Buy: Kindle Ebook | Paperback

Review

I pretty much gave this one 5 stars before I even opened it. I’m a huge fan of anything and everything Rock Chick and this book didn’t disappoint. However, like the last book in the series, this one is a lot darker, dealing with some very heavy issues.

When we first meet our heroine, Sadie, she is cold – intentionally so. She has no friends, no real life and even the Rock Chicks don’t think much of her. By the end of the Prologue we have a very clear view of her as living in a dangerous world and behaving like an Ice Princess, not getting close to anybody in order to protect herself. At this point I already felt sorry for her.

And then the book really gets going, and it’s brutal – really! I had my hand over my mouth in shock for most of the first chapter (by the way the writing here is absolute perfection!). Not just because of the incident itself, but watching the reactions of the characters that I love so much. Particularly the Hot Bunch Boys (oh, my heart almost broke for Lee) – protective-Alpha-badasses that they are!

And then there is The Hispanic Hottie – Hector ‘Oh My God’ Chavez! And seriously – OH MY GOD!!! I absolutely love him! He has a past with Sadie, and it quickly becomes very clear to all that he has claimed her as his own. Obviously, in dealing with such a sensitive subject matter, Ashley has toned down the usual caveman-like behaviour of a Hot Bunch Guy chasing his ‘woman’, and instead we get to see a soft and patient Hector gently pursuing a recovering Sadie. He is absolutely gorgeous in the way that he eases his way into her life and he treats her beautifully.

His arm did a squeeze and his voice got softer. “I’m thinkin’ you need more time to get used to me. I’m okay with that, Mamita, take all the time you need.”

Of course he recognises the barriers that Sadie puts up to protect herself, and although he’s treating her with care, he makes his intentions known – that he wants the woman he refers to as “My Sadie”. “I know she’s in there and I’m warnin’ you, Sadie, I’m gonna pull her out.”

Sadie was a great character! At the beginning of the book she had no idea who she was, and throughout the story she is forced to deal with a massive trauma and drama after drama. She slowly gains confidence in herself and discovers who she is. Again, Hector is just perfect in this…

“And you think you can help me find my way?”
He shook his head, his eyes went warm and I got another neck squeeze, coupled with a tightening of his arm around my waist. “Mamita, only you can find your way. I just wanna be along for the ride.”

See!! Totally swoony *sigh!*

It was amazing to watch Sadie transform from “Stepford Sadie” into a sassy, kickass Rock Chick with a will of steel. She stands up for herself not only to Hector, but to the bad guys, and even in the end, to her father, a controlling mob-boss. Their scene together at the end of the book is just heart wrenching.

The other thing I really liked about this book was Sadie’s relationship with Hector (which is actually a huge focus of the book). Unlike some of the other Rock Chicks, she was quicker to accept Hector into her life (and she even calls him ‘Babe’ – I love that!). There were still the same old issues that are to be found in any Rock Chick book, particularly with what Sadie had been through, but she overcame them fairly quickly, and we got to see a lot of the two of them behaving as a functional couple as Hector introduced her to ‘normal’ and Sadie dropped all of her defenses.

Ashley is usually very descriptive in her books, but I found the way that she described their physical interactions (not the smutty ones… ok, not ONLY the smutty ones), really beautiful. Hector is obviously not shy of the PDA and his actions with Sadie were always so tender and protective. It was gorgeous to read!!!

The usual gang are all aboard for the adventures, and despite the seriousness of some parts of the book, the humour is still there – from Sadie figuring herself out, her two gay room mates Buddy and Ralphie, and particularly as Sadie is bought into the Rock Chick fold. Her first drunken girl’s night out is hilarious! And there is another kick-ass Epilogue featuring not one… but two weddings. Hot damn!!!

I absolutely love this series, and although I’m so sad to see it all coming to an end, I am so looking forward to Ally finally getting her HEA in the final instalment.