“A pierced lip that I ache to kiss, a guitar god’s hands that leave stardust on me when we touch.” When a twist of fate throws university student Crys Murphy into an unexpected job on tour with a wildly successful rock band, her crush on the guitarist turns into powerful temptation. But there’s a dark side to the glamour and champagne: Blade has anger and addiction issues, a history of partying … addiction issues, a history of partying with groupies, and a tendency to get naked in public — and Crys is supposed to keep him out of trouble.
As she gets to know the talented and lonely man behind the bad boy behavior, the chemistry between them wavers on the edge of something deeper. But he doesn’t do relationships, and she grew up expecting a white-picket-fence future. Can he reform and open his heart to love? Will she give up her straitlaced upbringing for her troubled rock star?
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Fall in love with the rock stars of Smidge… Rock Star’s Heart is the first book in this series of interconnected standalone novels following each band member as they find their happily-ever-afters.
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When it comes to romances set in the rock star world, I can never seem to get enough. They’re my addiction, and with this new-to-me author’s series starter, it’s a satisfying addition to my bookshelf. It’s a heavy read at times though as it realistically deals with addiction as the young woman hired to watch over the rocker trying to overcome his issues starts falling for him at the same time.
Crys Murphy is a bit naive when readers first meet her, very sexually curious, and a bit clueless in many other ways. The first chapter of this book certainly doesn’t help my impressions of her either as it highlights her naïveté and shows her profiling every male she meets in terms of their sexuality. She’s clearly drawn to the members of rock band Smidge and when fate intervenes she ends up joining their tour as the fake girlfriend and caretaker to recovering addict Blade. She’s immediately attracted to him and is willing to do whatever to keep him clean, willing to sacrifice her self-esteem at times to help him stay sober. While I understand how desperate she was to help him, both out of her burgeoning love for him and in her role as caretaker, I wish she’d had more of a backbone from the very start in her dealings with him. Her actions often left me conflicted and it wasn’t until very late in the story that I came around to liking her as she finally stood her ground with him and put her desires first which pushed him to be better.
Blade is a talented guitarist who wholeheartedly lives and breathes the rock star’s lifestyle. The public sees him as the leather-wearing, eyelined, rock god but behind the scenes he’s a mess. His heroin addiction is getting worse, as are his anger issues that are the result of a very painful past. Once the public sees how out of control he’s become though is the moment Crys comes into his life in an attempt to save him from himself and keep the band going. Blade is a complicated man who’s become overwhelmed by fame, weighed down by obligations, and it made me ache for him. He didn’t always treat Crys well though and it was those moments where the price of his addiction was most notable. Other moments showed him to be a loving and caring man encouraging Crys to reach for her dreams and it’s here that I too fell for him. His journey is a difficult one, not at all sugarcoated by Ms Campbell, and it often pulled at my heartstrings in a tale full of emotional highs and lows.
After a very rocky start with an opening chapter littered with disposable characters and questionable actions this story finally came into its own. With an imperfect main couple made better through their growing connection to each other, readers will become fully entrenched in this couple’s journey to HFN, an ending that I wish had been more fully fleshed out. The world of addiction was vividly depicted as was the glitz and glamour of the rock star world to pull readers into every facet of these character’s lives. Along with an unforgettable main couple was a cast of secondary characters, the other members of Smidge notably, and I look forward to reading more about them (and getting a more satisfying ending to Crys and Blade’s HFN) in the future.
Holy smokes! It’s been a long time since a read a book that I literally could NOT put down! I enjoyed this so much! What does it say about me loving damaged rock stars? This ranks up with Toni Kenyon and Jade Jamison’s books!!
This story is about Crys who is hired on as Blade’s babysitter, for lack of a better word. They need to keep his antics low key and out of the news. She is already a huge fan of the group so this is a dream come true. He’s not happy about her…..but she seems to make his life better, when she’s around him.
“When we heard that PR wanted to bring a fake girlfriend on board to give Blade a better image, we thought we’d get stick with some airhead chick who’d need babysitting all the time–and here you are handing out barf bags and propping him up in front of the cameras. Makes me proud of you, kid, I can tell you that!”
I’ve lit a fuse, and it’s burning between us, she thought. The only thing to do was wait for the explosion.
The band members characters are all wonderful as are most of the extended Smidge family….except Marigold who I hated….
But then Chys’s gaze shifted to where Blade sat, shoulders slumped in defeat, and it struck her who needlessly cruel it was to have displayed the damning tabloids so prominently in front of him, reminders of his failure to stay clean, reminder of the drug he craved. Would any kind person do that?
This book was a whirlwind of emotion for me!! I loved it. I cannot wait to read more about all the characters in this story and I’m so happy to have found this author!!
Yeah, I love a drug-addicted, commitment-phobic rock star — but sweet God, the world falls apart when he touches me!
This is my first book of Kella’s that I’ve read and OMG I will be reading everything she writes from now on.
Rock star romances are my weakness and this one was no exception Blade broke me, i Absolutely adore him and what he had to endure, everyone knows the stigma that comes with a rock star and blade fitted every one but God damn he pulled me in and had me hanging onto every page
The way that this is written had me turning page after page well into the early hours
AMAZING!!!
This is a new author to me, and I will certainly be looking out for her work in the future. Crys is a college student when she gets a chance to meet her favourite rock-star at a meet & greet, Blade. There is an instant connection between them which does not go unnoticed, and Crys is needed to clean up Blade’s tarnished image because of addiction and his bad boy persona. This is a well written story which is fast paced, fun and entertaining, which had me hooked and intrigued throughout and I recommend for all.
Blade and Crys (Crystal) have an intensely emotional and beautifully written story. I loved reading about the band members and their crew. Blade and Crys start off as your typical crushing on the rockstar but quickly turns into something so much more. I really, really enjoyed reading this novel and I’m definitely going to be reading more from this new to me author.
I enjoyed this rock romance. It was different and unique in a lot of ways. I loved that it started at the beginning of the romance. I enjoy those stories the most. Even though the band is well-established and famous. The love story starts here.
I enjoyed the characters. I found the young heroine cute and likeable. While she was a bit naive at first, she did grow and develop into quite the spunky leading lady. Our hero, Blade the guitarist, played the part of the gorgeous, yet authentic, addicted, tragic, out-of-control rockstar to perfection. The two contrasted nicely and made for lots of great chemistry.
There are plenty of secondary characters that come into play, and I look forward to reading more about them in future books in the series. Thank you, Kella Campbell, for a well-written, entertaining rockstar romance.
I highly recommend this one since it’s the first RR read I’ve enjoyed in a while.
This was such a great rock star romance read. It’s the first book I’ve read from this author and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of her work. I absolutely loved Blade and Crys. This is a rock star story that’s gritty and dark and definitely worth reading. I do wish there was an epilogue to wrap everything up nicely but I felt as if this story leaves readers with a happy for now ending. Would I recommend it? Yes!