Although I love a good rock star romance, this just didn't quite hit the mark for me. For me the issues they each had were way to similar, and both of their reactions seemed over dramatic, and honestly, I didn't get Delaney's actions. The romantic problem/ resolution was too late and too quick for my taste. This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't great either.

This entire book is oozing angst and self-deprecation. The plot moved at a somewhat slow pace but it still kept me intrigued enough to keep reading.

I really liked Shane and Delaney. They were well written and enjoyable characters. They were both dealing with heartbreaking pasts that just made me ache for them. I liked that Delaney was self-confident and didn’t let Shane or Travis push her around. I also liked the fact that Shane wasn’t some spoiled alpha rock star. Yes, he was used to getting his way but he wasn’t obnoxious about it. And he wasn’t overly assertive. He walked the line perfectly.

The chemistry was instantaneous between Shane and Delaney but they didn’t jump each other’s bones right away- which I liked. Their connection was like a live wire or “kindling mere seconds from bursting into flames”. They were explosive together. I loved watching their back and forth- their push and pull.

The secrets and the self-deprecation got to be a little redundant after a while. It was hard to read over and over again how much they loathed themselves. Some plot points were dragged on needless while others were resolved quickly. It was a little strange at some points. It didn’t distract too much from the story but it did make me stop a few times.

I also wasn’t too fond of the ending. It wrapped up too easily and did not make too much sense. I don’t know much about how courts work but (without giving any spoilers away) it didn’t seem all that believable.

Overall, I enjoyed it but it felt like it was missing something- I just can’t put my finger on what the ‘it’ was. Maybe it was because it did not seem all that believable to me. I’m not sure. However, I do think it is worth reading. Especially if you enjoyed Kylie Scott’s Stage Dive series,

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read another rock star romance. The last couple I’ve read have been good but not amazing and I like books to blow me away. Then I read the description, “Fraud. Runaway. Addict. Murderer.” and I had to know more. I love rock stars and I love dirty little secrets. I couldn’t resist.

From the beginning we know both Shane and Delaney have secrets that define them. They believe these secrets make them both unlovable and undeserving of love. Through this book we watch them work through their issues and trust each other for better or for worse. And sometimes, the result falls into the for worse category.

One thing I appreciated about this book is that Shane wasn’t overly alpha. He was used to getting his way, but he didn’t force his way into Delaney’s life or body. In fact, he even stopped when he worried she wasn’t into it, which made me like him a lot.

With that said, Delaney was still his hired pretend girlfriend in the beginning. Although the feelings they developed for each other were real, it took time to move past the contract.

This book dealt with shame, secrets and regret. Tara Leigh did a wonderful job of making sure the reader knew of the characters secrets. I understood why Delaney and Shane made the decisions they did and I was invested in their story waiting for the moments when they trusted each other and learned they weren’t unlovable.

I appreciated the honest glimpse Ms. Leigh gave us into Shane’s past with addiction. And the vulnerability in admitting his fake girlfriends also need to act as sobriety companions and a buffer between him and the rest of the world. The characters had to fight for their happily ever after and I’m so glad I could experience this roller coaster with them.

There is a lot of tension and angst in this book but it all resolved in the end and I wanted nothing but the best for Shane and Delaney. The characters were relatable and well developed and the plot was easy to follow. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in a refreshing twist of the rock star trope.

Tara Leigh is an author I hadn’t read in the past so I wasn’t sure what the expect. But she impressed me. The story was engaging and well written. I fell in love with Shane and Delaney which is pretty much the biggest thing I look for in a book. I’m sure I’ll be reading more from her in the future.

I love books about rock stars, so I jumped at the opportunity to review this one. It has all the things I like, troubled pasts, broken characters, angst, a lot of guilt and remorse and a gaping hole in their heart that they crave to fill with love. Yummy!

