Rock Hard by Nalini Singh

Narrated by Justine O. Keef

Rock Hard is the second full length novel in Nalini Singh’s contemporary Rock Kiss series. There is also a novella in between the first book and this but Rock Hard stands alone well. This is particularly so as the main characters are only peripherally related to the rock band which the other books feature (the heroine of the Rock Addiction is the BFF of the heroine of this one).

I’m used to reading or listening to Nalini Singh’s paranormal romance books. I was surprised to find how different Ms. Singh’s writing voice is when she is writing contemporary. There were none of the familiar phrases I had been expecting. This is not a complaint, more an observation. The vibe is really quite different.

Charlotte Baird works in the records room at a company in financial trouble. When the Board installs a new CEO – Gabriel Bishop, a former rugby star and well-known corporate shark – she is surprised to find herself promoted to the role of his executive assistant. Gabriel is much bigger than Charlotte – he stands 6’5” and is very broad and muscular. She is petite and she feels overwhelmed by his physicality as well as by his personality. He is a tyrant. There were times I didn’t like him much. Because he paid her well, he seemed to think he could get away with treating her badly, yelling at her and making her work all hours of the day and night AND on weekends, with only the occasional cupcake or pastry to serve as a half-assed apology. Let me tell you: far more cake would have been required. Way more.

Charlotte is naturally shy and her reticence has been compounded by a violent assault against her by a former boyfriend five years earlier. She is initially terrified of Gabriel (“T-Rex” as she calls him – behind his back of course). Gradually, more out of self-preservation than anything else, she learns how to fight back and stand her ground with him. Perversely, he is delighted by this.

It takes time (something I appreciated) but they eventually start a relationship, gradually proceeding according to Charlotte’s comfort level. There were times in the story where I felt the pair moved way too fast, given Charlotte’s experience of trauma, but the book generally depicted a gradual, two-steps-forward-one-step-back progression which seemed plausible.

There is also a side plot involving Gabriel’s estranged father which ended up disappointing me a little because it pulled back from being about Gabriel and his feelings and became something about personal morals instead.

There wasn’t really any fallout from the office romance and I was surprised that Charlotte didn’t ever seem concerned about it.

Gabe is a dirty talker and there were times where he would shock me – not so much from what he was saying – but when. It didn’t always flow well in the scene. There was one instance where Charlotte had just told him something which was traumatic for her and he replies by making some dirty suggestions. While Charlotte responded positively in the book, it felt tone-deaf to me.

I didn’t know that Rock Hard was set in New Zealand. In fact, when I realised it, some way into the book, I was even more surprised because Ms. Keef uses her natural North American accent to perform the story. I’m not really sure what I think of this. On the one hand, I’d rather a good North American accent than a bad New Zealand accent, and I understand that Ms. Keef felt unable to render a good version of the latter. And, it has to be said that she did a good job with the story and the intimate scenes. I’ve heard Ms. Keef narrate before and she is able to deliver steamy erotic scenes naturally and without overplaying them. She also has a good “hero voice” – sometimes I wonder if it hurts her to speak with such a deep pitch.

However, on the other hand, I do have to question the choice of narrator. Why not go with a New Zealand native? Surely there must be a narrator who can deliver the story with the correct accent? Much of the setting was lost to me because I kept forgetting Rock Hard was set in New Zealand.

In the end, I decided that weighing up the pros and cons, I come out on the side of win (just) with Ms. Keef as narrator, because her performance was otherwise strong. I would have preferred a good New Zealand accent or a good New Zealand narrator. But, if the choice was between a bad New Zealand accent that would likely have made me want to poke my ears with forks, and what Ms. Keef delivered, I think she made the right call.

Kaetrin

Narration: B-

Book Content: C+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Domestic abuse (not by hero)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Rock Hard was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for review.