Rock My Bed

Black Falcon, Book 2

By: Michelle A. Valentine

Narrated by: Aletha George, Allen Steele

Everything always seems to fall into place for 24-year-old Aubrey Jenson, except for when it comes to her luck with men. Bad boys always draw her in and crush her heart, and Black Falcon's lead guitarist, Riff, is no exception. After sharing a few wild nights together, she leaves him behind, knowing a guy like Riff isn't the relationship type.

When she returns to New York, she tries to get the passion she felt in Riff's arms out of her head by dating Isaac, a successful representative at Center Stage Marketing. Just when she thinks she's forgotten Riff, she's forced to see him again when her best friend, Lanie, ropes her into being a bridesmaid for her upcoming wedding to Black Falcon front man, Noel.

Sparks fly instantly between Aubrey and Riff when they're forced to reunite, and suddenly she finds herself caught between the man who's good for her and the one who completely rocks her in every way.

©2013 Michelle A. Valentine (P)2013 Tantor

Pretty good addition to the series :)

3.5-4 stars

This was a pretty good story. I liked Riff and Aubrey and liked their story. The description is a little mis-leading as the story actually takes place during most of books # 1 & 1.5 and everything culminates at the wedding.

Aubrey has a degree in marketing and landed a job in a big marketing firm in New York. She loves her job although things aren't perfect, especially concerning the business deal between her BFF, Lane (heroine from book #1) and the company they both work for. Aubrey has a tendency to fall for bad boys and her mother (who is very straight-laced and proper) keeps getting on her case about finding a good, steady man to marry and have kids with. Aubrey’s not too happy with this future but has decided she needs one last fling with Riff before she “settles down”.

Riff is a good guy with a very troubled past. He made a bad choice when he was 16 years old and it caused an accident which made his family implode. Riff just made a mistake but he was made to feel it was entirely his fault and has lived with horrible guilt for years. Because of this, Riff doesn't feel like he deserves anything good in his life and certainly doesn't deserve to have someone special. Riff was lost but found solace in music and eventually found a new family in his band. Unfortunately, an incident where Noel slept with a woman Riff was hanging with (according to her, Noel was drunk and doesn't remember it) has caused Riff much angst. He’s having trouble letting go of the anger and now it’s starting to tear the band apart.

Riff and Aubrey get started during the timeframe of book #1, Rock the Heart but we don't see their initial interaction in that book. They first meet during the concert that brought the first meeting in 4 years of Noel and Lane (the couple from book #1). Aubrey is waiting for Lane to talk to Noel and Riff comes across her in the hall. There’s a very strong mutual attraction and they flirt a bit. Riff is all for trying to get Aubrey in his bed but when the meeting between Noel and Lane ends explosively, their flirting is ended abruptly. Aubrey can't forget about Riff and decides to reach out to him through a fan connection and gets an IM friendship going with him. Riff is very happy to get a message from Aubrey and they flirt online for a bit, Riff trying to get Aubrey to come visit so they can hook up. In the meantime, Aubrey is confronted with her boss at work asking her to keep secrets from Lane about some things going on behind the scenes and Aubrey feels she has no choice or risk Lane quitting her job in anger without thinking things through. Aubrey also has some confusion in relation to her boring and slightly OCD boss when he starts acting like he’s trying to get too close considering their boss/employee relationship. Lane gets sent on the tour for their job and Aubrey makes arrangements to meet her on one of their stops. She also decides that she'll have a fling with Riff…one last hurrah before she finds a “nice guy” to settle down with.

Aubrey doesn't tell Riff when she’s showing up and so he’s happily surprised when she appears at the bus. They've been messaging each other for a bit and things were hot over the messages. As soon as they see each other, their mutual attraction explodes and they have trouble keeping their hands off each other. Aubrey hasn't told Lane about her being in contact with Riff (and he hasn't mentioned it either) so everyone just thinks they have an instant connection. Aubrey feels a bit bad to be ignoring Lane but can’t resist Riff’s pull. Riff and Aubrey spend some time together and Riff is surprised by how much he wants Aubrey to be his but he knows that can't be so he decides he needs to indulge in hot sex with her to in order to get her out of his system. After the first night neither of them have the other out of their system so they decide to spend the rest of the weekend together. Riff gets some encouragement from Trip (who sees that Riff has deeper feelings for Aubrey) to try to take things deeper but Riff is convinced he’s poison and can only hurt Aubrey if he spends too much time with her and a woman as fine as her would never want him for more than a fling. Aubrey on the other hand, is finding that she’s jealous when groupies hang on Riff when she’s around and she starts to fear her feelings are getting too deep and she'll get hurt. After their weekend they both try to move on but that’s difficult. Their relationship becomes rather up and down…sometimes together (when Riff is unable to resist Aubrey and gets her to give him a chance) and then apart (when Riff gets to feeling he’s bad for Aubrey and removes himself in order to protect her). Riff seems intent on protecting Aubrey from him hurting her but in his actions to protect her he actually hurts her and he can't seem to keep himself from wanting to be with her. Aubrey actually does pretty well at dealing with Riff running hot and cold but when he has a huge bout of relationship dumbassedness, I really wish she wouldn't have jumped in to dating Isaac so soon afterwards (but then Isaac did kind of push the matter). There is drama and angst and things don't look good for a while but Riff realizes he’s being an idiot and makes things right with Aubrey. This causes a bit of drama in itself (Isaac) but it does leave Aubrey and Riff free to start their HEA together.

