Snowcroft Safehouse by Christi Snow

*** 1/2

A year ago Declan Jasper was entertaining sold-out arena crowds as the lead singer of Black Rainbows. But that came to an explosive end when the band got caught up in a criminal cover-up, one that ended with the entire band dead. At least that’s what everyone is supposed to think. 

Now, Dex is hiding in plain sight, working as the school band director in a sleepy little mountain resort town while under the protection of a hard-nosed FBI agent. Instead of eyeliner and black leather, he now wears glasses and corduroy. Instead of having sexy coeds—both male and female—throw themselves into his bed, he’s dealing with teenage angst and grumpy parents. 

At the top of his troubles list is Kelsey Walker, a junior high bundle of rare musical talent in the form of one confused, messed-up adolescent. Dex figures the problem comes from her broken home and wants to help. But when he meets her father, sexy bar-owner, Jack Walker, he realizes that instead of helping he’s probably just bringing more trouble and danger to their door. 

Dex has to stay alive until the trial to bring his bandmates’ murderers to justice, but can he do that if it means sacrificing his own happily ever after?

Review:

Snowcroft Safehouse opens with Dex Jasper and his bandmates buoying up their bassist, Michael.  Michael’s ex-boyfriend has left him beaten and scared for himself and those around him.  The band is dealing with the issue but the show must go on.  Unfortunately, the show doesn’t go on.  An timely placed bomb puts an end to lives of everyone in the band except Dex.   

A year after the night that irreparably changed his life, Dex finds himself living in Snowcroft, NM.  The world thinks he’s dead and Dex is living under WitSec protection until the trial that will hopefully convict the man responsible for taking the life of his friends.  Dex arrives in town with a new name (Finn Alexander), a new handler (a hot straight-laced FBI agent that will hopefully have his own book one day) and a new job teaching band to a small group of middle school students.  All things he thinks he can handle temporarily.  What he doesn’t expect his the instant attraction he feels for the local bar owner…and of course, father of his brightest and most talented student.

Jack Walker is pretty happy with life.  Except that he has no idea how to handle his 12 year old daughter’s mood swings.  Nor does he know what to do about his sex life.  The thing is, Jack is gay.  He knows this.  But he isn’t out.  Being a single dad to a middle-school aged kid in a small town has made embracing that part of himself difficult.  But when Finn Alexander walks into his bar he has hard time hiding his interest.

In a small town it’s impossible to avoid each other and soon Jack and Dex find themselves exploring the possibilities of a relationship.  Jack will need to decide if their relationship is worth coming out and possibly putting his daughter’s small town social life at risk.  And Dex will need to decide if he cannot only tell Jack his true identity but also put him at risk while the trial is still underway.

This was an extremely satisfying m/m romance.   Both men were extremely likable.  I found Dex’s reactions to life after such trauma and loss completely believable.  And although I didn’t LIKE the reason for Jack’s resistance I completely understood it.   There is a perfect amount of mystery built into the story.  It was almost like watching a ramped up episode of In Plain Sight.  Which is one of my favorite shows so it’s no wonder I seriously enjoyed this book.

If you love small town romance with a touch of drama and mystery I can’t recommend this one enough.

Nat

Rock Addiction by Nalini Singh

****

From TKA Distribution:
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh stuns with a sizzling contemporary romance…

A bad boy wrapped in a sexy, muscled, grown-up package might be worth a little risk…

Molly Webster has always followed the rules. After an ugly scandal tore apart her childhood and made her the focus of the media's harsh spotlight, she vowed to live an ordinary life. No fame. No impropriety. No pain. Then she meets Zachary Fox, a tattooed bad boy rocker with a voice like whiskey and sin, and a touch that could become an addiction.

A one-night stand with the hottest rock star on the planet, that's all it was meant to be…

Fox promises scorching heat and dangerous pleasure, coaxing Molly to extend their one-night stand into a one-month fling. After that, he'll be gone forever, his life never again intersecting with her own. Sex and sin and sensual indulgence, all with an expiration date. No ties, no regrets. Too late, Molly realizes it isn't only her body that's become addicted to Fox, but her heart…

I totally get now why Nalini Singh's books are so popular. This was my first exposure to her and I will definitely read more. Rock Addiction was melt your e-reader hot. Fox is a rock god, an international superstar that gets what he wants. He has no lack for admirerers or sex. Women throw themselves at him wherever he goes. He revels in his music and being able to do what he loves.

Molly hides in the shadows and wants nothing to do with the spotlight. After living the darkside of infamy and its devastating results, she wants nothing more than to live a quiet life, but who can resist the opportunity for a night with the world's hottest rock star?