Shane Hawthorne, has a big load of baggage, but since he’s a rock star, he has Travis, his agent, who makes life easy for him. Shane’s about to embark on a world tour with his group Nothing But Trouble, and he needs a girlfriend to keep the groupies away and keep him away from the booze and drugs. It sounds more like a babysitter, but for the public, she has to look and act like a girlfriend. And Travis is the guy who gets this done. Shane has a deep belief that he’s worthless and will never find a girl who will love him for him, so he makes do with a contract girlfriend. If the girl accepts to take it to bed, so much better.

Delaney is living in Los Angeles, but not because she’s looking for a job in Tinsel Town, but to escape and hide from her past. She’s waitressing when she meets Travis and he invites her to a party at his house. I knew then where this was going.

Delaney and Shane meet at the party but it’s not a great success. Delaney’s huge bucket of guilt doesn’t let her enjoy the moment and she leaves. And Shane sees in Delaney all that he wants.

Delaney accepts the job in spite of her misgivings because it feels a little like pimping. However, she needs the money for her nephew’s medical care and Travis promised to change her father from a maximum protection jail to a minimum protection. Since Delaney’s huge source of guilt comes from her father’s imprisonment, that’s the deal breaker for her.

What follows is their love story, a very bumpy road, because of their personal baggage. It’s riveting, dramatic, and compelling. Their baggage is very similar because both broken pasts stem from driving accidents. In Shane’s case, the accident resulted in the death of his best friend Caleb, whose family accepted him into their home when his father turned abusive. His songs, his success were all dedicated to Caleb’s memory. For Delaney, her tragedy was her mother’s death at the accident and her father’s imprisonment.

It was a riveting story to read and I liked Shane a lot. He felt he was a sham, a fake person, that no one knew the real him and if they did, they would run away and abandon him. He was a great person but he needed someone to bring that person to the front. Delaney did that; however, I felt that she was sometimes too harsh and hurtful to him. There are several scenes where he wears a hurt expression from her answers to him. I didn’t find her the lovable person that Shane portrays until the second part of the book where she loses her defensive stance and turns all in to their relation. Shane is taken through the wringer in the legal system and has to face his past, people from his past and his true persona. It was like a double whammy because both had issues to overcome and both were very strong issues. Great reading!

BIANCA

Eeep! I'm the biggest rockstar romance fan ever! I just had to read this book.

And I reall enjoyed it!

Tara writes really beautiful .... it might even be a bit too much for me. She goes on and on and poetically describes everything and every thought. It could've been a few words less here and there - BUT! I really loved the story. Shane is amazing. Your typical tortured artist with a past. And Delaney is just the same. She was a bit too insecure for my liking. Every time something happened she told herself it was all planned by Shane and his team - ugh - got on my nerves a bit.

But I really loved reading this book!

Even if it's sounds as if I disliked a lot! NOT TRUE. Also - another little thing that made me almost stop reading - it happens pretty late into the story, so I won't say what it is, but it was just ridiculous. Lawyers could've stopped the whole thing before it started!

BUT - I really liked the book - even if it doesn't sound like I did.

It was ROCKSTAR-ish, sexy, adorable, moving, sad, frustrating, beautiful.

And I can't wait to see what Landon and Piper's story will be like!


JANEANE

Tara Leigh, you had me at rock star!

I am as big rock star book groupie, so it was not rocket science that I was going to read Rock King.

I liked that Shane Hawthorne isn't our usual man whore rock star screwing anything with a pair of boobs. Sure, he is the tortured artist, and there was a time he was like that, but there is so much more to him.

Delaney is also a little broken, and whilst most of the time I liked her, as she was not the usual Hollywood/LA starlet, however at times she frustrated the heck out of me. Everytime something popped up (not like that you dirty pervs) she would go on that is was all planned, he set her up blah blah. Got a little tiresome after a while.

I did like the premise - I mean, it would be a very common thing among the rich and famous I am sure. The writing great, the story flowed, I just had a few eye-roll moments as the story went along.

Sweet, sexy, heartbreaking - Rock King had a bit of everything, and now I am eager for the second book in the series.

Will go live on blog, amazon etc on release day

Rock King, by Tara Leigh

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance

I'm a sucker for rock/film star romance, and Kristen Callihan and Kylie Scott are top of the genre for me....so this was an easy request.
How did it stand up to those two paragons of fame books, the Queens of rock romance though?

