4 Star Review: Rock King by Tara Leigh

Thursday 6 December 2018






Rock King by Tara Leigh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When you’re a rockstar, you can buy anything you want, right? But does that include girlfriends designed to meet your every need? For Shane Hawthorne, that’s exactly what it means!

With no current “girlfriend”, Shane looks to his agent, Travis, to find him a pool of suitable candidates in order for him to find someone fitting to go on tour with him. In the eyes of the media/fans, girlfriends have to openly display affection towards Shane and anything else, well, that can be negotiated behind closed (bedroom) doors! For Shane though, his girlfriends must also act as sober companions and be distracting enough to steer him away from the many temptations of alcohol and drugs.

Delaney Fraser is living a life far from what was mapped out for her prior to her mother’s death. Working as a waitress, she has no idea how to get her life back on track. When an old school acquaintance walks into the steakhouse where she works, her prospects suddenly start to look up especially when her friend’s boss invites her to one of his infamous parties. Little does Delaney know that this particular party is to find Shane Hawthorne, rock star extraordinaire, a new girlfriend.


Shane is arrogant enough to assume that whatever he wants he can get and when he sees Delaney at the party, he wrongly assumes that when he clicks his fingers she will come running but Delaney is not one of his normal conquests. Delaney has standards and she’s determined to keep them firmly intact, especially when she finds out exactly why she was invited to the party.

Despite running from him at the party, Shane is not prepared to let this mysterious woman disappear into the night and he starts a campaign to convince her to accept the job he offers her and, more importantly, his terms of employment. When Delaney is offered a deal that she can’t decline, she reluctantly starts working for Shane but makes it clear to him right from the beginning that her body is not up for sale.

Delaney and Shane are clearly attracted to each other and whilst their romantic relationship is manufactured for the eyes of the press/fans, Shane and Delaney form an unlikely friendship which leads to unexpected feelings on both sides.

With both Shane and Delaney running from their pasts, however, this story soon takes a turn for the unexpected as their fame becomes fodder for the press and secrets once believed to be deeply hidden are revealed. Shane finds a way to make amends with his past but Delaney struggles to open up and soon their perfect relationship looks to be at risk of collapse under the weight of her secret. Can their relationship survive outside of the terms of their contract and will they ever be free of their haunting memories?

This was a fascinating journey into the mind of a recovering addict who is pulled down by the weight of his success and memories of his past. Add to that a broken girl who is also living in the shadow of her previous wrongdoings and together you get an intriguing story which feeds off uncertainty and the pitfalls of fame.

Another new-to-me author, who had the dubious task of trying to win me over in my favourite reading genre. The story was well written and drew me in with ease. Both Shane and Delaney were loveable characters and the story was written in a way to make you cry out in frustration with both of their actions at times, just what I like in a hard fought for HEA.

This ebook was kindly provided by the author/publisher via Netgalley prior to release in return for an honest and unbiased review.


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