An ambitious exec and reluctant rock star sizzle in this workplace romantic comedy about music’s redemptive power, hogging the bed, and finding love.
Bright and ambitious Marin Collins sees her new internship with a prestigious PR firm as a stepping-stone to a much-needed permanent position. But her plans for career success are derailed when she’s assigned to go on the road with rock band Kings … with rock band Kings Quarters, hailed by Rolling Stone as the next big thing. To gain full-time employment, she’ll need to stick to her “no workplace romance” policy and resist the sexy and nerdy rock star on the tour bus.
Enter Brad Osterhauser, the reluctant guitarist who would rather be coding computer games than penning Grammy-nominated songs. While grateful for the band’s success, he’s trapped on tour out of loyalty to the brother and bandmate who helped him escape a depressing home life. His outlook about the current tour improves immensely when he’s smitten by the smart and stunning PR executive who joins the tour.
Traveling by bus, city to city with a group of practical joking bandmates and a greedy manager, Marin and Brad forge a friendship and forbidden romance over a shared love of Seinfeld episodes, stolen moments and Red Vines.
Will Marin and Brad’s secret passions destroy both their careers, or take desire to the ultimate encore?
If you love a slow burn romance with laugh out loud moments, forced proximity, and sizzling chemistry, scroll up now to buy or read for free with Kindle Unlimited.
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Being a newbie to Lisa Becker’s books, I was excited for a chance to read this book. Rockstar Romances are my go to read but once in a while I’ll throw in a few to add some variety. Very reluctant drummer and coder Brad Osterhauser plays in the band King’s Quarters along with his Brother Craig and a few others. Marin is an intern with Sasha V and gets the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to your with King’s Quarters for four months. From pranks to more serious things it’s an eye opening experience. What she didn’t count on was giving her heart to Brad. When the stuff hits the fan will he stand by her or will he be the one to crush her heart? I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. If there are other fans of rockstar romances, I highly recommend this one.
It’s been a while since I’ve listened to a rockstar romance, and honestly, I’ve just realised how much I’ve missed it. Brad Osterhauser appears to be the ultimate rock star, he’s perfect. Just one problem, being a rockstar was never his dream, it was his brothers, and Brad is such a nice guy, not wanting to burst his brother’s bubble. Marin Collins never wanted to work for a rock band, she was expecting her internship to land her in Seattle, but travelling with the rock band does have its perks, in the guise of sexy rocker Brad. Marin however has rules, the first one being, no relationships with work colleagues, ever! Brad however is determined to change her mind, any way he can. Wonderful characters and story, sexy and sweet (my first Lisa Becker read), and as always perfect narration from Sebastian York and Erin Mallon.
#AudiobookObsessionReviewer
I received a complimentary audiobook of this title from the author.
Marin is an intern for a PR firm and is anticipating moving to Seattle to nab a position that she thinks she has a perfect shot for. She’s pretty bummed to find out that she has to go on tour with a band – Kings Quarters – instead.
This is where Marin meets Brad, guitarist of the rock band. Brad’s not exactly happy where he is with the band. He’s gotten tired of the band scene and would rather work on developing video games. But having Marin on the bus takes away some of his tension. The two of them form a bond almost immediately and thus their friendship starts.
I really enjoyed the fact that Marin and Brad let their feelings grow. Marin was very hesitant to go any further than friendship with Brad because she takes her job very seriously. She doesn’t want to get fired for crossing the line with a potential client even though her feelings towards Brad are starting to grow more than friendship.
I really loved the relationship between Brad, his brother Craig and the other band mates. Brad wants nothing more than to be there for his brother, but at the same time he has his own ambitions and dreams too. I think a lot of us feel this way sometimes. We get “stuck” even though we think that we’re in it, whatever “it” may be, for the right reasons. I loved how being with Marin changed Brad’s perspective on things.
Audiobook:
Story: 3.5
Narration: 4.5
Overall: 4
I enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Starfish. The audiobook was narrated by Sebastian York and Erin Mallon. Sebastian York and Erin Mallon portrayed Marin and Brad perfectly. I feel like whenever I listen to Erin Mallon she always has a great listening voice and will portray different emotions perfectly. Sebastian York also does a wonderful job and I had no problem picking out different characters while I was listening to him.
I do feel that the ending was a bit rushed and parts of the book lagged for me a bit, but overall I enjoyed the book.
p.s. Loved how the name of the title – Starfish – was incorporated into the book 🙂
I’d enjoyed the other two books I’d read by this author, so was very excited to hear she had written a rock star romance, because those are one of my favorite types of stories these days.
While at first I was hooked pretty quickly, unfortunately, this one didn’t quite work for me in the end. It had a few parts that I did enjoy, and there was a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming, but even that messed up some things for me. We spent the first half of the book constantly hearing about Brad’s erections. Yeah, that’s normal for a romance, but this was over and over and over and nothing was done about it. I get it, not all couples need to jump right into sex. And I understood Marin’s reasoning, mostly, for not wanting to mess up her job. Especially after she does give in later in the book and the way some people act about it. But once the sexy scenes started, well, those just didn’t work that well for me either. I read a lot of books with a lot of sex in them. Hot, heavy, dirty sex. Sweet, innocent, emotional sex. So I feel I have a good background to judge by, but these were kind of awkward. And when he goes down on her, he describes her as tasting sweet and tangy. Tangy is a cringe-worthy word in this situation.
Then, with the final big dramatic event, I really don’t believe how Brad acts. In no way does it fit, what he says doesn’t even fit with any thought he’s had about her in the entire book. Even when he was mad at her because she was pushing him away, never did something even remotely close to his reaction pop up. And honestly, this is promoted as a rock star romance, and while yes, it does take place with a rock band, Brad isn’t really a rock star. I mean he is, but he isn’t. If that interests you, then give the book a try! I won’t explain anymore, don’t need to ruin the story for anyone who plans to read it.
I was disappointed in this one because I’d enjoyed the other two of her books that I’d read so much. And hey, maybe I’m in the minority here, because everyone who reviewed on Goodreads so far loved this one it seems. I’ll let you take what you want from this review, but what I’d suggest is to go back and read one of her other books that I really enjoyed, Links or Clutch. I hate posting a negative review, because I am grateful for getting the chance to read this one, but I have to be honest.