Between Rock and a Hard Place (Rocking Romance Collection, #3)

by M J Schiller

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

After the high I had with Blackout, I eagerly jumped into BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE. I was hoping I would have the same experience seeing that both books were written by the same author. Also the blurb indicated that it was a romantic suspense which helped to add to my excitement. Alas, I did not capture the feeling I was desiring for. This is not to say that I did not enjoy the story, but based on my prior experience with Ms. Schiller's work, it did not quite live up to my expectations.
 
BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE is a combination of romance and suspense. I enjoyed reading about the romance, the suspense not so much. It tells the story of Heath, a homicide detective, and Jasmine, a rock star. Under normal circumstances, it is unlikely that these two would have crossed paths, however the brutal murder of Jasmine's best friend changed all that. From the minute they set eyes on each other, the attraction between them was apparent. Heath, however, was somewhat skeptical about getting involved with Jasmine, as doing so could mean an end to his career. However, he had difficulty staying away.
 
The romance was nicely developed and it had a somewhat realistic feel. I loved the fact that they took the time to get to know each other before becoming intimate. The sexual tension was jumping from the pages. Earlier I said I found the romance somewhat realistic, and this is because I thought it strange that for someone who is constantly in the public eye, Jasmine was able to keep her relationship with Heath a secret. How is it possible that Heath's son did not brag to his friends at school that his dad was friends with a famous rock star? These are questions that were never addressed.
 
As it relates to the suspense, I did not get the nail biting/edge of your seat feeling that one associates with this genre. First of all, it was not difficult to figure out who the killer was. By the third chapter I knew who it was. That took the fun out of the story for me. I like the whole guessing and trying to figure out who is the guilty party. There were no twists or unexpected surprises. It was way too predictable.
 
The characters were very well developed. I was able to understand their behaviour, even though I did not necessarily agree with it. I found Jasmine to be weak. Here we have a 24 year old rock star who allowed her uncle to control every aspect of her life. It's obvious she is not okay with it, however she is too weak to do anything about it. There were also other incidents within the story that highlighted how weak she really was. Heath is considered one of the best in his field. He was nicknamed Hawk, because his uncanny ability to see every detail when conducting investigations. However, it was my belief that his judgement became impaired due to his involvement with Jasmine. He failed to see what was staring him in the face the moment the investigation began.
 
The cover is beautiful, the premise was good and there were several aspects of the story I enjoyed, however, there were some things that I could not overlook. These issues prevented me from being blown over by this story. The themes, such as judging someone based on their profession and not feeling worthy of being loved, were evident. However, I felt that it could have been better delivered.
 
Overall, this was not a bad story, but it was not my favourite. -
Review originally posted at