Well, to begin I struggled. Its a great start in that Delaney is the kind of heroine I love, broke, hard working and honest – well, apart from that one big thing of course.....
She's busy at work when someone comes in who she knew from their school days, not a friend but someone who recognised her, and she's with her boss, who thinks Delaney is perfect for his latest brief. Find a “girlfriend” for his client, rock star Shane Hawthorne. He needs someone stable in his life while touting to keep him off the alcohol/drugs fiasco. So far a serious of temporary girlfriends, NDAs and cash/chance at fame for them have done the trick. It has to be the right person though, and Travis thinks Delaney is perfect.
I loved Delaney, understood why she did what she did, and why that decision haunted her. Its a hard thing to live with, and she's desperate to make reparations, but of course with no money, in a poor paid job how can she?
Shane too, I thought he was great. He knew his weaknesses and wasn't going back, and so far the paid girlfriend has worked out. Travis his manager has come through every time. Delaney isn't the usual actress, would be singer though, hoping for some of his fame gloss to rub off on her, she's very different. There's something about her though that Shane can't let go, something that calls to him, makes his life brighter.

There's so much going on in the first half and yet it felt like nothing was happening once the initial story started. Its seemed to be Will She Stay or Will She Go....over and over. So many inner musings and monologues that I felt every bit of life in the story was being dragged out, chewed over, spit up and spoiled. A really danger of me not finishing this. That's a personal view though of course, others love it as is.
Then we moved forward and...I was hooked. Some great drama, some very real scenes, some tears, heartache, secrets laid bare and wow – that point where it all falls apart, the drama that I love. That was superb, and had the whole book been like the second half it would have been a five for me, but that slow, dull start pulled it down. I needed more action, more of the day to day things actually happening and less musing, questioning decisions, less of the whole should I or not stuff.
I certainly enjoyed Tara's writing style though once things moved forward, and I look forward to more from the series.


Stars: four, a really slow first half for me, but a fabulous finish.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

Rock King is an angsty, sweet rock and roll romance. Shane Hawthorne is at the top of his game professionally but personally he is carrying around a butt ton of grief. He tried self-medicating but was fortunately pulled out of that spiral by his agent. One of the ways he copes is by hiring a pretend girlfriend for each tour. She will stand between him and the booze and drugs and groupies. He picks waitress for this tours “girlfriend” and despite her better judgement she takes the job because she needs the money and Shanes agent makes her an offer she can’t refuse. They didn’t plan to fall in love but Shane isn’t the only one with secrets and Delany’s may just cost them everything.
I liked these perfectly imperfect characters. I enjoyed tagging along with them as they each discovered more about themselves and each other.

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.

Rock King by Tara Leigh is an entertaining read. Ms. Leigh has delivered a well-written book and filled it with flawed but amazing characters. Shane is a rock God. He's cleaned up his act some by staying away from hard liquor and drugs and hiring girls to pretend they are his girlfriend to keep the women away. Delaney is a waitress. Both of them have secrets. Delaney and Shane's story is packed with drama, angst, nuggets of humor and sizzle. There was an overabundance of detail in the book for my taste, but it was a good story and I enjoyed reading it. Rock King is book 1 of the Nothing But Trouble Series but can be read as a standalone. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.

I voluntarily read an Advance Reader Copy of this book that I received from NetGalley.

4.5 Hearts

Rock King is the first book in the Nothing But Trouble series. It also happens to be the first book I have read by Tara Leigh and it was awesome! I am looking forward to the rest of the series. It starts off with the lead singer of the band Nothing But Trouble, Shane Hawthorne and a book loving waitress named Dalaney.

He need a girlfriend. She needed something in return. He knew from the moment he saw her that she would be the perfect girlfriend to go on tour with the band. Too perfect. That was why he didn’t know if she was the one for the job. He didn’t want to fall for her. He didn’t deserve that kind of happiness. Not after what he has done. He just needed a woman to keep the groupies away. To keep Jack Daniels from his lips. White powder away from his nose. A woman to pretend to be with him for the next six months. Yes, she was too perfect so he should have stayed away but he couldn’t. He needed her and he had a feeling that she needed him.

