ARC Review: Rock Wild Rock Candy by Virna DePaul

An undercover rockstar meets his match in a saucy little vixen in spicy Louisiana. Ms. DePaul never lacks flavor in her passionate pieces of heaven. Why should Rock Wild read any different. Aimee and Corbin's course involves countless moments of soul searching, endless situations of self doubt and high levels of heart-stopping attraction. From naughty sensuality to emotional roller coaster ride, Rock Wild is a dynamic twist on the topsy - turvy fairytale of rock -n - roll love. The good, bad and unexpected keeps the dreamy of love alive.

I read this twice.



Why? I don't know, it's not that the plot is awesome. In fact there are many inconsistencies and non sequitur vignettes and deus ex machina solutions.

But it was so primal and had a perfect right-in-the-feels aim I forgot about the raw simplicity of it all. Or maybe it was the raw simplicity which made me fall in love with Yuuen and Emba. No excuses, no shame, no dishonor, and consequently, no beating around the bush.

I'm sold.

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"Good twin" Brody Maddox finds he can't stay away from fallen angel Ashlynn Childe--will their passion save or destroy them both?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Review:

This was one of those classic lessons in judging a book by its cover and trying to see past rumors, appearance and a persons history beneath to the person on the inside. We've all got our stereo types Wild Child was along those same lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Rating:

 

 

 

 

 

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Note: Received a digital copy in exchange for an honest review from the author via California Girls

 

I was really looking forward to Wild Angel, the follow-up to Rock’n Tapestries, by Shari Copell because I liked the first book (although the second half of the book Chelsea and Tate’s relationship seemed forced and convenient to me, and also made me bawl for a douche-y rockstar who may or may not deserve a girls tears), and because it was about Chelsea and Asher’s daughter all grown up, taking Pittsburgh by storm with her (daddy’s — unbeknownst to her) tabacco sunburst guitar. I always wanted to read a book that’s about the characters children's own book. So this answered my prayers in that respect. Wild Angel was the first one that did, so I was even more excited to get into it.

 

Right from the first chapter, I was excited. Nicks (heroine/the daughter) kicks off with a fiery demeanor while rocking out on stage, just like her biological daddy, the late Asher Pratt. Not only that, but while mouthing of expletives about sex and curse words to shame a sailor, Stone Jensen is there watching and not scared one bit by whatever she throws his way. See, they’ve been on bad terms for a year by then because he said some not-so-nice things about her and her guitar-playing skills. Right off the bat, you can feel the tension when they challenge each other. When I read that, I was locked and loaded for more challenges and tension to come. Only to be disappointed from that point on. Instead, Stone went up to her and talk to her for the first time ever to apologize for saying all those mean things about her. Oh, she stood her ground and basically told him off alright.

 

She may have brushed him off at first, but Stone turned soft from that point on. Like I said, I expected more of a fight from them, but I didn’t see the same challenge he had when he saw her play that stage that day. He makes nice to get her to forgive him and be on good terms, if not friends. Long story short, they both form a friendship and bond over guitars and the mystery of who willed them to her. This leads to a string of theories, snooping, digging, questions, a near-panic attack or two from Nicks mom, and the truth. All the while, the school principal seems to have it out for Nicks and strange occurrences and dreams have been happening around the household... Well, you can see that a lot stuff goes down.

 

See, this book is over 500 pages. Usually I don’t complain even if it is a NA contemporary, but this draaaagged at parts. If you cut down all the unnecessary crap, it would be a good 300/400 pages and wouldn’t drag so much. If you ignore that part, this is a good book. All the events, the building, mystery, secrets, kidnappings, a sadistic school principal, sketchy characters, attempted murders, paranormal elements, and plot twists.

 

The ending is what made me want to throw my kindle out the window at 7am and go hunt down Shari with a pitch fork and torch in hand. Or near the end, I should say. There’s like 2-9% of the book left that had me bawling and screaming how is this fair? Why would you do this? How dare you! This was not the happy ending you promised us, Shari! I mean, I know not every story had a happy ending, but I expect an HEA if the book description promises one, especially if it’s from the author themselves. I was so nervous and hopeless by 98%. But then Asher, from beyond the grave, somehow gave them a miracle that gave us the HEA. I took the much need breath that was steeled from from me.

 

Overall, even though I wanted more tension/challenges between Nicks and Stone and some parts dragged and the ending literally had me on edge, I enjoyed this book. There was rock n roll, steamy times, mystery, and family values.

Mexico Between Hitler and Roosevelt: Mex... 3.5 stars

I admit I am slow on the uptake at times. I hadn't realized Graham Nash put out a memoir until I saw it listed on the front of my library's Overdrive page. I had intended to read first a Bob Dylan bio (second attempt, different book - it will happen one day), but since I go through eBooks rather quickly I snatched up Wild Tales before somebody else did. I do like The Hollies, and we enjoy CSN(Y). My husband can scratch out a nice rendition of "Southern Cross" on his guitar; I wish I could say we were able to nail down the harmonies as well.

Before Nash delves too deeply into his personal history, he opens Tales with the story of perhaps the most important point of his career, where he comes to a crossroads (by air, on the way to LA) and must decide to divorce not only The Hollies, but his estranged wife. Waiting for him in California are his new love, Joni Mitchell, and Stephen Stills and David Crosby. Yeah, no big deal - three major hitters of late 60s music are chillin' in the same space. What's even more amazing are the collective resumes of this cast: Crosby has left The Byrds, and Stills is recently out of Buffalo Springfield. One can argue that CSN are the original supergroup. Take that, Damn Yankees.

So, anyway, Wild Tales chugs along quite smoothly and you could probably get through it in a day or two. Books like that are either so compelling you can't stop, or lack substance so you kind of speed through it. Nash's story kind of teeters. He doesn't spend a lot of time on his youth, which seems a parallel a bit with that of John Lennon - young man grows up in an industrial English town, befriends a future music partner (in Nash's case it's former Hollie Allen Clarke), discovers American rock and roll, and takes up the guitar to escape an inevitable future in a mill or mine. It's interesting to read how Nash and the Beatles cross paths throughout their earlier careers, and Nash's eventual dissatisfaction with commercial pop, which brings him to Joni Mitchell's door as relayed in the beginning of the book.

The first few chapters pertaining to CSN(Y) read like a description of the longest dysfunctional yet successful open marriage ever. Nash maintains the group remains active to this day, even if people don't speak to each other for years and tour with different bands and nah. It's a turbulent love story co-starring more than a few female lovers in common, money gone missing...all liberally dusted with enough blow to fill a canyon. You listen now to harmonious ditties like "Helpless" and "Long Time Gone" and wonder how they were able to keep the tempo slow when they were all jacked up.

The last quarter of the book summarizes Nash's activism and recent honors (HoF, OBE, etc.). If you're into the Tea Party, you probably will leave Wild Tales pissed off. As a memoir, though, Wild Tales lives up to the title. If you enjoy good dish and name-dropping, even if you're not into the music scene of this time, it's an entertaining read.