thebookdisciple
Written on Feb 1, 2016
- ISBN10 1942356161
- ISBN13 9781942356165
- Publish Date 10 March 2015
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Tka Distribution
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 396
- Language English
Reviews
stacey_is_sassy
Written on Apr 14, 2015
Saying that, the narrator has a very easy voice to listen to and does a fantastic job as both the male and female character.
Loved visiting with the Rock Kiss gang and I will definitely be back for more soon.
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The Bishop takes his mouse...
I had to go back and re-read Rock Hard after reading my ARC of Cherish Hard. I needed to experience Gabriel in his natural habitat and see him go all T-Rex.
Just so you know...if you are planning on reading Cherish Hard when it releases on November 14, Rock Hard is after Cherish Hard. So, that means we're seeing a love story for an established couple from Rock Hard. Does that make sense? It's early in the morning and I haven't finished my first cup of coffee. In other words...you could read Cherish Hard before Rock Hard or vice-versa and still love both of them.
I advise reading both because they're both bloody awesome.
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T-Rex chases his mouse...
I absolutely loved this story. Charlotte was on a mission to stay invisible when the new CEO, Gabriel recognizes her hard work and decides to make her his personal assistant. Gabriel knows that he intimidates the little mouse who works for him, but doesn't know what causes her fear. This story covers some hard topics including abuse and abandonment. What makes this story so good is we see the steps involved to overcome problems. It's not just a case of telling someone to - "get over it".
T-Rex, as Charlotte likes to call him, is a hard-working man who loves his family. He feels protective of the people close to him. Charlotte has her issues to overcome, but she does want to overcome them and get stronger. She doesn't want to bury her head in the sand any longer. I loved both of these characters, him for his need to protect Charlotte and her for her strength trying to get better. They are better for knowing each other.
The sexy times came later in the book and when they did come they were HOT. There were some violent scenes, but they were written tastefully and never made me feel uncomfortable.
Overall I loved this story. Definitely, will be reading more in this series.
Linda
Written on Mar 4, 2015
Holy hotness, Batman! Rock Hard is the most deliciously slow-building romance I've had the pleasure to read in a very long time. Six stars!!
This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews
EBookObsessed
Written on Feb 14, 2015
I am always drawn to the passion that Nalini Singh gives to her characters. When I read Rock Addiction, we not only meet Molly and Fox, but we got to talk to Molly’s BFF Charlie and see how she is getting along with her new boss who she dubbed “T-Rex.” As soon as I finished Rock Addiction, I was ticking off the days until we finally got the story of Charlotte and Gabriel. I loved them but after waiting all this time, I was also disappointed that the passion hinted at was so stymied by Charlotte’s panic attacks.
At the beginning of the story, both Charlotte and Gabriel refer to her a mouse. She is very competent and is actually doing the job of the CEO’s personal assistant before Gabriel arrived at the company. Charlie likes to stay in the background unnoticed. Gabriel comes in as the new CEO of the floundering company and starts cleaning out the dead weight starting with the PA and offering Charlotte the job she has actually been doing behind the scenes. At this point, she can barely get out the “yes” necessary to keep her employment.
As they work together, Charlie builds her confidence, even throwing her muffin at his head one particular morning. By this point, Gabriel has stopped dating other women. He has set his sights on Charlotte now that the mouse has turned into a tiger.
The romance between the two was wonderful. He brings her to a rugby match with his family and they all seem to understand that Charlotte is special from the other women Gabriel has dated. Things are going very well between them. Problem was when they started getting physical,Charlie starts to show signs of panic attacks. Charlotte lets Gabriel know about the assault on her by her ex-boyfriend, an assault bad enough to have sent him to prison for the last five years. Although he did not sexual assault her and therefore, she doesn’t have issues with sex, Gabriel has a hard time getting close enough to Charlie to find out. If he moves to quickly, she panics. If he touches her nape, she panics. If he comes up behind her, she freezes. If he boxes her in, she freaks.
These panic attacks truly flatline all the passion stirring between the two of these characters. It was absolutely romantic that Gabriel pushes aside his alpha-male tendencies to take it slowly with Charlotte and help her adjust and before the end of the story, she wants him to push her boundaries, but it is still a stymied attempt at hot sex. These were passionate characters who were never allowed to fulfill our desires for them to really come together and burn up the pages.
It was a good story with wonderful characters but I was so looking forward to these passionate characters coming together in a sonic explosion and I was denied. Maybe if I hadn’t been so anticipating their story, I would enjoyed it more. Because I was so excited to finally get this story, there were some tears of disappointment.
Received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Rowena
Written on Feb 10, 2015
This is the second book in the Rock Kiss series and it follows Charlie Baird, Molly’s best friend from Book 1 as she battles her new boss, Gabriel Bishop. When we first meet Charlie in Rock Addiction, she’s a mouse of a woman. She’s shy and being taken advantage of at work but she’s used to it so she just goes about her day…until the new boss comes storming into the office and cleans house.
Charlie is shocked as all get out when the new boss, ex-rugby pro baller Gabriel Bishop offers a promotion to be his personal assistant. Gabriel is a very demanding boss and a big man and he scares her but the more they work together, the more pissed off she gets at him that she forgets that she’s scared of him. The more he pushes her buttons and sees her react to him, the more attracted Gabriel is to her.
I have learned that Nalini Singh writes grown folks romances. You’ll find passionate characters who get mad and then figure their problems out and I really enjoy that about her books. There aren’t a whole lot of characters crying about everything under the sun and then pouting like two year old kids. In this book, we have a woman who has a problem with people getting too close to her because of an experience that traumatized her and when she meets her boss, he crowds her and makes her uncomfortable but he’s also extremely patient with her and their romance melted me at every turn.
It’s no surprise that I loved Charlie. I loved her in Rock Addiction and was pretty anxious to get to know her more and to see the romance between her and T-Rex blossom. I wasn’t quite prepared for her story because I don’t remember expecting what we got but holy cow, Charlie was real and she was brave and she was everything I hoped she would be. I saw what Molly saw in her and I cheered when she started to see those very same things in herself.
Then there was Gabriel.
Holy cow did I fall in love with him…and not just because his Step-Dad is Samoan and he had a Samoan tattoo to honor his step-dad’s culture (though my Samoan heart swooned when I read that because there aren’t very many Samoan characters in the romances I read). I just flat out adored this man. He was strong and he was caring and he was everything that Charlie needed without trying to overwhelm her at every turn. His understanding for her situation and his desire to stick around and help her get stronger for herself and for them as a couple just had me in a puddle of swoon throughout the entire book.
I loved this book. I loved seeing Charlie grow stronger with each passing chapter and I loved the love that Gabriel had for her. I loved that we saw their love grow over the course of the story. It wasn’t love at first sight or insta-love, their love grew over time and it made for such a great story.
This book was a nice treat and I can’t wait for more from this series. I’m greedy for more. Kudos to Singh on writing another winner because this book completely won me over. Charlie was a great heroine and Gabriel was her perfect hero (and mine too! Ha).