Rock Kiss #2
By Nalini Singh
Synopsis
In New York Times Bestselling author Nalini Singh’s newest contemporary romance, passion ignites between a gorgeous, sinfully sexy man who built himself up from nothing and a shy woman who has a terrible secret in her past…
Wealthy businessman Gabriel Bishop rules the boardroom with the same determination and ruthlessness that made him a rock star on the rugby field. He knows what he wants, and he’ll go after it no-holds-barred.
And what he wants is Charlotte Baird.
Charlotte knows she’s a mouse. Emotionally scarred and painfully shy, she just wants to do her job and remain as invisible as possible. But the new CEO—a brilliant, broad-shouldered T-Rex of a man who growls and storms through the office, leaving carnage in his wake—clearly has other plans. Plans that may be equal parts business and bedroom.
If Charlotte intends to survive this battle of wits and hearts, the mouse will have to learn to wrangle the T-Rex. Game on.
Review
First of all, welcome to my first Romantic Reads Thursday! I have had a love of romance books for the past year and I no longer consider it a "guilty pleasure" - just a pleasure. So, I am happy to share that love with the my fellow readers. And if you don't already read the romance genre, maybe I can encourage you to try it out, yeah?
This was my first time reading a Nalini Singh book and I am definitely going to search out more of her titles. I'm usually a stickler for going in order with series books, but it didn't take long for me to not care that I was actually reading the second book in the Rock Kiss series. In Rock Hard, Charlotte is a seemingly mousy assistant to the office T-Rex, Gabriel. Charlotte has a tortuous background that makes it difficult for her really live her life. Gabriel is storm of a man who sees that there is strength and something more beneath what she shows.
What I really enjoyed about Rock Hard was that the serious issues that Charlotte faces are not glossed over or minimized by Gabriel. I appreciated that issues like dating violence are taken seriously. I've read other romance books where the issues the female protagonist is dealing with is all of a sudden solved by the love of "a good man." Gabriel, by all means, is a really good male character - patient, kind, sweet while also being infuriatingly (and sexily) impatient (I hope that makes sense lol).
My only gripe about the story is the ending. It seemed too rushed - I enjoyed the ebb and flow of Charlotte and Gabriel and I feel like the rush at the end took away the growing perfection of their story. Regardless - a great story.