Review: Rock Hard – Nalini Singh

Posted 5 March, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 13 Comments

*I received a free copy of Rock Hard from TKA Distribution via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *


Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Review: Rock Hard – Nalini SinghRock Hard by Nalini Singh
Series: Rock Kiss #2
Published by TKA Distribution on 10 March 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 284
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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5 Stars

Wealthy businessman Gabriel Bishop rules the boardroom with the same determination and ruthlessness that made him a rock star on the rugby field. He knows what he wants, and he’ll go after it no-holds-barred.

And what he wants is Charlotte Baird.

Charlotte knows she’s a mouse. Emotionally scarred and painfully shy, she just wants to do her job and remain as invisible as possible. But the new CEO—a brilliant, broad-shouldered T-Rex of a man who growls and storms through the office, leaving carnage in his wake—clearly has other plans. Plans that may be equal parts business and bedroom.

If Charlotte intends to survive this battle of wits and hearts, the mouse will have to learn to wrangle the T-Rex. Game on.

Holy hotness, Batman! Rock Hard is the most deliciously slow-building romance I’ve had the pleasure to read in a very long time. Six stars!!

My Rock Hard review:

Slow-burning romances are among my favorite, because the anticipation is just so darned sweet! Wanting, needing, waiting for the heroine and the hero to get their shit together so they can really start their relationship is like delicious torture to me. And oh my goodness how well that was done in Rock Hard! If you have read Rock Addiction, you’ve heard of both Charlotte and Gabriel aka T-Rex mentioned before, and their story made my toes curl with delightful pleasure. Molly who is the main character in Rock Addiction plays an important role in Rock Hard as well, even if she is never actually with Charlotte, they call each other every day.

Charlotte has been through a really traumatic experience a few years back, and her fears are still a big part of her life today. Gabriel, however, is a very stubborn and goal-oriented man, and once he realizes that there is much more to Charlotte than her too big clothes, her shyness and the way she seems to want to hide herself from the world, she is the only woman he wants. Even if he is technically her boss.

The character development in Rock Hard is outstanding! Charlotte goes from being scared of her own shadow to sparring with T-Rex when he acts too much like the hard-ass CEO he seems to be. Written in third person point of view, most of the story is told from Charlotte’s perspective, but there are so many wonderful dialogues I really got to know both Charlotte and Gabriel very well. And their fun back-and-forth word-sparring is like a beautiful cherry on top of the most amazing-looking, multi-layered cake ever. And I think I’ll have enough food quotes for at least three or four Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts posts 😉

The romance in Rock Hard is very slow-building, but it really needed to be, because if not Charlotte wouldn’t have been true to herself. And the innuendos were so well done, and as Gabriel was able to break through Charlotte’s walls little by little, their potential to set my kindle on fire grew as well. And the reward it felt like when they finally got together was beautiful! However, actually getting together and dating is not the end of the road for Gabriel and Charlotte, there are still difficulties ahead of them, and one of those is the reason behind all of Charlotte’s mental and physical scars.

If you enjoy contemporary romances that just makes your heart flutter, where the characters are so real you think you can pick up the phone to call one of them, and where the anticipation is almost killing you Rock Hard needs to get onto your TBR right now! Go ahead and pre-order it, you won’t be sorry!

Some of my favorite Rock Hard quotes:

 “Do the kind of things I’ve been doing with my rock star?”
Charlotte blushed. “Only in my more insane moments.” She pushed up her glasses. “Have you seen how big he is?” Even thinking about his body made her breath catch, and it wasn’t in fear.
“Sexy big.” Molly waggled her eyebrows.

Charlotte might refuse to accept it, but it was there. He saw it in her blushes when she watched him, thinking he wasn’t aware, caught it in her eyes in the mornings after he returned from a run. Maybe he’d stripped off his T-shirt a few times in the office rather than waiting till the shower just to see her breath catch. He was a guy, after all.

It was oddly intimate, watching him do something so unexpectedly domestic. Though of course, he brought that raw sense of contained power and prowling strength with him – it made him appear an intruder here, a dangerous creature playing at being tame.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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13 responses to “Review: Rock Hard – Nalini Singh

    • Most of Singh’s books are huge hits with me, Sharon! She builds an amazing world populated with characters that I want to be friends with 🙂

    • The slow-building romance is so sweet! And it also means the characters really got to know each other before their relationship developed to the next level.

  1. I have only tried a book by the author but I should try more. I think I have some of her PNR series in my TBR pile… yeah I need to read them. I’m always so late but I’m sure you understand lol. It’s great that the characters were evolving so much in the book! It’s always the most interesting part. Thanks for the review!

    Melliane recently posted: A Ghostly Grave by Tonya Kappes
    • I know exactly what you mean, Melliane! I have many of the books you have loved on my kindle, and they’re still waiting for me to read them.
      Singh’s PNR series are both very hot and well done. Happy Thursday 🙂

    • Oh my goodness, Brandee, this one was amazing! The first one I think I wrote something like ‘OMG! too much sex’ in my review… the novella (#1.5) was excellent, and Rock Hard was just beautiful!
      Thanks for stopping by, my dear *BIG HUGS*

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