After the loss of her parents, Meline scrapes together the cash to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Armed with her great-grandfather’s journal, retracing her heritage should be exciting, yet she can’t shake the frightening feeling someone’s been watching her from the moment she arrived in the old city. Then Roc shows up just when she needs him, offering to help. He’s sexy-as-sin, wealthy, and … well-connected, but there’s something he’s hiding.
Roc needs to locate his Khargal sire’s lost sigil before all hell breaks loose, and Meline holds a journal with the answers. After centuries of “liberating” art, he’s never thought twice about lying or stealing, but when the captivating woman appears at the site where his father’s buried, he hesitates. Something about her has gotten underneath his stoney exterior, and he doesn’t know what to do.
When a clandestine group hunting the sigil emerges, Roc and Meline must face them together before the sigil turns everything to ash. Yet the challenge may not be finding the sigil so much as breaking down the wall guarding Roc’s heart.
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Hard as Rock is a standalone novel part of the collaborative series the Khargals of Duras.
A thousand years ago, a Khargal scouting party left Duras, only to crash on a planet called Earth.
Injured and outnumbered, the stranded Khargals hid among stone effigies and observed the slow evolution of the planet’s primitive inhabitants. With no means of returning to Duras, they watched from their shadowy perches and faded into legend, becoming the mythical gargoyles.
Until today. Long after any hope for rescue had died, the distress signal has finally been answered.
It’s time to go home.
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*WARNING* contains explicit adult sexual situations
Roc is a hybrid, half Khargal and half human. Roc was born on Earth after his Sire was stranded on Earth a thousands of years ago. Now that the tracker has started working and the rescue ship is on it’s way to pick up the stranded Khargals, Roc has to find his Sire, wake his Sire, retrieve an old alien artifact all before the rescue.
Milane leads a dull life as a travel agent who has never traveled anywhere. Milane has a little money left from settling her parents estate, so she is going to take a drive to try to find out more about her ancestors.
Khargals/aliens are the same as gargoyles for us earthlings and that alone makes the book worth reading for me. The story has action in, evils wanting to use the aliens as lab experiments. There is loss, love, steamy alien stuff, and of course romance. Hard as Rock has everything you could ask for in a SFR.
This story went a bit different I felt like it was missing that khargals feeling kind of way. But still I enjoy read Roc and Melanie journey. I just felt that it needed a bit more of the khargals kind of way.
He’s like rock candy… A little crunchy, but really sweet.
So, this is actually the third book in this series I’ve read and I was not at all disappointed! We met Roc in the previous book Gravel and Grit (Zaek’s book) as the smart mouthed and (to Zaek at least) rather irritating younger Karghal hybrid. I rather enjoyed him with Zaek and enjoyed getting to see their encounter from the other side in this book. The two author’s quite obviously worked closely (and well) together to make this happen. You can also tell that the whole group of author’s did a good job setting out guidelines since the three I have read flow very well together (I’ve also read Sticks and Stones so far).
Roc was an excellent example of an antihero. He’s a thief and a very good one at that. But he’s also the rob from the rich to give to the poor type as he has an obviously deep seated distaste for wealthy people (I can relate here as my youth has left me with some scars I’m constantly trying to overcome). That being said, I found him vastly relatable despite the stealing thing. 😉
Meline was an interesting character. She wasn’t exactly a kickass heroine to start with, but she wasn’t meek as a lamb either. I enjoyed her very ‘normal’ working girl character and getting to see her grow into herself throughout the book. She was sweet but also strong.
Their relationship moved fast, but then, the whole fated stuff always does. Mrs. West did a good job of making it feel natural. I really REALLY enjoyed the acceptance and vulnerability her characters managed to display. I also loved the part of the story that dealt with Roc’s sire and the lack of training he gave his offspring in regards to many things.
Overall, a very enjoyable, very steamy read. I highly suggest!
Meline goes to Montreal to visit the places her ancestors are from when she meets Roc who is part human from his Mother and part Khargal from his Dad. The story has suspense, drama, danger, villains, and romance. A well written story that held my interest throughout. I read a copy through K U and I am voluntarily leaving a review.
Roc isn’t your typical Thief, he’s a thief with a conscience and a Khargal to boot… born on earth to a human mother and a Khargal father, one of the many that was stranded on earth a thousand years ago… but after struggling to fit in with humans and the ever so dull and grumpy ‘pure bread’ Khargals, Roc is now a master at blending in and not being seen. Having oodles of money and being secretive has helped.
After discovering that the purebreds sigils ( aka space beacons ) have activated, Roc has no choice but to seek out his long sleeping father and tell him that he can return home to Duras. Roc just needs to find his father and the sigil first. He will start by tracking down the descendants of his fathers friend, who were entrusted with the sigil. Never one to shy away from a challenge… breaking and entering into Meline’s hotel room is easy… not breaking his or her heart is another matter.
Wowzer! I sure do love me a Stephanie West Book! Filled with action, kicking bad guy ass and the steamiest of love scenes… this book was blindingly good! and such a great an original read.
I love how Roc’s cocky swagger masked his inner turmoil over his human/Khargal self and the abandonment he felt at his fathers absence from his life.
A true gem of a heart literally wrapped around a crusty hard as stone shell, that was slowly revealed later by layer to the feisty angelic Meline who captures his heart!
These two were literally smoking HAWT and their interactions were filled with ‘ALL THE FEELS’ funny and heartbreaking.
Altogether a fantastic instalment in this much anticipated shared World Series, that will keep sci fi romance readers stuck to their reading devices.
This book Rocks!
I’m really falling for these gravel-crunching guys! Roc is half human, half Khargal. Circumstances prevented him from learning about all things Khargal, although he learned about his clan’s special abilities. When he meets Meline in his quest to find his Sire’s sigil, he couldn’t resist the temptation. I like that she is not a stunning beauty, and is a bit of a klutz. Meline is quite a woman! Even though she is being followed, she handles the situation well. She takes the astonishing reveal of his true form without falling apart. And, she is just as protective of Roc as he is of her. Surrounded by danger, Roc does all within his power to keep her safe, including some things of which he’s not even aware. This is a love story that transcends species. Such excellent reading!