Delaney doesn’t get it. Why would he want her? She was just a waitress who read books and stayed away from parties, friendships, and went from one job to another. Until that night when she ran into someone from her small hometown. In Malibu. Small world, right? Well...that night led to me being Sexiest Man Alive’s new girlfriend. She saw what others saw in him. Sexy, tatted, cocky rockstar but she also saw the real him. In moments. And in those moments, she liked him. The boy with demons. The young boy who deserved love. The emotional man that hid behind his music. She knew at the end of the tour she would either love him or hate him but she had to take that chance.

Shane and Delaney’s relationship is one emotional ride. They both have their pasts. The ones they ran away from. Their connection is unbelievable. They just fit but it is enough? Can two people hiding, open up to each other? Will they be found by the end of the day or will they run when shit gets too real?

I loved this story! I don’t know what it is about the fake relationship books that makes me love them so much but I do. This one is different. It has a different feel to it. I can’t really explain it. I can say that I fell for Shane. I want to be friends with Delaney. And I want to go shopping with Piper (works for agent).

Overall...it’s a sexy, emotional, funny, and kickass start to a series! I have a feeling the next book will be totally different. The characters are hardcore opposites.

Quotes:

“So don’t. Don’t be that guy. Prove me wrong.”

Tonight I wanted to give myself over to reality and fantasy until I didn’t know where one ended and the other began.

“Am I not enough for you? You need a book boyfriend?”

I really enjoyed this book. What's not to love about a hot messed up Rocker?!

Some twists and turns I didn't see coming. Which to me makes it Awesome!

I will definitely be checking out other books by this author.

4.5☆

You know those amazing books you read, that are so well written, with such a fantastic storyline, that you start panicking when you are coming down to the last 10% of the book because you don’t want it to end…YEP! Rock King by Tara Leigh is one of THOSE books! YES, Tara! You knocked it out of the park with this book! This is an eye opening perspective on the Rock World and groupies and obsessive music fans! The concept of a “contractual girlfriend” is…WOW! The instant chemistry and the banter between Delaney Fraser, a struggling waitress with a deep, hidden secret, and the rock legend, Shane Hawthorne, is soul biting! The twists and turns in this book have you at the edge of your seat and not wanting to put the book down! Plus, the sexual interactions in this book are delish!

When rock star, Shane Hawthorne, is heading out on tour, his manager, Travis, arranges to find a fake girlfriend/assistant to help keep him out of trouble. After some hesitation, and reading the contract and what she will get from it, (which involves helping her dad who is locked up for killing her mom) Delaney Fraser agrees. “You’re being paid to act like his girlfriend. What you do in private is entirely up to you and Shane.”

The Rock King has a few deep, dark, hidden secrets and many moments that will have you gasping!
I LOVED this book! I went through a full circle of emotions while reading this! I literally felt the love and the heartbreak…and (without too much “spoiler alert”) there was one part where I was reading with my jaw dropped!!!

The Rock King was SO well written! The storyline, literally, was one of the best! Plus, I loved how Tara addressed the issues of drinking and driving, texting and driving, drug abuse and recovery.

I can’t wait for Piper and Landon’s story!!!

This book was EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!! Oh Delaney, how i can relate to you girl. Running away from your past, running away from your demons, and trying desperately to hold on to who you are while doing it. BRAVE. I Love this character so much, I cannot even tell you.

And then comes Shane...big bad Rock Star with a heart of gold he really does not let many people see and who can blame him. When you find out his story, and the demons he is battling, you cannot help but feel for the man that millions of fan adore but that no one really knows.

The characters are flawed but written beautifully and with every word, and every page, you fall deeper into their life, and you cant help but cheer them on.

Hi- It's Tara Leigh! I wanted to download the arc & I'm just filling this out so NG doesn't ding me for not leaving a review. Thx!!!