Psychology student Elizabeth “Liz” Rollins is the younger sister of Anne, heroine of Play, who ended up with the drummer of Portland-based mega rock band Stage Dive after a whirlwind romance. Liz was a supporting character in that book, as well as in the sequel, Lead, and she’s been nursing a crush on the band’s massive, strong and silent lumbersexual bassist, Ben. Due to a nine year age difference and the fact that Ben is quite obviously not the settling down type (or even the multiple dates kind a guy), both Anne and her boyfriend Mal warn Liz to stay away from Ben, but they keep texting in secret, and this does nothing to diminish Liz’ infatuation, until she figures out that Ben really isn’t going to piss off his friends, and she cuts off all contact.
They see each other for the first time in a while at Anne and Mal’s wedding in Vegas and alcohol and the prolonged absence leads to a one night stand (Liz kicks Ben out of her room – sans pants – once he lies on the phone to Mal about who he’s with and what he’s doing). Cue a couple of months later, when Liz has discovered that she’s pregnant. She’s forced to announce the news at a particularly awkward band dinner, where Ben’s current date diagnoses both Liz and lead singer Jimmy’s girlfriend Lena with probably “bun in the oven”-itis. Anne is worried and disappointed, Mal is outraged at his best friend’s betrayal, and Liz pretty much figures she’s going to be a single mum, as Ben is clearly not all that enthused about becoming a daddy.
As Stage Dive are going on a months long tour, Ben persuades Liz to come with them, so she’ll be taken care of and he and she can try to figure out some sort of friendship, since they’ll be sharing custody of a child in about seven months. Liz is disappointed that Ben has no interest in even trying for a closer relationship, but doesn’t want to be alone either and agrees to his “let’s be friends” suggestion, against her better judgement. Her brain tells her to be rational and not expect too much of him, even as her crazy pregnancy hormones make her even more insanely attracted to him than before. Is she ever going to get him to see her as more than his baby-mama friend?
Full review on my blog.
Yes, this is about right. For whatever reason, I have an overall more favorable impression of this series in my memory than my actual ratings would indicate. They are all mediocre in a pleasant way, except for Play which I think is above average.
Are there any actually good rock star romances out there? I know that sounds snarky, but I really want to know. I never would have guessed that hockey romances would be a *thing* for me, so I’m genuinely willing to try rock stars, but they all seem to get middling reviews.
At least it’s not a secret baby romance? That’s all I’ve got. This sounds awful.
It’s really not awful, just sort of uninteresting and extremely average. Kylie Scott really does write excellent heroines, but Ben was pretty much described only in terms of his looks (and how much the heroine lusted after him). It’s one of those romances where you only get the heroine’s POV, and therefore no insight into the hero’s thoughts. Hence, you have to judge him by his actions, which are (for most of the book) to be financially responsible, physically attractive, very friendly and generally oblivious.
With The Heiress Effect, I was so gutted that Oliver turned out to be a wet milksop of a hero, that while that book as a whole is much better (especially because of the excellent secondary romance), I still probably rate Jane and Oliver’s romance lower, because I have such high expectations of Milan. Oliver was such a good supportive character, that I expected great things of him in his own book. Ben has been the least prominent and most non-descript of all the band members in the previous three books, so I had no real expectations of this one, except to learn more about him. I didn’t really – I just got to know Liz better and felt she could do way better.
Only getting the heroine’s POV can work, but you’re right in that then everything is based on the hero’s actions, and they gotta be pretty dreamy for me to get on board. Action wise, not physical descriptor wise. I will end up skipping Ms. Scott’s I have a feeling as I only have so much time to read, and I’m really trying to not waste time on mediocre.
And I love Ms. Milan, more than is probably socially acceptable, but The Heiress Effect is a black hole in my memory. It left me so upset and frustrated. All the kudos in the world to Ms. Milan for going there and writing a wimpy hero, but the only reason I don’t hate that one is for as you said the excellent B plot romance.