Hillbilly Rockstar by Lorelei James

Narrated by Scarlet Chase

What happens when a “Guitar Slinger” meets “GI Jane”?  Hot, sexy sparks fly of course! I’ve been looking to listen to one of Lorelei James’ titles for a while now, so when I saw the book description for Hillbilly Rockstar, I just knew I could wait no longer. While Ms. James is well known for her heated, erotic romances, Hillbilly Rockstar also delivers an intriguing plot with elements of action and suspense, as well as an interesting glimpse at the complexities of work/love relationships.

When threats and a violent attack are geared towards country music star Devin McClain, he is left with no choice by his production company, but to hire security. Extremely protective of his privacy, and believing he is still able to protect himself, he insists on limiting the visibility of his security guard. So when the security company he hires suggests that former soldier, Liberty Masterson, join his tour as his personal bodyguard, Devin reluctantly agrees figuring that, giving his hard earned reputation as a playboy of monumental proportions, it will be much easier to have a woman blend in, especially if she agrees to only identify herself as his “personal assistant” and agrees to look and dress the part.

Their ruse works and everyone on his team assumes that she is the next “groupie”, even if she is on his payroll, in a long string to warm his bed. This rumor is made particularly palpable by the fact that, in order to fully protect Devin at all times, Liberty insists on moving in with him in his tour bus. The sexual tension immediately begins to mount, even as Devin initially still attempts to sow his playboy roots, and Liberty tries to act like it doesn’t bother her. With a $100,000 completion bonus, that not even Devin is aware of, looming in the horizon, she is determined to see her job through no matter how raunchy his ways may seem.

It doesn’t take long for Devin to realize that he’d rather spend his time with Liberty, than with the tons of meaningless groupies who constantly throw themselves at him. When Liberty and Devin inevitably get physical, Devin makes it clear that while he will allow her to be in charge out in public, he’s in charge in the bedroom. However, can Devin ever alpha his way into her heart? Moreover, just as the heat factor amps up, so does the danger. Will Liberty be able to figure out whose threatening Devin in time to keep him safe as the numerous threats begin to materialize?

This was my first experience with Scarlet Chase. Although Ms. Chase appears to be a relatively new narrator, with only the prior books in the Blacktop Cowboys series and one other under her belt, I was pleasantly surprised with her abilities. She was able to create genuine voices for both the female and male characters, appropriately varied her intonation to sound younger or older, as needed, and has a great Southern accent. Additionally, her pacing of the story and delivery of emotion both helped bring the story to life for me.

Ms. Chase’s depiction of Liberty, in particular, was spot on. She had the perfect, tough-as-nails, all business persona when the words called for it, as well as, a seductive, passionate drawl for the heat-filled scenes. As many of the action-packed scenes revolved around Liberty, Ms. Chase did a good job of increasing the pace of her speech to communicate the urgency of the danger-filled scenes.

I also enjoyed Ms. Chase’s portrayal of Devin as a superstar, sexy talking, cowboy. I liked that Devin sounded different from the large number of other “roadie” characters that were involved in this book. In particular, and appropriately, Devin had a smoother cadence, and deeper sexier tone to his speech. You could totally believe that you were listening to a famous country music singer.

All in all, this was a great audiobook. I liked that Ms. James took her time developing the romance, so that by the time it happens, it was really believable. I also enjoyed getting the behind-the-scenes glimpse of tour life and the complexities of juggling the expectations in a love mixed with work relationship. While I think there could have been a little more mystery added to the danger plot to prolong the suspense, and particularly the “who done it” aspect of this title, I was pleased that there really was a lot more to this story than just a steamy listen.

BJ

Narration:  A-

Book Content:  B+

Steam Factor:  For your burning ears only

Violence:  Fighting

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Hillbilly Rockstar was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.