Rock Chick Revenge

There will be spoilers--Okay, I've read all the books in this series and I have to say I did not remotely like the female lead in this story. Originally Luke bothered me because it seemed like he hit on all the ladies in the previous books, which made him seem fickle. But Ava completely overshadowed that with her actions. First of all, she hung all over another male. She kept hugging another character, leaving with him, thinking how attractive he is, her heart racing when she looked at him, etc. that I wondered why she was with Luke. Plus if she saw her "boyfriend" doing any of those things with another woman, she would be the first to freak out. Which she actually did in one scene, so really, what's with the other guy? She never spoke up and just let this guy manhandle her and gave weak excuses as to why she allowed it. Ugh. I haven't even finished reading the story and had to write this review because I was so annoyed with her. In one scene, Luke walks into a bar and this other guy has his arms around her from behind with his head on her shoulder. If Luke had done that, she would have run off screaming boo hoo, he's a player, I knew it! It just seemed like a double standard. It just made me want Luke to dump her.

I enjoyed all the other characters, there is a slew of them but they are funny. I also like how they show the characters doing fun, everyday stuff and also bonding with other people. By the end of this book, I actually liked Luke. After one scene I was ticked at him, but he explained it later in the book and it makes complete sense. I just can't get past Ava. It's towards the end of the book, her and Luke are together, and she sees this guy that she was hanging on. Yeah, I'm thinking, finally, she's going to lay it down to him. Nope, she lets him pull her close and hug her even though she knows she probably shouldn't allow it, but hey, Luke's not around. And she talks against his neck. I'm sorry, that's inappropriate. It is disrespectful to her boyfriend. I'm getting angry about it again.

Anyway, the Rock Chick series has been pretty good so far, it is in first person, so that takes a while to get used to, but it's funny and I like the characters for the most part. One thing I take slight issue with is in every one of the stories, the female lead has another guy that's interested in her and because he's good looking, she entertains the idea of possibly being interested in him. Or at least letting them do inappropriate things when they are supposedly so attracted to the main guy character (like hugging them, pulling them real close, kissing them). It just throws me out of the story because it makes me doubt their feelings for the main guy. I understand using it as a plot point, but why make the heroine return those feelings. Sometimes I just want them to say, "sorry, I'm not comfortable with you doing that" or "sorry, it's not gonna happen, I have feelings for ____". Even if the guy wants to make a point with the H, fine, but she needs to draw the line in private.

So, if you are someone that doesn't mind the heroine hanging on someone else, then you shouldn't mind this book so much. Me, I don't think I can give this a second go. I have to stop writing this so I can finish the story (77% done) but by now, I'm just trying to get it over with. I will still pick up Mace's story (his is supposed to be next) because I'm hoping this is just an anomaly.
Two stars because that's how much Ava bugged me.

I hated the female character. Hated her so much I couldn't sleep last night dreaming up what I could say about how much I hated her for this review. She was the most selfish, self-centered, unbelievably STUPID person ever written in romance history. She lied ALL the time. Lied when it wasn't necessary to lie. Lied and put people in danger. Lied and hurt people. Stupid gone to seed. She was so selfish (spoiler) that during a high speed chase - with friends in the car with her - rather than go straight to the police station, she was more worried about the hero finding out she didn't listen to him AGAIN about her safety. Blech. Rather than tell the truth about what happened to her with the bad guy, she held back information. Oh my gosh, who is this stupid broad???

She is NOT a heroine. I was so absolutely disappointed that this is what was chosen for Luke that, had this been my first Ashely book, I would never have purchased another one. The story line, plot, and secondary characters were, as usual, wonderful. This female character made me so mad if I had been reading a paperback I would either have thrown it across the room or ripped it into a million pieces, stomped on it, then burned it. You know it's bad when you yell at a fictional character in a book. Bad.