This was a pretty enjoyable story. I liked Aubrey and Riff together and was rooting for them to realize they're perfect for each other. Unfortunately, because this is a NA book there was plenty of angst to deal with before it happened but it wasn't over the top so I could deal with it alright. Overall, it was a pretty good story with a feel good ending. I'd recommend it (but you'll probably want to read book #1 first). :D

* note - The book was from both Aubrey and Riff's PoVs and there were 2 narrators, a female for Aubrey's PoV and a male for Riff's PoV. Both narrators did a good job in the narration but I didn't really feel like the male narrator's voice is what I'd expect Riff to sound like. It didn't ruin the book though and I liked the narration overall.

ONE NIGHT WAS JUST NOT ENOUGH FOR 2 LOST SOULS

Firstly, I don't know why it was decided to do a split narration on this when the first book worked fine but Allen Steele's voice was just so painfully wrong wrong wrong as Riff and so alas, for that reason, it dropped a star.

Secondly, as I begin to write this review I can't help but ponder over just why we love bad bad boys...... but we do, whether their Vampires, Highlanders, Cowboys, Millionaires, Rakes or, in this case, Rock Gods, it's all the same - they bring out the best and worst in us ..... and we love every single minute of it.

Riff's a tortured soul plagued by hidden demons from his past with masked inner self-loathing he is set on a path of self destruction until he tries to give his famous 'Golden Ticket' to Aubrey and unwittingly his life is about to change. Their attraction was fuelled by hot sexual chemistry which both thought could be doused by one night of sexual pleasure (er wrong). But one night, became two and the passion was still there but it was coupled with longing and hunger for something more. Aubrey was seeking trust as well as lust and Riff was seeking redemption but she had some uphill battles before Riff's Demons could finally be vanquished and set free.

This was told in the same timeline as book 1 but from a different person's perspective which, if you've heard book 1, you begin to see the other side of the story.

Worth a credit? Yes, if you're like me and enjoy stories of bad boys being tamed but, in my humble opinion, it's not as good as Sinners on Tour but a good runner up as it was a tender tale that began with sex followed by passion, denial, turmoil, longing, acceptance and, the ultimate of prizes..... love.

It's allright

I keep wondering as I listen to this series of books why I just can't love them like I love Olivia Cunning's books of rock stars. I think they lack the depth that Olivia can communicate in her books. The first book in this series was better than this one. (Narration could of been the issue.) Therefore this is just Ok and I'd prefer to get this one on sale or not at all.

I do not like the male narrator. His voice does not suit the character. His voice sounds older and I just can't see Riff's voice sounding like that in my mind. I actually would of preferred for Aletha George to do the entire book.

Narrators

The female narrator was fine, but didn’t really like the male narrator. Didn’t fit how I thought he would sound...

Good addition to series, narrator's not so bad

I enjoyed this book and agree that it is a good addition to the series. I know there were complaints about the male narrator but I don't agree with them. I don't think he did a bad job narrating, I just don't think he sounded like a 26 year old rock star. Can't wait to continue this series.

She was great He was the wrong choice for narrator

How could the performance have been better?

I'm sure Allen Steele is a great narrator for some books. He was the wrong choice for this book. His voice was to have reflected a character of 28-32? Every time he spoke the character was no longer a hot young rock star, he was a grizzled 40-50 year old. Very distracting. Just let Aletha George do the whole thing.

Please find a better male voice

I swear I felt like I was listening to Sam freaking Elliot. Good thing I read this book years ago because if I had listen to the audio book I would have given up. He’s suppose to be 26 year old rocker Not 62 year old cowboy.

Loved the story ... hated the male narration!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend the story despite of the male narration. It is a good story. I love heart rendering love stories.

What did you like best about this story?

Riff fighting his feelings because of his dark past!

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The female is wonderful!!! She could handled the entire story .... the male narration does not fit my mental picture of Riff. I hated the dual narration!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, because I needed a break from the male narration.

Terrible narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would based on story

How could the performance have been better?

The male narrator should have been a different personal. His voice takes away from the story. I winced when he talked

The male narrator ruined it...

The story was ok and the female narrator was fine, but the male narrator sounds like he's a 70 year old grandpa. He doesn't at all sound like a badass rock star. Sad!!! Sex scenes were weird with his voice. This ruined the books for me. Made me want to stop listening on more than one occasion.