Rock Hard (Rock Kiss, #2)

by Nalini Singh

[EBookObsessed]

I have been looking forward to this book since the teasers about Charlie and T-Rex in Rock Addiction. Although the story was good and Gabriel Bishop was patient and sweet, Charlotte’s PTSD is so strong that the heat index on this story flatlined. Nalini Singh tried to make up for it with daydreams and dirty talk, but panic attacks stilted almost all of the love scenes.

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.