I can't tell you how disappointed I was with this stupid character. The story was good but if you have read the other Rock Chick books in order, you have learned who Luke is and looked forward to his story and about his woman. Go into this book forwarned - she does not fit him. It was as if the character was forced to fit with him. She doesn't. There was promise there then she opened her mouth and lied and lied and lied. Thoughtless, selfish, self-centered, and a huge liar, to boot. He deserved better. So big what she had a bad childhood? Nothing explains her constant lying. UGH.

Please don't base the other books by this one - and it is good but got a "3" rating because I hated Ava. Very much.

Ava and Luke

This was one of my favorite Rock Chick books! I loved Luke AND I loved Ava. I haven't loved both the characters equally since Liam and India. And Lee was super sweet in this one when he found Ava in the basement. I am actually ~70% through Vance and Jules story when I started this one (just intending to read the first few chapters that are available online because I didn't have access to my kindle) and I couldn't put it down. I had to go home and purchase this one and kept trying to convince myself to play by the rules and go back and finish Vance and Jules...but I couldn't!
I am not sure this one needs a summary (there is not so much stuff that goes down). In short, Ava has known Luke since she was eight, she gets into some trouble, goes to Luke, changes her mind, he decides he is taking care of her troubles and the rest is the story of those troubles and Luke and Ava's story.

I still love Tex. He usually makes me laugh (although I will reiterate that his foul mouth sometimes makes me cringe with his use of GD). I love Shirleen and (unexpectedly) I loved Ren. He was such a wonderful combination of macho man/sweet guy that (if I didn't love Luke as much as I do) I might have rooted for him. I like Riley as well (not as much as Ren) but he was a good character as well.

Ava's troubles were at once less scary and more scary than the other Rock Chick's, but I loved, loved, loved it.

Now, I just have to convince myself to finish Vance and Jules before going on to Mace and Stella. I have many colleagues who rely on me for book recommendations and I have having a hard time not getting giddy when I talk about Rock Chicks (that would mean I am a bigger dork than I already am, so I gotta keep a lid on that.)

This book was just really annoying. Every single character was getting on my nerves by the end, and I was barely able to finish it.

SPOILERS
Ava was the WORST character, and that's saying something since the others were pretty bad. She was whiny and childish and seemed to live in this constant state of denial about everything, especially with regards to Luke. Also, she was pretty much a doormat. She and Luke would go on and on about how she and Luke fit together because she wouldn't take his s***, when actually that was all she did. Not once did she ever win an argument with Luke, even on the rare times she was in the right, so basically she came off as a doormat who whined a lot for no reason since she's really just gonna agree with Luke in the end.

Luke was way over the top. I love a good alpha, but he took it way too far when he left her handcuffed her to the bed and forced her to move in with him and sleep with him after one day. I mean I get that they had lived next to each other forever, but they had lost contact for years and were both clearly very different people. They didn't go on a single date, Luke just forced her into his life, despite her trying to run away and him having to repeatedly HANDCUFF her to him to get her to stay. I mean come on, that's a whole parade of red flags right there.

All of Ava's friends were also pretty obnoxious. Shirleen especially seemed way to caricatured, like the stereotypical "sassy black friend." None of them seemed to really care about Ava, emotionally or physically. They keep pushing her to get with Luke without caring if she was emotionally ready for the commitment level that Luke clearly required. They also didn't seem to care that maybe she wouldn't want to fall right into bed with him or move in with him, that maybe she'd at least like to talk to him first or have some say in their relationship. Also, they go with her to see a man they know is involved in criminal activity and they know has murdered people in the course of said criminal activity. Seriously, KA is starting to make her characters way too stupid. She's trying way too hard to add drama and danger, and frankly it's getting ridiculous. I'm going to have to take a break from her for a while.

Does no one else find this series is becoming HUGELY formulaic? It can't just be me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Kristen Ashley fan...but come on.

What I didn't like specifically about this particular installment:

1. Luke- I liked Luke in the previous books but in this one he was too much. I accept that when I'm reading a Kristen Ashley book I'm going to be slathered in (at times) somewhat over the top alpha behavior but this went beyond even that. His treatment of Ava was ridiculous and her acceptance of it was just as bad.

