A Rockstar romance where the FMC is the rockstar! Heck YA!

Birdie and Liam were best friends - 10 years ago. Now, Birdie is a famous rockstar. She is on tour but a stalker is about to put an end to that.
This is where Liam comes in. They may not have been friends in years but they are still a part of the same friend group. He finds out pretty quickly that she is in danger and becomes her body guard.

Birdie is very put off by the idea of a body guard so imagine her response when it's Liam, her ex best friend, that takes on the role.

Liam is down bad for that girl. He might not see it, but it’s obvious. He has his own struggles and does not handle them well when it comes to Birdie and how he feels about her.

I love how they both challenge each other, how they are better with each other.

Seeing snippets from the night they stopped being friends made me frustrated with Liam but he continues to redeem himself.

As always, Kayla has written a beautiful, chunky, proud in her own skin FMC to swoon over.


-Narration-
Both Angelina Rocca and Greyson Owens are excellent narrators. The huskiness of Angelina's voice really went well with the “bedroom” voice Birdie is described as having. So husky.
It's such a good read, Greyson will have you swooning with his depiction of Liam. They are both able to keep consistent with the other character voices they use.
I listened at 1.5x


Do you love?
✨ rockstar/bodyguard
✨ ex best friends to lovers
✨ forced proximity

Thank you to Kayla, Fat Babe Publishing INC., & NetGalley for the ARC.
All opinions are my own.

I absolutely love Kayla!!! This was the sweetest story! I am a sucker for second chance! Thank you for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook! The narrators killed it!!

I jump on every opportunity I get for a Kayla Grosse book. I really enjoyed the female rockstar and bodyguard basis for this story. The story flashes back to some tough moments from when they were kids and brings out some of Birdie's insecurities, but Liam does his best to prove to her that she is exactly what he wants.

This book has a bit of suspense throughout trying to figure out who is stalking Birdie and Liam is super protective, which I really enjoyed. His history was also tragic, but he worked so hard to make sure that he took care of Birdie and ensured her safety. Together these two were really sweet and I enjoyed that she was able to lean on Liam throughout.

The narration by Angelina Rocca and Grayson Owens was excellent. Angelina did a beautiful job bringing out Birdie's ambition, fear, and insecurities. Grayson is always superb and he is always exceptional bringing out everything from the fierce protectiveness all the way to the soft, tender moments.

TROPES:
Rockstar x Bodyguard
Plus Size FMC
Ex-Friends to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Second Chance

Thank you to Kayla Grosse and Dreamscape Select for the ALC.

🎤friends to strangers to lovers
⭐️celebrity x bodyguard
🎤 second chance
⭐️body positivity

Sadly I didn’t feel invested in the relationship - particularly when the MMC kept stating that he didn’t view her in that light. They could’ve worked out a friendship, but I didn’t buy the romance.

The mid-stakes plot didn’t bring enough to the table to justify tying the story together or making it so lengthy. It just repeated the same points over and over until the FMC was worn down.

An advanced listener copy was obtained from Dreamscape Media via the NetGalley platform.

I got this book on NetGalley, so I assumed it was a new book by this author. Turns out it’s from 2022 and it’s just the audiobook that’s new. I’ve read a few books by this author and by the writing here, I’d say her writing has developed a lot in the last 3 years.

The initial premise seemed promising: a second chance romance between a pop star and her bodyguard. Unfortunately, the plot was not well developed. When we finally find out why he broke her heart in high school, it was literally for no reason at all. I thought he’d have some big secret, but nope.

Birdie as a character had no real depth. She’s a singer who likes to drink and has terrible body image issues. The book looked like it would have positive plus sized representation, but it really didn’t. She was still just a “chubby” (her word not mine) 16 year old girl with Daddy/abandonment issues.

How could her assistant be 22 and have graduated from university and have been working with her for long enough to build trust? University is from 18-22. She would be an apprentice at best. And the whole plot of having her have their bio dad send sexually explicit threatening letters to her half sister who doesn’t even know either of them exist? Yeah, that’s messed up.

The plot was full of holes and underdeveloped ideas. And if I had to hear her say “chocolate eyes” one more time I’d dnf the book. I get it, his eyes are brown. 2-3 times tops for that description across the whole book would have been more than enough. The book needed more editing.

