*Spoilers: To fully explain my review and feelings toward this book there will be spoilers.*
Title: The Rocker That Holds Me
Author: Terri Anne Browning
Series: The Rocker #1
Release Date: January 24, 2013
My Rating: 2 Stars
Touring with four rockers is the thing of dreams…
At least that is what people tell me. To me those four rockers are my family. They have watched over me from the time I was five years old. Protecting me from my mother and her drunken, drug addict rages. When they made it big they still watched over me. And when my monster of a mother died they took over as my guardians.
In the six years since that happened I have watched over the four men that
mean everything to me. I take care of them just as they once took care of me. I handle all the dirty work behind the scenes of a rockers life. It isn’t always pretty. At times it came be damn near disgusting, especially when I have to get rid of their one night stands. Ugh!
Taking care of them doesn’t bother me though. I mean it’s not like I’m in love with one of them. That would be crazy. Falling for a rocker is NOT smart.
Okay, so I’m not smart. I love my guys, and one of them kind of holds my heart in his big old rocker hand. But I’m dealing. I’ve been able to keep it my little secret for years now.
I’m not, however, dealing with this bug that I seem to have caught. It scares the hell out of me. I hate doctors, but I’m suddenly more worried about finding out what is wrong with me than what the doctor might do to me.
When I get my test results back my life will never be the same again…
I really hate giving low star reviews but, The Rocker That Holds Me was just too scattered for me. I was intrigued by the premise. I enjoy a good "I've loved him since I was young" story line but, this one was not for me. The Rocker That Holds Me just felt completely disjointed and underdeveloped.
We start with a flashback to when Emmie, Nik, Jesse, Drake and Shane were younger and the boys were saving her from her abusive mother. Back to present day Emmie is now the mother hen to the men while they are on tour. It is typical rocker life, except these guys did not seem to have any redeeming qualities. They drink to get drunk, and take advantage of Emmie (at least from my point of view). The men are very vocal about their protectiveness of Emmie but, I never really saw it reflected in their actions. Through the last few tour dates Emmie has been ill, and it takes her collapsing to finally seek a doctor. Even then, she is rushed to the hospital by a friend and the men, who claim to love her, cannot be reached for hours. The reason for Emmie's sickness is pregnancy. Which is no real shock, the signs were all there. Of course, up until now there has been no sex between any of the characters. Nik, the man that supposedly holds Emmie's heart, loses his cool and demands to know who the father is. Surprise! He is. But he doesn't remember. In a moment of drunkenness he took Emmie's virginity and thought it was only a dream.
In the resulting scenes Nik and Emmie never sit down and talk about how they will handle the pregnancy, their relationship, or anything really. Jesse, who in my mind is more affectionate towards Emmie than Nik is, took her to a doctor's appointment only for them to come home see half naked women partying with the rest of the guys. So Emmie finally takes actions, which I wholeheartedly applauded, and decides to leave. I think if the story had ended there I might have had a better feeling about it. However, Nik rushes after her and spouts some lame excuse about trying to provoke her to tell him her true feelings. How is she supposed to have those kind of "true" feelings, when they have only screwed, because I feel that's the only word for what they did, twice and have not conversed about the situation at hand?
I have always said the length of a book should not be a factor if it is used wisely and the story is developed. The writing was good, but the story itself lacked direction, closure and substance. I wanted more interaction between Nik and Emmie. More grown-up conversation about the reality of their situation. I think my point is that it wasn't the author, it was the characters that I had a beef with. Yes, I know the author writes the characters, but we all know that characters speak to authors, and they live inside their heads. And I feel that these characters just needed some more time mull over their decisions. The epilogue is the reason for the second star in my rating. It showed a bit more depth and connection between Emmie, Nik and their child. When compared with other rocker books out there, I feel the The Rocker That Holds Me just fell short. I wouldn't dissuade anyone from trying to read this book, but it just was not my style. However, these are only my personal opinions, and they are not meant to anger anyone. Also to disclose, there are plenty of people out there that truly enjoyed this book, so I was definitely in the minority on this one.
Happy Reading!
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