2. Anyone who thinks it's plausible for someone to get over being handcuffed to a bed for hours that quickly has never actually been in handcuffs for that long. But I guess it's all good because he apologized and he's hot. EYEROLL. Come on Kristen.

3. I like receiving updates about characters from other books, don't get me wrong, but do we need to be drown in every single character ever mentioned in every previous book? At this point it seems like half of the book's content is comprised of character names and way too many detailed descriptions pointless minutia.

I could go on but I won't because I do like this author. I just think sometimes a dose of reality and an editor would do her huge amounts of good.

I'm in the minority here I know, but all her characters were so cliched, the first book in the series was moderately interesting but come on, it was like living in Lake Wobegon, all the 'chicks" were hot , all the men were, you guessed it 'hot", and manly, and all were falling over themselves to claim the 'hot chicks', because as usual , they were 'players', until they met the right woman, and in every last one of the books in this series the women were infantilised to the point where it became absurd, it seems like these women couldn't make a smart decision to save their lives,and of course they all required the hot manly man to save the day, I found the sex scenes rather repetitive and boring as well ,I mean it was guaranteed in each and every one of the books that the first two or three attempts to have sex would be interrupted by a friend, or a parent or a phone call , this book was no different from the rest,she met the guy, after having of course sworn off all men, shortly after there was the whole "No I'm never having sex with you, ooooh oooh take me, take me" rubbish. Complete with all the other sidekick stereotypes, the gangsters moll, the gay couple with great fashion sense( why oh why do these authors keep recycling these same lame stereotypes) and the sassy black woman,all of course betting on when the hot guy would (gag) nail Ava. I tried, I really tried but this is the fourth of the books in the series that I read back to back and I couldn't take it any more, the whole handcuffed to the bed for her own safety thing stopped being funny two books back, ditto, the quasi forced sex scenes where ;'no' always meant 'yes', 'yes', 'yes'.If you like your female leads soft and pathetic then this, like the others in this series is the book for you. If you want a kick ass female and not a lobotomised blow up sex doll incapable of making decisions for herself then try Shelly Laurenston, Patricia Briggs or the Ilona Andrews team.And here's a tip, if the heroine refers to the male in the first person as 'big guy', then you can bet that the book is gonna blow , I'm talking big putrid chunks. This is that kind of book

This is a full length book in the Rock Chick series by Kristen Ashley. It is adult themed with cussing, violence, and steamy scenes. *Trigger Alert* There is sexual assault in this book and you are not just told about it after the fact you go through it with the character as its happening. There is no cliffhangers and as always there is an HEA. Normally I also say there is no cheating and officially there isn’t in this one but the lead female character walks a fine line with cheating in this one, so she doesn’t go all the way with another guy but she does other things that would be considered cheating if it were up to me. I was not paid for my honest review.

Luke is part of the Nightingale Investigations team based in Denver, Colorado. He is tough, protective, and honest taking no crude from anyone. When Luke was twelve years old he moved to Denver and met his eight year old neighbor Ava. He has loved her ever since. Now he has her right where he wants her but she has changed and he is determined to bring the old Ava back.

Ava loves Luke she has since he moved in next door when she was eight years old. They have a sweet history but at his fathers funeral Ava makes a promise she does not keep and it keeps them apart. Ava needs Luke’s help but when she goes to Nightingale Investigations she is a different person than she was five years before....thinner, colder, closed off emotionally and specifically done with men forever. Luke has other ideas and he plans to change Ava’s mind even if he has to handcuff her to his bed.

