Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2) by Nalini Singh

3/10/2015

In New York Times Bestselling author Nalini Singh’s newest contemporary romance, passion ignites between a gorgeous, sinfully sexy man who built himself up from nothing and a shy woman who has a terrible secret in her past…

Wealthy businessman Gabriel Bishop rules the boardroom with the same determination and ruthlessness that made him a rock star on the rugby field. He knows what he wants, and he’ll go after it no-holds-barred.

And what he wants is Charlotte Baird.

Charlotte knows she’s a mouse. Emotionally scarred and painfully shy, she just wants to do her job and remain as invisible as possible. But the new CEO—a brilliant, broad-shouldered T-Rex of a man who growls and storms through the office, leaving carnage in his wake—clearly has other plans. Plans that may be equal parts business and bedroom.

If Charlotte intends to survive this battle of wits and hearts, the mouse will have to learn to wrangle the T-Rex. Game on.

Review by Amanda

Rock Hard is book number 2 in Nalini Singh’s Rock Kiss Series. It focuses on the relationship between Charlotte “Charlie” Baird and Gabriel Bishop. It is the story of an office relationship that develops through the two main characters being devout and devoted to their professions. Nalini Singh puts a fresh new spin on this relationship, least of all which, is the fact that Charlie is a severely fractured individual. She is terrified by the smallest things, and if Gabriel wants to win her over, he needs to take things at a snail’s pace. This is so much different to the one night stands that he is used to and he finds himself out of his depth.

Charlie has been recovering from a traumatic event that occurs some years previously. The event is graphically described at a point in the book but is signposted well for anyone that may have trouble with the details of the episode. The details of Charlie’s trauma and her fight to overcome it is one of the things I most loved about the character of Charlie. She has endured so much, but she is a fighter – she fights to overcome what has happened to her. She is also helped by Gabe, who gives her strength and love to help her move forward.

We have T-Rex AKA Gabriel "The Bishop" ex Rock Star of the rugby field. I am from South Africa, where our rugby players are celebrated as celebrities (very similar to New Zealand) Gabriel is not all brawn; he has a sharp mind a BEAUTIFULLY built body. He has taken over the business world with the same aplomb he handled himself with on the rugby field. He is appointed to take over Saxon and Archer and restore it to its former glory. He makes it his mission to rebuild from the ground up

Gabriel quickly notices that Charlie has an incredibly sharp mind. She is hardworking, puts in more than her allotted hours, and in fact has been performing the position of personal assistant to the CEO, without gaining any of the recognition – thanks to a scheming co-worker. She is quickly appointed to be his personal assistant as Gabriel institutes a HUGE restructuring within the company.

As the two start spending more and more time together, sparks fly, however, Charlie is more than just a little bit apprehensive.

Charlie has been recovering from a traumatic event that occurs some years previously. The event is graphically described at a point in the book but is signposted well for anyone that may have trouble with the details of the episode. The details of Charlie’s trauma and her fight to overcome it is one of the things I most loved about the character of Charlie. She has endured so much, but she is a fighter – she fights to overcome what has happened to her. She is also helped by Gabe, who gives her strength and love to help her move forward.

Gabriel is also facing the demons of his past, and has his own struggles to overcome. A notorious philanderer, he never seems to make it past one date with the women in his life. When he meets Charlie, it isn’t instalove, but he is attracted to her. As the two begin getting closer, Gabriel knows that this is the women he wants. He knows that Charlie has endured much, as he begins discovering the secrets of her past. Gabriel is all alpha, but at the same time he is ridiculously amazing and extremely gorgeous.

The strength of this story is Charlie. She is the heroine of her own life. The tale her story tells from one moment to the next, strong, frightened, courageous, terrified of her own reactions to what she feels, devastated and emotional is truly something that reflects congruently with real life. You almost imagined Charlie as someone that you knew that had undergone this terrible ordeal and her fight to regain herself.

Rock Hard is a mind-bending read, told with care and unexpected doses of humor and emotion. It is a story that is so relatable and so important to this generation, where abuse is more and more common.

I am giving this book 5 incredibly hard earned stars. Nalini Singh is a poet with her words, she also makes you laugh in a book that is so completely and utterly serious, that you have to be awed by her magic touch. I love Gabriel and I love Charlotte, and I cannot wait to see what comes next in this gripping series.

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Meet Nalini Singh

I've been writing as long as I can remember and all of my stories always held a thread of romance (even when I was writing about a prince who could shoot lasers out of his eyes). I love creating unique characters, love giving them happy endings and I even love the voices in my head. There's no other job I would rather be doing. In September 2002, when I got the call that Silhouette Desire wanted to buy my first book, Desert Warrior, it was a dream come true. I hope to continue living the dream until I keel over of old age on my keyboard.

I was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. I also spent three years living and working in Japan, during which time I took the chance to travel around Asia. I’m back in New Zealand now, but I’m always plotting new trips. If you’d like to see some of my travel snapshots, have a look at the Travel Diary page (updated every month).

So far, I've worked as a lawyer, a librarian, a candy factory general hand, a bank temp and an English teacher and not necessarily in that order. Some might call that inconsistency but I call it grist for the writer's mill.

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