4.5 Smooches
Synopsis
Raised in poverty and violence, Gabe Reed wears a could-care-less attitude like a shield. He expects life to suck. It always has, and he is usually the one to screw it up even more. Drumming for the college band Luminescent Juliet started as a way to release the built up rage inside of him. But when the band signs with a label, Gabe begins to envision a different life. He just needs to stay out of trouble and follow the court orders of his probation.
April Tanner knows most people view her as perfect. From her icy looks to her college four point, she cultivates the persona since it helps keep people at a distance. Because behind her perfection, April constantly struggles with a past that she is trying to atone for but can’t face.
Though Gabe and April seem worlds apart, fate throws them together and forces them to see beyond the fronts they each present. But even an emerging friendship mixed with a growing lust might not be able to overcome the walls built of guilt and insecurity and abuse that stand between them.
This story can be read as a standalone.
Review
“Damn. I want her. Badly. Though I admitted my attraction to her internally, I kept the actual possibility of being with her as a not-going-to-ever-fucking-happen. Until she dragged her hot mouth across my rain wet skin and turned me on so hard, I wanted to screw her in a puddle on that wet basketball court.”
Jean Haus’ Luminescent Juliet series is that series you wish more people would read because you know if they started it they would be as completely enthralled with it as you are. I fell in love with this band of characters when I stumbled upon Rock The Band on Audilble one day and I am forever happy that I gave it a shot. Each book in this series is a standalone and can be enjoyed by itself but I do highly recommend reading the whole series and watching these characters develop over time from a popular college band to being on the verge of breaking out and signing with a record label.
“One thing is for sure. My body wants him. It wants him real bad.”
Gabe has taking over drumming in the up and coming band Luminescent Juliet and while he loves the music his anger and temper issues are threatening not only his role in the band but now that he has been arrested for assault they are threatening his freedom. Court ordered group therapy seems like an easy solution until he shows up and his band mate Romeo’s current friend/ former girlfriend, Ice Queen April. Gabe has not made his disliking of April a secret and he seems to be the one person who can get under perfect April’s skin.
“Button fly jeans. Hot, hot, hot. Thank you jean makers somewhere in the world.”
April makes suppressing her past and putting out a perfect persona a full time job. She has demons she keeps buried so deep that no one knows and when Gabe decides to make a pet project out of helping her come out of her shell they quickly move from a relationship based on disliking one another to a true friendship. But when you mix true friendship, emotional turmoil and an attraction that both are fighting hard and you get a book I couldn’t put down.
“I stand on my tiptoes and let him drink me in like he did the whiskey, only this isn’t a quick shot, it’s a slow, slow sip, that leaves a burn for more.”
Jean Haus has a way of taking a typical rocker book and making it so much more. April and Gabe grow right before our eyes. Well written and drenched with angst, humor and love Rock My Heart is a book that will grab you with the sexy rocker and pull you in with the heart wrenching story of two lost souls who are desperate to move forward while stuck in the past.
~miranda
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