This was my least favorite book in this series so far. If you are new to this author her Dream Man and Chaos series are much better I recommend you start with those. Ava, to me, is a terrible character. Yes she has a lot of baggage and a lot of crummy things have happened to her but she treats Luke terribly for the whole first three quarters of the book. Constantly telling him she doesn’t like him, she doesn’t want to be around him, going on dates with other guys and bringing them up to his loft afterward. Luke has been one of my favorite side characters in this series so I was so excited when he finally got his own book, but it was short lived because Ava is a jerk and treats him so bad I wanted to stop reading. He even gets in a fist fight with another guy over Ava and I don’t think she was worth fighting over. The sad part is Luke and Ava basically grew up together and that part of the book was really sweet but she is so nasty to him throughout the book it ruins their historical connection to each other. Then when she finally starts to settle down and admit she likes him then the sexual assault takes place so you never get to feel happy or good while reading this book. The steamy scenes were ok but they read like stereo instructions to me, once Ms. Ashley does better with that in her other series. There is a lot of action, drama, and Rock Chick antics in this book, plenty of fashion descriptions (which I don’t pay attention to) and some humor, but it doesn’t make up for the bad parts of this book. Honestly, I bought this series without doing any research about it because I have read some of her other series and really enjoyed them. If I had read this one first I would never have bought another book from this author. To each his own if you like a sweet, tough, protective male lead who gets treated like crap throughout most of a book than this book is for you. Disappointed!

4 stars!

“He isn't my man."
"Girl, it don't matter you don't think he is, he thinks he is."

This is a book that truly surprised me with how much I enjoyed it!.

Rock Chick Revenge is about former "fatty" (as she put in her own words) Ava who goes to an old friend Luke with a problem her best friend is having. Right away Luke is more than happy to reunite, in fact he all but abducts Ava into his life.

“I'm not stupid, I know your heart's involved in this and I've never, not once in all the time you've known me, given you the idea that I won't handle it with care.”

My weakness with romance is an insecure heroine and angst. This book had heaps of both so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved Ava and her journey, how she didn't just give in to Luke and believed everything right away. Their relationship took work and Luke was willing to put in the time.

I also thought this book was funny as hell and almost no one pissed me off which is a miracle cause with this series, normally someone is pissing me off. I got frustrated at some times with how Luke treated Ava, but later he more than made up for it and I ended up loving him. Even if he was a little bit creepy.

I think I'm off to binge what's left of KA's back list. I don't wanna run out but her books are hitting the spot!!!

“Ava, you missed it when it happened so I’ll clue you in. Last night, around the time you fell asleep against me, you became mine.”

Ok I am SO disappointed that I wasted my time with this book. I really like KA books normally but the rock chick books are HORRIBLE. 1) They are all the same. 2) There is WAY too much drama and I dont care who you are, if you someone in real life kept acting out and giving so many mixed signals, you would run the other way. I mean that for both of them. For Ava, I mean I understood the self esteem issues and the jaded to men in the beginning. But, to then really do the same thing to ALL other men when she was slut shaming her sisters AND to be a bitch when she thinks her sisters are bitches for the same behavior when SHE is the one who went to the PIs for help was annoying and Luke would not find that attractive because she "licked her lips." Please. For Luke, I mean she creates him in other books literally throwing himself at all the other girls and finally he says he missed "out again" in the first seen. SERIOUSLY? I am supposed to believe this is actually something special? Oh and Ava with all her issues just got over his past hitting on other "rock chicks" because something else distracted her. If you cant come up with a resolution that is real, dont set up that type of conflict in your story. What a cop out. Any girl who likes this series doesnt understand real relationships and how to be a strong woman for real without being a B*** or throwing attitude for no reason and playing stupid games. Get a job, get an education, and try being a good person. KA has good books, this is not ONE of them.

First of all, I agree with those that said Luke has hit on every other woman in the series, it seems. Ava had her reservations about the guy, and overall I thought they were valid. (I found her cookie obsession annoying, though.) But I did not like the way Luke would use those cute little handcuffs to not let Ava leave. Sure, sometimes she leaped to the wrong conclusion and was mad for no reason, but so what, those were her feelings. The way he prevented her from leaving really bothered me. I also felt she let him use her for sex way too much. Overall this was my least favorite Rock Chick. (My favorite being Eddie and Jet.) The other parts were charming, the Rock Chick bits, the wackiness, it all was there. I liked that Ava used to be overweight and I liked the way Luke stood up to her horrible sisters. But overall this book made me vaguely sad and I didn't buy their HEA all that much.

I'm rereading Rock Chick Rescue to feel better, so there's a plus.