DNF at 50%
I really thought this book was going to be good.
But I REALLY didn’t believe they wanted each other.
It felt like they were actors paid to sleep together

Rockstar- check
Long lost love- check
Angst, drama, and spice- triple check!

Oh my word this was so damn cute! These cutesy romance novels are becoming my new favorite thing! This book checked off everything on my must haves list! This was an adorable second chance romance with drama left and right! Not once did I think that stalker reveal was coming. I literally had no idea who it could be!!!! I adored Birdie. She’s got to be one of my favorite characters I’ve met in a while. I love how strong and body positive she is. Im so happy Liam allowed himself to love and to be loved. He had such a hard life but im so glad he and birdie got their happy ending!

I loved this book as soon as I started listening to it but it’s not because it’s a Kayla Grosse book but that’s a plus. The narrators are just truly amazing Grayson Owens can make anything sound good. The story and pilot is how the story really shines but the narrators did an amazing job playing these characters!

Overall, I enjoyed this story very much. However, Liam’s reasoning for why he did the things he’s did throughout the book felt so flimsy that I was annoyed with him for much of the story. Aside from that, story was solid and the narration was excellent and engaging.

Love love love it!! Kayla can write anything and I’ll read it. Plus Grayson, such an amazing narrator. I loved this story so much. Definitely going to be recommending it

This book was too cliche for me. I like hallmark books, but this one just kinda stuffed a bunch of stuff together

The first third of the book was pretty solid, my original thoughts being that this book was great for body positivity and did it better than Mile High by Liz Tomforde. However… The book just really lost me and I started rolling my eyeballs.

For a dual narration, I actually thought the narrators were good with the opposite sex voices. I think that authors should consider spending the extra buck for duet narration as that area is currently exploding

OMG THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN. I listened to this to and from work and clinical and I would like itch to get back in my car to listen. The narrators were absolutely fantastic and I was hanging on their every word. In my opinion this rockstar, reformed playboy, second chance romance was Kayla's best work to date and I absolutely loved it.

Former childhood best friends and a plus size rockstar sign me up!
Liam is Birdie's bodyguard requring them to be in close proximity while she is on tour. (One of my favorite tropes) This book also has a romantic suspense vibe throughout with birdies stalker which i enjoyed and added a lot of mystery to the story.
My cons were unfortunately Liam and his lack of groveling. His inner thoughts revealed he was definitely attracted to her but he made her feel like he wasnt for years.
There was a lot to enjoy about the story but Liam was not my favorite MMC unfortunately.
The audiobook was fantastic. I greatly enjoyed the duel narration and both narrators

4.25/5

If you need a curvy girl romance, where she owns who she is then this is for you. There are still moments of self doubt but the way she handles it is perfect.

Birdie Wilder had a crush on her childhood friend, and when she expressed those feelings and he turned her down they stopped being friends. Fast forward to Birdie being a rockstar with a stalker, Liam gets pushed back into her life to help keep her safe.

Liam has his own trauma to work through as well, and he ends up hurting himself more than he even knows. But Birdie is willing to help him even if he doesn't want to open up at first.

Childhood Friends
Second Chance
Bodyguard/Singer
Curvy FMC
Dual POV

I received an advance review copy audio version. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select | Fat Babe Publishing INC., for the opportunity to listen to this book. Grayson Owens and Angelina Rocca an amazing job narrating this audiobook

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tropes:
💜 childhood friends
🎤second chance
💜curvy FMC
🎤 bodyguard x rockstar
💜found family
🎤 dual pov

This was a cute and fun, curvy/ body positivity, bodyguard romance. I’ll be honest rockstar romances typically aren’t my favorite to read but this one was cute.

Birdie and Liam were best friends as teens but when Birdie confessed her true feelings Liam told her he could never like her like that… which as a teenager would crush a girl and ends their friendship.

Fast forward to now
Birdie is now a famous singer and is not only dealing with a tour, but now has a stalker. Enter Liam, he’s now an ex-military and police officer, and now is hired as her bodyguard . They are forced to work together until the stalker is caught… what could go wrong?!

listened to the audio version of this title, which was performed by Greyson Owen & Angelina Rocca. Greyson I have not listened to much before but thought he did a nice job. Now Angelina I’ve listened to quite a bit and is fast becoming one of my favorite female narrators. Together these two packed a perfect duo and gave a great performance.

