Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss #1) by Nalini Singh

Title: Rock Addiction
Series: Rock Kiss
Classification: Adult fiction
Genre: Erotic Contemporary Romance
Format: Paperback; 404 pages
Publisher: TKA Distribution (September 9, 2014)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
ASIN: B00MUX3V5Q
Author's Website: http://www.nalinisingh.com/
Notes: I received and eARC from TKA Distribution via NetGalley. Quotes will need to be verified against the final version.

Molly Webster is nothing if not a safety girl. Over the years she's put up barriers around her heart and has done what she could to keep a low profile. When Zachary Fox, the lead singer for the popular rock group Schoolboy Choir, sings his way into her world, she decides to throw caution to the wind and indulge in a one night stand. She's deceived herself into thinking a one night stand with the gorgeous rock star is safe, void of an emotional attachment with a finite termination date. A one night stand, however, isn't what Fox has in mind. He's known about Molly for some time, and once he met her, the idea that had been slowly forming in his head solidified and his decision was made. He didn't want a one night stand or even the one month stand he proposed to ease her into the idea of them as a couple. He was determined she was the one, and once the stubborn rock star gets something into his head, there's little that can stop him. He may not be one to believe in fate or destiny, but whatever it is he and Molly share, he knows it's more than he's ever felt with anyone else before. If he gets his way, he'll become Molly's rock addiction, or more accurately, her Fox addiction.

"You know when you get the whisper of a melody in your head, or the murmur of a song? And you have the gut feeling that if you could just hear the rest of it, just capture the music (...) you'd have something (...) amazing?"

Noah Nodded.

"Yeah well, that's what it feels like with Molly. (...) I'm not about to walk away from that."

This was less intense and slightly more lighthearted than Singh's Psy/Changling and Guild Hunter series. I can only imagine after writing the intense dialogue and story lines related to her two main series that writing the Rock Kiss series must be a bit of a treat. Nalini uses a writing style that I've come to call poetic gesture, for lack of a better term, where she uses words related to the theme of the book and weaves them into her descriptions throughout the story as she spins her deliciously steamy tale. A couple of examples would be, "the black velvet of the water that kissed its edges" (romance) and "a thousand guitar stings pulling tight" (music). Nothing rhymes, but by the repetition of associated terms it almost appears that they do. I simply adore authors who use this technique.

Molly, a librarian by trade, grew up in the limelight. When scandal hit her family, she never fully recovered and has been keeping under the radar ever since. She intends to continue doing so, but having a relationship with Fox could change that, and she's not sure she could survive another dose of the paparazzi feeding frenzy. She'll have to determine if Fox is worth the price she might have to pay for being with him.

Zachary Fox's voice has a deep raspy sexiness to it that has skyrocketed him and his band to fortune and fame. The center of many a woman's fantasy, he has a body made in heaven and voice that sounds like a combination of sex and fine whiskey. Over the past months he's heard a lot about his publicist's younger sister, Molly. Even before he's met her, he's harbored an interest in her. Seeing her interacting with others in person, he feels himself being pulled to her. Her bright smile and warm disposition stirs something in him that he can't quite name, but he knows he wants to be near her. He senses right off the bat that he'll have to ease his way into her life and that may just kill him. Taking things slow has never been his style.

While Molly and Fox have an undeniable chemistry that heats and scorches the pages, we also get slight insights into two more relationships which are just starting to take off in the background. It looks like the romance between Thea, Molly's sister, and David, Schoolboy Choir's drummer, will be told in full in the novella, Rock Courtship, which Nalini has coming out at the end of this month. I liked how Molly was giving David advice about her sister so he'd have a shot at enticing her to give him a chance. I look forward to reading their story and hope Charlotte and Gabriel's story will also eventually be told in an upcoming story. I have a feeling theirs will truly be something special. I adored how Charlotte and Gabriel's relationship seemed to be going on simultaneously with Fox and Molly's, but we only get little tidbits of what is happening. A superb way to lure us into wanting the next story. 

Overall I gave this one 3 1/2 out of 5 roses. It was fun, quick read that was not quite up to the caliber of her Psy/Changling or Guild Hunter's series, but delightful none the less. I've read several of Singh's earlier works so I had an idea of what to expect with this one. On the Lisarenee Romance Rating Scale, this one gained not the SHOWER rating I would have imagined, but a STEAM rating--too hot for a fan, but you still have a handle on things. You should use extreme caution when reading a book with this rating in public. People may inquire as to why you looked flustered and flushed. I admit, while I'd probably close my reader if someone came near while I was reading, it didn't prevent me from reading it in public as the heat of a SHOWER rated story would have. I'm hopeful that the following stories in the series will crank things up a notch.  

         

P.S. Many have labeled this one New Adult. I've read enough NA novels and I confess I didn't get a New Adult vibe with this one at all.