Rocked Up is a STANDALONE rockstar romantic comedy and the sexy, fun brainchild of the husband and wife writing duo, Scott Mackenzie and New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle.I’ve been watching him since I was a teenager. He didn’t notice me back then and it didn’t matter. Brad Snyder, guitarist and singer for one of the world’s greatest bands, was my entire life.My father, the CEO of … life.
My father, the CEO of Ramsey Records, takes credit for all of Brad’s success, trying to control him in the same way he’s controlled me.
But I finally get an opportunity to prove myself.
To be wild.
To be free.
Today I’m auditioning to be the replacement bass player for Brad’s band. If I get the job, I’ll go on tour and work with Brad every day, in very close proximity.
There’s only one rule: he’s not allowed to touch the boss’s daughter.
Remember when I said that Brad never used to notice little ol’ me?
Well, Brad’s noticing me now.
In a way that’s going to get us both in trouble.
My name is Lael Ramsey and we all know how this will turn out.
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4 stars for Rocked Up by Karina Halle and Scott Mackenzie. This is my first book from these authors and I absolutely loved it. I am a big fan of rock star romances and this one has a pregnancy twist. It is also unique because it is written by a husband and a wife team. Brad is a famous musician and his band is looking for a bass player and in comes Lael. Lael’s father is the manager for Brad’s band. He gets Lael an audition and she is the new bass player , only her father doesn’t want her to be. When Brad and Lael start hanging out they fall for each other they fall hard and fast even though Lael’s father is against it. This is where the drama starts. Oh, this book is absolutely fabulous. I loved it.
First I have to say to both Karina and Scott; Congrats With the bookbaby! Well done!
And I hope you two will co-Write more books in the future.
I couldn’t put my kindle Down until I was finished Reading this book (I might regret this later this morning since I have to go to work in less then 4 hours **written at the time stright after this book was read**)
There is no Secret that I am a “Halleholic”. I haven’t read all her yet, but I loved every single one that I have read so far. Her husband Scott Mackenzie released ” Sex,Drugs and Rock n’Roll” earlier this year and I quite enjoyed this book too. So when they announced that they were going to release a book together it was like Christmas and Birthday all at once. I’ve been super excited about this book and as you probably can tell I loved “Rocked Up”.
When two Authors co Writes a book, it’s very interesting too see how they work together, can they make their writing style work With the other ones ?
In this case: YES!
I could clearly see from the beginning that this wasn’t just a Karina Halle book,it was different and I’m not sure how to explain it. But it really worked. I think Karina and Scott found a Perfect way to blend their talents to Write this book.
Rocked Up is a sweet story With a happy ending. If I should pick on something, there is a certain part in this story I wish they could have done a little more With, can’t say more about this since it’s a kind of spoylerish.. Must be the little devil on my shoulder 😉
But really, I LOVED this book – from start to end and I’m crossing my fingers for more husband and wife Collaborations in the future.
***4 ‘Just Be’ Stars***
When Karina Halle announces that she has a new book coming out the greedy grabby hands start to twitch and when that book is one that she is co-authoring (for the first time ever) with her hubby, Scott MacKenzie, then the full on grabbiness starts because you have to see what they come up with and Rocked Up is a quick, sweet and smexy read that is light on drama but heavy on heart with some great laugh out loud moments that kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next on Brad and Lael’s journey towards their HEA.
Brad is a big time rock star and yet he’s not really engaged in all the hoopla that comes with it. He is, at heart, a musician who simply loves to play what he wants to play. He appreciates all that he has, but it’s the creative side that speaks to his soul. He’s got a good heart and yet there is a….naiveté to him that is surprising and yet endearing at the same time.
Lael surprised me, in a good way, but she was that mix of what I expected and yet didn’t see coming, but loved. Her upbringing definitely wasn’t the norm, but I loved how she took control of her own destiny the second she was able to. She had her insecurities and yet her confidence, determination to achieve her dreams and sense of adventure cancelled them out.
I really enjoyed how Brad and Lael’s relationship evolved and grew throughout the book. It was sweet, smexy and fun and though there was some drama, it wasn’t uber angsty and was handled quite maturely. Despite Lael’s crush, it wasn’t an insta thing at all though it wasn’t a slow burn either. It was simply a matter of two people constantly colliding, finding that they enjoyed being with each other and that they fit together despite their differences.
The story was well paced and everything flowed very well. The supporting cast of characters were all well written and though I can’t say I have an absolute favorite, the one that intrigued me the most was Roar. And though there were a few things I would have liked to go a bit deeper in it, this was still a fun, quick, smexy and in the end, sweet read.
~ Copy provided by the authors ~
“She’s a ray of sunshine; I am creating life with the sun.”
I have to admit that I hesitated to read this book because I am not a big fan of rockstar romances. However I wanted to give Rocked Up a chance because Karina co-wrote this book. I was looking forward how Scott and she would tackle this type of story. I wasn’t disappointed at all. I absolutely LOVED the prologue, it was so funny and it really set the mood for me. I was really thankful that neither Brad or Lael were the typical cliche characters you would expect in a rockstar romance novel. Especially Brad surprised me, and I loved that the authors included such an extensive look into his background story.
Even though Lael is the daughter of the boss, she was very down to earth and didn’t want anything handed to her. There was great chemistry between them from the start and I really enjoyed the progress of their friendship/relationship. Even though the book is 253 pages (in print) I didn’t feel like it was rushed. Would I have wanted this book to be longer? Yes, of course, because I really enjoyed this book and I wanted to spend some more time with them. I highly recommend Rocked Up for readers who enjoy a funny, light, contemporary romance with awesome characters. I hope Karina and Scott will co-write more books together, because they did a great job!
As with any Karina Halle review, I start off with how much I love her work. I was super excited to see what she does with her husband, Scott Mackenzie. With any collaboration, the writing will be different that what you are used to. I will admit that I felt the descriptive writing style was a bit more than I prefer. I felt that sometime things were a bit drawn out but that was just my personal preference.
This is a rocker romance story and it’s clear from the cover that there is a pregnancy at some point. I honestly didn’t mind that. While I like to be surprised, it didn’t put me off that it was out there. In fact, it had me wondering what was going to happen. Be being the angst whore that I am, I was hoping for a bit of that but I knew going in that it was geared to be more light hearted and I was OK with it.
I will admit that I had a hard time connecting to both Lael and Brad. It definitely wasn’t insta love but I felt that the progression of their romance didn’t leave me a lot of room to connect to them individually. I just wasn’t fully invested in them. Their story is sweet and the love was certainly there. I just don’t think I every really grasped who they are outside of musicians.
I will say that I loved the passion that the two of them had for music and I really did enjoy how much detail was put into that. Halle and Mackenzie did a great job really bringing that part of them to life.
I will admit that there was a scene that happened at a famous establishment and something that happened there would never happen in real life. While I understand that this is fiction, it really did throw me into a bit of a fit and I might have ranted to my co-blogger. It sounds petty, I know. It’s just a place that I know very well and I couldn’t get past it. Clearly I have issues.
Overall, I enjoyed the story line and I think a lot of people will like it. I was just hoping to connect more the the main characters. It’s simply one of those “it’s me, not you” issues. If you like a softer rocker romance story which quickly escalating feelings, then this just might be the right book for you. There are even a couple of sections that will make you crack up laughing.