Title: Rock Wedding Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Rock Kiss #4
Release date: July 19, 2016
(Sub)genres: Rockstar
Pages: 248
Buy: Amazon US ~ Amazon UK
Rating:
After a lifetime of longing for a real family, Sarah Smith thought she’d finally found her home with rock star Abe Bellamy, even if she knew Abe didn’t love her the way she loved him. But their brief relationship, filled with tragedy and heartache, nearly destroyed her. Alone, emotions in turmoil, and already shaky self-esteem shattered, Sarah struggles to pick up the pieces in the wake of their divorce.
Abe knows he’s to blame for the end of his marriage. Caught in a web of painful memories, he pushed away the best thing in his life – the sexy, smart woman he adores – breaking them both in the process. Then fate throws him a second chance to get things right, to prove to Sarah that she means everything to him. Abe desperately wants that second chance at love...even if he knows he doesn’t deserve it.
But can he convince Sarah – now strong and independent without him – to risk her wounded heart one more time?
One of my favorite books of last year was Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh. It was beautiful and heartbreaking, like other books by this author. At the end a small hint was given about the broken relationship between Abe and Sarah, and it made me curious. Rock Wedding gives us their story.
“She’d never wanted the divorce. She’d wanted Abe to fight for her. He’d fought her demands, but never had he fought for her.”
Sarah has grown up with her single mother, who tried to solve her own problems with dating all kinds of wrong men. Not getting any love at home, pretty Sarah tries to get love elsewhere, her young romantic heart cracked every time. From a young age Sarah has learned she has only one asset to offer, her beauty. Meeting rock star Abe and marrying him is like a dream come true for her, finally she has somebody to love with all her heart. But when the marriage falls apart after brutal spoken words by Abe, Sarah runs and realizes she’s worth much more than her marriage gives her. When she meets Abe again after some years, the attraction is still there, and Abe seems to be a different man.
“Today… today he was her Abe. The big-hearted man who’d envelop her in his arms and make her feel tiny and petite and protected. All things she’d never been.”
Abe seemingly has it all; grown up in a loving family, part of a famous rock band, money, everything. But the untimely death of his much younger sister and his father has hit him hard. Abe is so caught up in his own world filled with alcohol and drugs he doesn’t recognize good anymore. Marrying Sarah is the best decision Abe has made in years, but his demons do all they can to destroy the love Sarah has for him. And they succeed; when Abe finally hits rock bottom Sarah leaves him and files for divorce. Realizing he truly loves Sarah, Abe doesn’t want to let her get away a second time.
“There she was, standing on the edge of the lake, looking at the mirror-still water, a faraway expression on her face. Beautiful didn’t describe her, wasn’t good enough a word for her. She was Sarah. Unique and stunning.”
When Abe and Sarah met for the first time, Sarah was a young and insecure woman, who just wanted to love and to be loved. Abe was in no condition to give her the love she deserved; grieve, drugs and alcohol where ruling his thoughts and actions. Nowadays Sarah is much stronger, she has gone through a lot, not only with Abe but also after their marriage fell apart. And the events didn’t break her, they still hurt, but she turned her life around for the better. Very understandably Sarah is hesitant about Abe; she knows she’s still very attracted to him, but his actions have hurt her so very bad. Abe is determined to make Sarah fall in love with him again, because he knows she’s the only woman he’ll ever love. Slowly, Abe and Sarah give into their feelings for each other, giving their love a second chance.
Rock Wedding is beautiful second-chance romance; Abe and Sarah were married before, and now Abe has the chance to be the man Sarah deserves. My heart hurts for Sarah, what she went through just broke my mother heart. I understand she walked away from Abe; he was so very addicted and in no place to be in a relationship. I love seeing the couples from the previous books, and to get glimpses of their lives. They are very supportive of Abe and Sarah, and are real friends who offer supported and a listening ear.
“I want to trap you. Forever. I want my ring back on your finger and I want to wear yours and I want the world to know you’re mine.”
I love this beautiful second-chance love story; I give Rock Wedding 4.5 stars.
~~ Rock Wedding was provided in exchange for an honest review ~~
Excerpt
Sarah sat on the floor of her living room, books spread out all around her.
Having worked nonstop for days, she’d given herself the afternoon off. First, she’d gone to see her son. The anniversary had rolled around again, and though she hurt, this month wasn’t one of the bad ones. She’d talked to him, told him about her day, left him with a kiss.
Her plan for the rest of the day had been to get into her pj’s and curl up on the couch with Flossie to binge-watch a favorite television series. Then had come the buzz at the gate that made her heart thunder and her skin flush… and the delivery of a most unexpected package.
I hope you’re doing okay today. Say hi to Aaron for me. I’m sorry I threw your books in the pool. I was a dick. – Abe
Sarah stared at the note card again, still not certain she was reading it right. The first two lines, they turned her throat thick, but the rest… He’d been so high that day that she’d have bet her business he had no memory of the ugly incident. Sarah had never forgotten it: she could still feel the wrenching ache of the sobs that had overwhelmed her as she tried futilely to fish out books that had been well and truly drenched.
Abe, meanwhile, had moved on to throwing the pool furniture into the shimmering blue water.
Her fingers trembled as she picked up a leather-bound copy of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. It matched the other Austen novels he’d sent her, the set a lovely reissue packaged for collectors. Beside the fancy collector’s editions lay cheerful paperbacks with laughing couples and/or dogs on the covers.
She stifled a wet laugh. He’d clearly chosen those at random, but it was cute that he’d remembered she liked romances with animals in them. Half the time when she’d read to him or talked to him about her favorites, she’d thought he was mostly asleep. It hadn’t mattered—she’d just liked being with him.
The most surprising book in the package was the one about the entrepreneur who’d gone from rags to riches on stubborn grit and sheer determination.
It gave her a funny, fluttery feeling in her tummy to realize Abe really did take her business endeavor seriously. It wasn’t mockery, not when he’d gone to the effort of choosing these other books with her likes specifically in mind. He’d thought she’d like the book because she was an entrepreneur too.
Her eyes burned.
Her hand went to her phone, but she hesitated, the memories of her awful loneliness while she’d been with Abe holding her in place. Curling her fingers into her palm, she picked up the television remote instead.
She had to keep her distance if she was to have any chance of protecting her battered heart. Because this Abe? The one who sent her flowers and books and who dropped by to make sure she was all right? He was more dangerous than the man who’d broken her to pieces.
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