Rock Addiction portrays a dark, possessive kind of love story. Fox is dominating and rough around the edges, having also been deeply scarred as a child. While I have no problem with an alpha male, Fox's need to possess and control Molly was a little too much for me, but bearable because it was an honest portrayal of how a man with his background may react. My real issue was with the progression of Molly's character. She has every reason to want to avoid Fox. In the beginning her character feels true to her backstory – a driving need to be completely self-reliant, wary, untrusting and avoiding entanglements, but then she hooks up with Fox and it's like she protests half-heartedly to being with him because of her deep-seated fears, but then miraculously puts them all aside to be with someone she doesn't know. I admit, I didn't buy it – the transition was too quick and effortless for what she had been through.

The true beauty of Rock Addiction (aside from our bagging the rockstar fantasy) was the supporting cast of characters, including the other members of the band and Charlie (Molly's BFF). Singh's foreshadowing is fantastic! I can't wait to read the rest of this series to see how things turn out for the rest of the gang.

If you are looking for a steamy New Adult and like your fictional boyfriends dominating and possessive, then Fox and Rock Addition are definitely for you.

~Shel

Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse

* * * * *

 

She's got it bad, and he ain't good -- he's in her garage?

"I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me..."

Gonna have to face it: Jody's addicted to Jackson Gatlin, frontman of The Regulators, and after her best bud Mac scores tickets, she's front and center at his sold-out concert. But when she gets mashed in the moshpit and bodysurfs backstage, she's got more than a mild concussion to deal with. By the next morning, the strung-out rock star is coming down in her garage. Jody -- oops -- kind of kidnapped him. By accident. With a Curly Wurly candy bar. And now he doesn't want to leave.
defrrrrrrr-0xs/pd
It's a rock-star abduction worthy of an MTV reality series...but who got punk'd?! (GoodReads)

 

Doesn’t the above summary make you think this will be a silly light hearted read?  I sure thought so.  I was expecting some hilariously ridiculous misunderstanding between two people that looks like a kidnapping but really isn’t one.  Boy was I wrong.  Sure, our rock star, Jackson, is so wasted and high that he mistakes the Curly Wurly Jodie is trying to offer him for a knife.  But our heroine, Jodie, realizes his mistake right away and instead of correcting him, she recognizes an “opportunity” and ACTUALLY kidnaps him.  Which I guess could be silly had she been a fun and silly character (Stephanie Plum comes to mind) but she isn’t.  She is a teen in a bad place and she does this bad thing that left me completely flummoxed. 

 

We learn a few things early on in this story.  One, Jodie’s granddad was one of the funniest free spirits ever.  Two, Jodie is very insecure and has a penchant for making really bad decisions.  She is also unhealthily obsessed with her favorite band The Regulators and their lead singer, Jackson Gatlin.  And three, if it wasn’t for her best friend Mac (Mackenzie), Jodie would be even more of a mess (if that’s even possible).  

When Jodie decides to liven up Granddad’s wake, her mom rips up her ticket to the Regulators concert.  Jodie runs away and moves into the spare room behind the pub owned by Mac’s parents.  Being the amazing friend he is, Mac gives Jodie his ticket and drives her to the concert.  A concert that should have been an epic one time chance to see her hero in the flesh becomes a series of disasters that ultimately land her in a makeshift triage room.  When a very high Jackson makes an unexpected appearance and speaks to Jodie personally, a misunderstanding between them gives Jodie the idea to kidnap the love of her life and take her home with her.  What starts out as a thoughtless crime ends up being a lesson in life, reality and love for Jodie and her hero, Jackson. 

This book just wasn’t what I was expecting.  I was in the mood for light hearted and silly.   And I was disappointed.  So disappointed that I sent a message to my fellow Bibliojunkies bitching about it.  I even considered putting it aside to read something else.  But I decide to move forward and keep reading.  

And in the end…as much as I tried to resist liking this book and as disappointed as I was in the beginning (simply because it wasn’t what I was expecting)…I caved.   At every turn of the page I became more and more sucked in.  It was as if C.J. Skuse was saying, “You WILL read this and you WILL like it!”   

I surrender, Ms. Skuse, I surrender.  I read it.  And not only did I like it, I LOVED it.  And when I say I loved it, I mean that Rockoholic has a guaranteed spot on my Top 10 of 2012.  So there you go.  Thank you for giving me a brilliant dramatic novel (with admittedly hilarious moments) that I had no choice but to embrace.  That was very sneaky of you, dear author.  I applaud your sheer awesomeness.

 

Nat