I ordered this book with my free £50 Amazon voucher (thank you Daxon!) and as soon as I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It arrived yesterday morning and I'd finished yesterday night!
The blurb reads -
Candace Andrews has had enough of pleasing others. In an act of birthday rebellion, she sets out to please herself - by walking into the tattoo parlor owned by her cousin's ex-boyfriend. All she wants is a little ink, and Brian's just the guy to give it to her.
As soon as she submits to his masterful hands, though, the forbidden attraction she's always felt for him resurfaces...and she realizes the devilishly sexy artist could give her so much more.
Sweet, innocent Candace is the last person Brian expected to see again. She's everything he's not, and her family despises him. He doesn't need the hassle, but he needs her, and this time no one is taking her away. Not even those who threaten to make his life a living hell.
Backed into a corner, Candace faces the worst kind of choice. Cave in to those who think Brian is a living nightmare...or hold her ground and risk it all for the one man that rocks her world.
Warning: This book contains explicit sex, naughty language, tattoos aplenty, family drama, a hot rock concert...and a bad boy hero who's pierced in all the right places.
I loved the whole premise of the story - the idea that she was quite innocent and grew as a person, discovering new things with him. I think anyone would love this premise, but me especially because I kind of enjoy that sort of 'different side' if you will - tattoos, piercings, rock music and concerts etc. It was nice to see that in a modern and successful book! I loved that he was the one to show her - he was her first in so many different ways, and the fact that he shared her passions with her which she went on to enjoy was kind of beautiful in a way and is really a reflection of what most relationships are about. You meet people and discover their world, they recommend books, bands, TV shows - all sorts of different things to you, some of which you go on to love yourself. It's such a simple and prominent part of life but not really something I see in books quite often.
I LOVED Brian's character, and not just because of how refreshing it was to read about an 'alternative' guy in such a popular book. To this day I'm constantly surprised when a book refers to an alternative guy or has a rock star or rocker guy as a character - it's something I'm really not used to. Growing up, all the heros and or main male characters in books were always the typical tall, dark and handsome, type, and I'd never read about a male character with sexy tattoo's or awesome piercings. Whereas to me, nothing is hotter than an alternative guy, and I'd pick an alternative guy over a 'classically handsome' guy any day. So to begin with, just reading about a character who had that whole look and attitude going on was such a pleasant surprise. He was definitely portrayed as a kind of alternative hero which was really cool. His character was just so different as well - he was such a gentlemen but also so passionate as a person which made him seem like the ideal guy. He was protective but gave Candice space when she needed it and just had the right qualities that in reality guys just don't seem to have. Hmm, surely I'm not the only lady who wishes fictional men were real am I?
This book was quite hot and saucy ('saucy' is a much nicer word to use than dirty, isn't it?), but rather than cringing at these parts, I thought they were quite good, even though they were very descriptive. I think when you write smut into a story, it's so easy for it to become too dirty that it's off putting and just seems quite vulgar. This probably should have been the case here, judging by how descriptive the author was, but actually I think it worked pretty well. For example, with 50 Shades of Grey - although I enjoyed that book, I felt that some of the love scenes were put in just for the sake of it. I thought that parts of the story were just put in to be dirty just because it was considered as erotica, and that some scenes of that nature were just put in to get the reader off! However with Rock Me, I thought that the love scenes were definitely supposed to be very erotic, but more so to the point that instead of being put in just for the sake of it, the scenes were there to help portray the passion between the two characters. The nature of the writing seemed to so easily suggest just how strong the connection between the characters were, and perhaps thats why it worked so well. Admittedly, it was very, very hot.
Parents can be so bloody over protective and annoying, and I thank my lucky stars that my parents really couldn't care less who I dated. I don't know how I'd cope if my parents were judgmental and looked down upon 'alternative' guys. However. Just this once, this story made me actually think how cool it would be if my parents were like that, because it kind of worked in the books favour, making the whole 'it's wrong and they shouldn't but they're going to anyway' theme a lot more hotter and passionate. Normally I find that type of thing far too predictable, but it actually really drew me in in this story and I could see how it added to Brian and Candice's passion.
I will admit though that by the end, I thought the theme was becoming a bit tiring, just because of how often Candice changed her mind. I couldn't count exactly how many times she changed her mind - it may only actually have been twice - but to me it seemed like she was doing it constantly. I just felt the 'will they/wont they' theme was used a tad too many times throughout the story.
I really loved everything about this book really. Apart from the on again/off again card being used just that little bit too much, and the cover of the book which I thought was a bit corny, I couldn't fault a thing. I really loved it because I love alternative guys full stop, but I don't believe that anyone can read this without thinking what it would be like to date an alternative bad guy or finding a new found attraction to them. I definitely wouldn't mind my next boyfriend being a tattoo artist! I know I've always said my future husband is without a doubt going to be a rock star, but perhaps if that fails, a tattoo artist will be the next best thing...
The ending was great too, and actually not at all what I expected, which is saying something. Throughout the book, I really didn't know how it would end. It was nice that the ending wasn't so predictable. I would also love to see a sequel to this book!
I'd recommend this book to anyone, it's such an eye opener to someone who isn't really used to the idea of rock music/tattoos/piercings. It might be a bit much for someone who finds erotica disgusting because as stated before, even though I felt it was necessary and thought it was written quite tastefully, the erotica was very descriptive. Overall though I do think it was an amazing read - it's gripping and I read the whole thing within 24 hours. It is now a favourite of mine and even the type of book I can see me reading again within the future.
P.S Check out the Book Reviews tag for more book reviews! Also, please do visit Hanging On Every Word - another blog I'm part of. It's a collaborative book review blog between myself and some other bloggers and there are some great reviews on there! Please do check it out!
