Rock Chick Rescue by Kristen Ashley

Narrated by Susannah Jones

What an imagination! Kristen Ashley’s ability to brilliantly juggle, and actually create, hilarious scenes out of far-fetched concepts using the interactions between dozens of seemingly dissimilar characters continues to astound me. I arrived rather late to the Kristen Ashley addictive stories party, having only listened to my first (Mystery Man) last month, but I am definitely hooked!

Rock Chick Rescue, Book 2 in the Rock Chick series, introduces us to Henrietta Louise McAlister, aka “Jet”, the quintessential good girl. Always thinking of others, she works hard to take care of everyone irrespective of the cost to herself. When we first meet Jet, her mother has just had a stroke. Needing to find a way to support her costly therapy, Jet is working two jobs – one at Indy Savage’s coffee/book shop and the second, at Smithie’s topless bar (where she works as a cocktail waitress as she refuses to make “Porsche” money by “taking a pole”). Jet’s father is a lying, cheating gambler, who fully abandoned her family when she was fourteen. Still, when Jet finds out he is in trouble, she endeavors to save him too, even at the peril of endangering herself.

Fortunately, her selflessness has not gone unnoticed. Chief in the crowd of observers is Eddie Chavez, Lee Nightingale’s best friend. Eddie has been waiting in the shadows for his opportunity. But Jet, who is convinced that Eddie is completely out of her league, will not even give him a breath’s chance. But her rescue takes precedence, and Eddie makes Jet his responsibility, even if she futilely tries to refuse his help. Soon their journey to keep Jet safe, leaves Jet with no escape from Eddie, forcing her to deal with their mounting, mutual attraction.

Along the way, a whole slew of characters come out to help, including, among many others, the entire crew of sexy heroes at Nightingale Investigations, an all-around bad guy who deals in “guns, drugs and whores” and his Dolly Parton look-alike girlfriend, a Vietnam Vet and ex-con barista, a rather paternalistic strip joint owner, and a drug dealer and his cousin who run an underground gambling operation.

There were some really incredible scenes in Rock Chick Rescue. My kids kept asking me why I was chuckling every few minutes, as I walked around the house doing housework, with my earbuds firmly in place. Perhaps the most unbelievable involves a certain kitchen appliance. Only Kristen Ashley could find a way to make the act of buying a coffeemaker a true symbol of commitment, not to mention fodder for some great laughs.

The only thing that kept me from giving this title’s content an A, was Jet. Jet has got to be one of the most trying heroines I have ever encountered. Her extreme lack of self-confidence (although partly explained by her father’s abandonment) is nonetheless completely frustrating. She is so sure that she is just a boring, plain Jane with nothing to offer, that she refuses to see what everyone else can’t help but notice. Nearly every male in this story (except for the gay couple), at one point or another, seems to take a romantic interest in Jet; yet, she is so completely clueless that she keeps landing in arguably inappropriate situations that just manage to get Eddie’s alpha senses all in a tizzy. But then again, it’s her extreme insecurity that leads to some of the craziest, funniest moments, so I guess it’s a necessary evil to the creative genius of this story.

While Jet is the toughest part, Eddie is easily the best. What a patient hero! Eddie deserves the most persistent in the history of all romance novels award for his never-ending pursuit of Jet. Even in the face of outright rejection – he continues dauntlessly towards his goal – refusing to take anything but “yes” for an answer. His self-confidence, and ability to see right through Jet’s act, is off the charts. Moreover, I just love his alpha nature. This is a man who will do anything, and everything, for his woman. And somehow, Kristen Ashley still manages to do the impossible by striking the perfect balance, so that he comes across as the model sexy, hot, and protective hero without being completely overbearing.

Susannah Jones does an amazing job of keeping all the players in this story straight. She cleverly assumes easily distinguished characterizations for each one of the long list of cast members. Her talented narration completely brought this eclectic and crazy bunch to life for me. From the ethnic and generally geographically appropriate accents, to the age specific portrayals of the older characters, to the even raspy “smoker” sounding voice for Jet’s mother’s best friend, Ms. Jones doesn’t neglect any detail in her performance. She also cleverly delivers the panoply of emotions, adding a sense of authenticity to the rapidly changing scenes from suspenseful and action filled in one moment, to funny or passionate in others.

What I loved the most about Ms. Jones’ performance was her portrayal of both Jet and Eddie. She perfectly brings to life Jet’s naiveté as it relates to her effect on men while, at the same time, depicting her headstrong tendencies and sheer determination when it comes to protecting her loved ones. Ms. Jones ability to maintain the illusion of Jet’s insecurity was remarkable, especially in light of the extremely obvious attentions she receives from a parade of suitors. A less talented narrator would no doubt have failed to convincingly deliver this crucial aspect of this story.

Ms. Jones performance of Eddie is equally impressive. While his voice isn’t extremely deep, she lowers her own considerably to deliver a believable, sexy, male. I loved how you could just hear Eddie’s amusement and, at the same time, incredible self-restraint when it comes to his interactions with the extremely reluctant Jet. I know one of the criticisms with respect to Kate Russell’s narration of the Dream Man series is that some of the male heroes do not sound true to Kristen Ashley’s descriptions. That is not the case here as Susannah Jones’ depiction of Eddie is spot-on with the author’s writing.

My only constructive criticism (and I have to admit I have a slightly unfair advantage in this regard as I learned to speak English and Spanish at the same time as a child) is that a few of the Spanish phrases that Eddie uses have a slight “gringo” twang to them. While it’s possible that Eddie would naturally speak Spanish that way (as many second generation Hispanic Americans do), in my mind, Eddie speaks Spanish flawlessly like a native speaker. I’m not sure if that’s my own Spanish voice in my head speaking or my idolization of Eddie as a flawless alpha hero. In any event, this affects an extremely small number of words spoken throughout the book and therefore really did not detract from the performance.

Rock Chick Rescue is a funny, action-filled, adventure where a most deserving hero explores a HEA with a “good” but very reluctant heroine. I didn’t read or listen to the first book in the Rock Chick series, so I can honestly say that this second one can be experienced as a stand-alone, as Kristen Ashley does a good job of reintroducing Indy and Lee, the couple in the first book. All that said, after listening to this book, now I really want to go back and listen to their story too, as well as move forward and listen to ones that come later in this series!

BJ

Narration:  A-

Book Content:  B-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Escalated Fighting/Domestic Violence  (including a rather vividly described rape threat)

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher:  Audible Studios