Joanna Wylde
Release Date: October 7th 2015
Source: Purchased
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Amazon US

As Reapers Motorcycle Club president, Reese “Picnic” Hayes has given his entire life to the club. After losing his wife, he knew he’d never love another woman. And with two daughters to raise and a club to manage, that was just fine with him. These days, Reese keeps his relationships free and easy—he definitely doesn’t want to waste his time on a glorified cleaning lady like London Armstrong.

Too bad he’s completely obsessed with her.

Besides running her own business, London’s got her junkie cousin’s daughter to look after—a more reckless than average eighteen-year-old. Sure she’s attracted to the Reapers’ president, but she’s not stupid. Reese Hayes is a criminal and a thug. But when her young cousin gets caught up with a ruthless drug cartel, Reese might be the only man who can help her. Now London has to make the hardest decision of her life—how far will she go to save her family?

I was a little unsure about Reese ‘Picnic’ Hayes.
Yeah he sounds amazing - smoking hot and a total man whore in the previous Reapers books, but I just wasn’t sure how he’d do as a leading man. He felt aloof and shrouded in too many shadows for my liking. I just didn’t get great vibes from him, right from the start (ie book #1). And truth be told, I was a little dubious of London too. ‘Picnic’ definitely needed a strong take-no-crap female and initially I didn’t think London was up for the challenge, I couldn’t fathom how they’d fit. But she well and truly proved her worth and London and Reese quickly became my favourite couple (so far); and I think a lot of that was attained by London calling him Reese, opposed to using his biker name – and therefore separating him somewhat from the biker persona that I wasn’t overly fond of.

I can’t fault the writing here, Joanna Wylde knows how to spin a good yarn; her storytelling was on point with Reaper's Stand - plenty of emotion, angst, betrayal, and down and dirty biker life all came together to keep me hooked on this intense and gripping read.

I also enjoyed getting to know Painter a bit more and I’m utterly intrigued with Puck, I can’t wait to read their stories. And the added bonus of reading more into Em and Hunters story endeared them to me a little, especially as I hadn’t enjoyed their book as much as some others in the series.

Overall I really enjoyed Reapers Stand – the epilogue and bonus epilogue has left me aching for more though. I seriously cannot wait for more of Joanna Wylde’s sexy and dangerous MC.
4 ½ stars!

Book Review ~ Rock Courtship by Nalini Singh

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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.

“Beer—whatever you have on tap,” David said to the grizzled bartender and grabbed a stool, his eye on the rugby game in progress on the TV screen bolted above the bar.

He’d hardly taken a sip of his beer, the dark liquid bitingly cold, when he felt a presence at his back. Instincts honed by a childhood in one of the toughest areas of New York had him focusing on the mirror behind the bar to check out the situation before he turned. A big, bald, and heavily muscled male with a spiderweb tattoo on his neck was standing behind and just to the side of David, a smirk on his pockmarked face.

Belly heating, David turned with a slight smile. “Problem?”

The bald man bared his teeth and, laughing, looked to a table to his right. “Hear that, boys?” he called out to his friends. “The pussy rock star here wants to know if there’s a problem.”

Laughter and shouts from that particular table, while the rest of the men in the bar went quiet. David didn’t move, taking a measure of the players without letting it show. “Always know your opponent” had been one of the first things his father had taught him—Vicente Rivera didn’t believe in turning the other cheek; he believed in teaching his sons how to put bullies on the ground and keep them there.

“Yeah, there’s a problem,” the bald guy said, shoving at David’s shoulder. “This is a real bar for real men. Not pussies.”

Like that, then. Good. He was in the mood to do some violence. Lifting his beer, David took a long drink, then slammed it down… and punched Bald Head in the jaw at the same time that he kicked out with his foot to connect with the other man’s knee. The jackass went down like a ton of bricks.

Roaring in rage, the man’s friends came at David.

He grinned and started to show them what this “pussy rock star” could do.

It wasn’t until they’d broken a table and several chairs, and the bartender had called the cops that David realized Thea would have to deal with the fallout from this. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he thought as he was shoved into a cell alone, his erstwhile opponents in the cell opposite. Sliding down the graffiti-marked wall to the floor, he thought about the phone call the desk sergeant had said he could make and decided against it.

Fox had Molly with him—the band’s lead singer had been waiting for his girl to arrive since the instant Schoolboy Choir set foot in the city. As for Noah and Abe, they both had their own plans. He knew any one of the three men would drop those plans in an instant to come to his aid, but since the cops had made it clear he’d be spending the night in a cell no matter what, why mess up their plans?

“You do or say anything that’ll hit the media, you call me. Day or night. I hate surprises—so don’t you dare surprise me.”

Thea had given that order to all four of them when she’d agreed to act as their publicist. Her up-front nature and dedication to her job was part of the reason they’d hired her; Thea was the best and she didn’t take any shit from her clients. He wasn’t doing himself any favors by not calling her.

Right then, David couldn’t find it in himself to care. It wasn’t as if she could hurt him any more than she already had. And Jesus, how long was he going to carry this torch that was burning him alive? “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he said aloud, banging the back of his head against the wall.

This novella in the Rock Kiss series from Nalini Singh is a little gem. Told mostly from the perspective of a sweet and genuine misunderstood rock star, Rock Courtship is an endearing and heartfelt follow up to Rock Addiction.

This novella has that small element that I found lacking in Rock Addiction – charm.

Rock Courtship is a charming read with charming characters, a charming love story, a charming romance between Thea and the most charming man of rock, David.

Since the moment he saw her, David has been head over heels for Thea. What ensues is one of the sweetest wooings I have read in quite some time, lots of awww moments!

I can already tell that Rock Courtship is going to be one of the highlights of this series for me, 4.5 stars.