*I received a free copy of Rock Wedding from TKA Distribution via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *
Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Rock Wedding by Nalini Singh Series: Rock Kiss #4
Published by TKA Distribution on 19 July 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 345
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
After a lifetime of longing for a real family, Sarah Smith thought she’d finally found her home with rock star Abe Bellamy, even if she knew Abe didn’t love her the way she loved him. But their brief relationship, filled with tragedy and heartache, nearly destroyed her. Alone, emotions in turmoil, and already shaky self-esteem shattered, Sarah struggles to pick up the pieces in the wake of their divorce.
Abe knows he’s to blame for the end of his marriage. Caught in a web of painful memories, he pushed away the best thing in his life – the sexy, smart woman he adores – breaking them both in the process. Then fate throws him a second chance to get things right, to prove to Sarah that she means everything to him. Abe desperately wants that second chance at love...even if he knows he doesn’t deserve it.
But can he convince Sarah – now strong and independent without him – to risk her wounded heart one more time?
Rock Wedding is a toe-curlingly wonderful second-chance-at-love romance, and I loved everything about it!
In the prior Rock Kiss books, Sarah and Abe were mentioned together, and it was obvious the end of their marriage happened because of Abe. In Rock Wedding, we finally got their full story, mostly told from Sarah’s perspective, and she totally and utterly broke my heart! She’s such a beautiful soul that has been through a lot of hard times and heartache, and she thought that with Abe, things would be different. And they were – for a while. Until Abe’s own demons became so ever-present he couldn’t keep them all on the inside of his heart anymore, and started spewing them out on Sarah – the one person who would do anything for him, and who truly loved him for himself.
Second chances are one of my favorite romance tropes, and Singh made it perfect in Rock Wedding. The way Sarah was oh so wary of Abe spoke to me in all the ways, especially because in her heart, she knew she still loved him. But she thought she couldn’t afford to try to have a relationship with him again, because him breaking her heart a second time would kill her. Abe showed her how much he had changed, though, both with his words and his actions, and my heart was singing for them to get back together! Abra forever!
Another thing I really loved in Rock Wedding was that the other band-members and their significant others were a big part of the story as well. And we were invited to celebrate more than one wedding, which was awesome because those other couples were my favorites as well. Seeing how they have all evolved since Rock Addiction was both sweet and good, the interactions both between the guys and the girls showing some strong bonds of loyalty and friendship. There is quite a bit of sadness, too in this story, though, and I definitely cried more than once. Quiet, silent tears that made my heart ache a little bit, truth be told.
Singh has promised her fans some short stories on her web-site, and I feel like I’m quite addicted to this series, even if I didn’t love the very first book. Written in third person point of view, past tense, and mostly from Sarah’s perspective, the story is nicely paced, and Rock Wedding was a quick read. It can be read as a stand-alone, but I really do think you’d enjoy it more if you read the series in order.
The outside world might look at him and think he’d given in to despair, but Sarah knew the truth. Her husband was full of rage. He held it within, his screaming at fate silent, but his anger, it never died.
Putting down the book in her hand, she took another look at all of them, then got up and put the books neatly onto the “to be read” section of the bookshelf in her living room.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Glad to hear you really enjoyed this one! I like when you get a full story for characters you saw in previous novels.
Yes, that’s one of the things I love the most about series that change the main characters with each instalment, Lauren 🙂
Twitter: kbaby81
My library only has the first book in this series. I am trying to wait until the others come in before I try this series, in case I feel like binge reading. Great review!
I didn’t enjoy the first one all that much, Lekeisha, but all the others were totally amazing. And I can see you binge-reading these 🙂
I loved Rock Hard and Rock Courtship. I haven’t read anything else from this series. I’m actually not a huge fan of second chance romances. I don’t know why, but they aren’t my favorite. I’m really glad you loved this one.
Rock Addiction didn’t completely work for me, but Rock Hard and Rock Courtship sure did, and I really enjoyed Rock Redemption as well, Quinn.
I love second chance love stories too, I seriously can’t wait to catch up in this series.
Oh Leona, I really hope you’ll love it as much as I did!!
oh I had such a blast with this book as well!!! So dang good, and although Rock Hard is still my favorite, she did wonders with this book. I do love it when there is a character I don’t like in the beginning, and Singh made me fall in love with him pretty quickly. Great review.
I’m so happy you loved Rock Wedding, too, Renee! Singh totally made me change my mind about Abe, too 🙂