Thank you to Net Galley and Kayla for giving me a ALC!

This book was so cute! I could not stop listening, I listened to the whole thing in one day! I love a good second chance romance and this one was also friends to lovers while at the same time being enemies to lovers!

I loved Birdie's character, she is a self confident woman who knows what she wants!

Liam is a sweet soul that doesn't know how to love because he wants to protect those around him.

This was a great, fun summer read! It was also a really good palate cleanser for me after some heavy dark romance!

I love Kayla Grosse, I do, but this MMC gave me the ick. He did not deserve her. I don't even care about his actions with the other chick at the beginning, but him as a teen him as an adult, grow up dude. Also, I just felt like the plot was a little underdeveloped. The music career, the stalker, the familial relationships, the best friends' relationships, it just didn't pull together for me. I couldn't find a way to connect with the story, the only redeeming factor was Birdie....also what kind of bodyguard leaves their charge unprotected? I feel like that's step 101, but let's be real he also fell asleep on the job...

The narration was on point as always though, I got a copy of this book from NetGalley and it was a quick listen, but bro...get it together.

This book had so much promise—and while I didn’t fall head over heels, I appreciated the experience. It’s got one of my favorite setups: popstar x bodyguard, with a second-chance twist and legit plus-size rep that doesn’t center on weight loss or body shame. Birdie Wilder is already a superstar when we meet her—confident, curvy, and completely in charge. The Rolling Stone interview takedown? Instant highlight. (it should be a 3 stars but I really liked this choice)

I was especially excited to see plus-size rep outside of the usual trauma lens. Birdie owns her space and her fame, and that alone is worth celebrating. I just wish the rest of the story carried that same energy. After the initial spark—some seriously juicy resentment and awkward tension between Birdie and Liam—the plot fizzled. Their reconnection never really convinced me. The emotional chemistry felt lukewarm, and Liam’s “tragic” backstory lacked depth. (He’s broody, but… why?)

As for the stalker subplot, I nearly forgot it existed until it popped up again—and even then, it landed without impact. The whole thing could’ve added suspense or urgency, but instead it felt like an afterthought. Same goes for the side characters and tour dynamics: hints of found family were there, but never explored.

This book felt like The Words’ younger sister — same tour bus energy, same we were almost something once ache, but with the bite sanded down. If Ashley Jade’s book is all heartbreak confessions and gritty realism, this one is the pop-rock version: catchy, empowering, but too glossy to cut deep.

Still, the narration in the audiobook was solid. The voice actors made the most of what they had, and their performances added charm to moments that might’ve fallen flat on the page.

📌 Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance listening copy. All opinions are my own.
🎧 Recommended for fans of second-chance stories, body-positive heroines, and music-industry settings—even if the romance isn’t quite center stage.

This was a super cute second chance bodyguard romance. I did the audiobook and the narrators were fantastic. I loved the story. Birdie's confidence is great but she is also vuneralble when it comes to Liam and their past. I liked how they were able to have a conversation and clear the air between them. Overall it was another great book from Kayla. She is an autobuy author for me.

ALC from NetGallery: 4.5 ⭐️’s

Okay This is my 8th boot from this author So I kinda went in expecting one thing but got something totally different.

We meet Birdie Wilder & Liam Miller. They were best friends when they were teenagers and then they weren’t once Birdie wanted to take things up a notch a Liam seemly didn’t want too.

Fast forward to present day Birdie is a Famous Rock Star and one day a stalker pops up on the scene that scares her and her record label decides that she needs to hire a security guard or they would cancel the tour. She didn’t want to disappoint her fans so she agrees.

Guess who’s the Security Guard?? Liam her unrequited love, her former best friend. When she sees him after 10 or 20 years I can’t remember she gets angry. Seeing him makes her think back to their teenage years.

As the story progresses you follow them as they become comfortable with each other. Get some unanswered question resolved and their true feelings out in the open.

To me this is Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Friends to lovers story all wrapped up in one. This one was not as spicy as I’m use to from this author but still enjoyed the overall story line.