Recently Olivia Cunning unveiled the next cover for her Sinners on Tour series. This features a popular rock band, as they tour around the country finding love and having lots of sex. The first book in this series, Backstage Pass was filthy fun. The second book, not so much but I still like the idea of a book with rock stars.
One of the sexiest things in the world is a man standing on stage singing to you, right? So why am I not reading more of them? Where are they? Maybe they are all around I’m just haven’t found them or maybe they really aren’t that popular. Do sexy singers not transfer well to a book? Maybe it’s all the groupies and drugs surrounding the rock stars that don’t really scream romance….
The few titles I did think of, besides the Olivia Cunning series are:
Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Rigaud – I refuse to read this book. No, really.
The Rancher and the Rock Star by Lizabeth Selvig. I love the title of this book, but the blurb makes it sound like the rock star leaves his singing days behind to go work on a ranch. Not what I’m looking for.
The Bodyguard and the Rock Star by Christy Tillery French. This has 15 reviews on Amazon, of which 13 are five-star. This makes me wary. Anyone read it?
Love’s Rhythm by Lexxie Couper – Yesterday, Fiction Vixen reviewed this one. It sounds okay….might have to check it out.
Edited to add: I read After Midnight by Sarah Grimm last year (review) and I enjoyed that one! Also! Joyfully Jay has a huge list of Rock Star M/M Romances. How could I forget Jet Mykles, Heaven Sent? My very first m/m read. I apparently have no memory.
So what books am I missing? Or is there some secret romance rule that rock star romances don’t work?
Actually, I read Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Rigaud. I liked it. It wasn’t cheesy or over the top.
Oh realllly? I just hate the idea of Austen mash-ups…not sure I can get over that. Why not just write fresh characters?
so I read this as fanfiction a good 10 years ago (!!), and it’s really really entertaining. once you get over the names of the characters, I think the author put together a compelling story. The Col. Fitzwilliam character if I recall correctly was dealing with substance abuse in an honest and emotional fashion. honestly, I feel like the Austen stuff is just a good way to stretch your wings and feel a little safer before striking out with something completely new.
I wish Lauren Dane would have given more page time to the rock start status of Adrian and Erin… :( I can’t think of any rock star books I’ve read other than Cunning.
I think here needs to be more rock stars in romance. I picked up Gateway to Heaven by Beth Kery the other day. It’s free at Amazon.
ooh! Thanks for the heads up!
I ‘m reading Gateway to Heaven and I think you’ll enjoy it. Originally published in 2008.
Just finished Gateway to Heaven. In fact I stopped reading Bared to You so I could DEVOUR it. I know its been out for a while, but I think Mandi’s question about rock star heroes drew me to this title. What kept me up late last night finishing it was a combination of Kery’s mad skills building sexual tension and seeing how the H/H really talked to each other. They mess up; they worked it out. God, that’s sexy.
I just finished this. I liked it. I need to read more Beth Kery.
The only Rock Star book I can remember is Sarah Grimm’s After Midnight, but I’m almost sure you read it because I think I got it because of your rec. Very good book and I’m looking forward to the sequel that I have no idea when it’s supposed to come out.
If you’re looking for m/m rock stars, Joyfully Jay did that Rock Star week last year, remember?
http://www.joyfullyjay.com/search/label/Rock%20star%20week
I know there’s another book series I tried t oread last year, in the first book the heroine is a bit of a nerd and she’s writing a book, I think she’s a psicologist. I can’t, for the life of me, remember the title, but I know it was kind of bad so I wouldn’t recommend it to you LOL!
And I absolutely agree with you, Rock Stars should be as abundant as Navy SEALs, they are so hot and make for great heroes and character-oriented stories. Just imagine this: tortured hero battling addiction and fame, falls for the one woman who’s never heard of him (she used to be a blind nun living on top of a mountain) and now they find each other and he teaches her to see through music, and she craves touch (because the other nuns didn’t let her touch anything even though she was blind and how else was she supposed to learn how things and people looked like?). But then his evil ex, who is also the band’s manager and his drug dealer, makes her believe that they cheated on her, so she runs down the stairs and he sees her and is all worried and yell “Why God why!?! Take me instead, please!!!!”, but it’s OK because now she can see!!!!! Oh my, what a great book, someone should write it.
First of all – I have no memory! Yes – that Sara Grimm book IS good. Thank you for mentioning it. I’m going to edit this post to include it.
And I totally forgot about Jay’s week! Gah!
Second, you make me LOL with your synopsis. Yes – make this book a reality for me. OMG – I have a tear because the blind nun can now see. SO MOVING!
*dies of LOL*
The only rock star romance I’ve read is Where She Went by Gayle Forman. It’s categorized as YA (even though the protagonists are college-graduating age) and the sex is off the page, but there’s plenty of angst and swoon. For more courtship and less angst, read If I Stay, which is the predecessor to Where She Went. Each book stands alone so they don’t need to be read sequentially. I know some read Where She Went first and then read If I Stay because they wanted to find out more about Adam and Mia.
Thank you for those recs! I had not heard of either of them. Off to Goodreads….
OOHH! I just read “Gateway to Heaven” by Beth Kery — rock star playing it all mr. anonymous to impress the good girl. Really good.
And the hero of Lilli Feisty’s “Bound to Please” was a rock star too That was a VERY hot book if you haven’t read it yet plus does the older woman/younger man scene quite well.
I think part of the reason there aren’t more in romance novels is that we all KNOW right down to the bottoms of our secret hearts that they would make TERRIBLE perma-mates (even though it would be a blast to have a few hours of fun) since they do tend to go all groupie-crazy.
I have read Bound to Please – but I don’t remember the hero being a rock star. SIGH! LOL. Apparently Rock stars just slip out of my mind. ;)
Off to get Gateway to Heaven
The thing is, sometimes authors do the Rock Star Hero but they don’t show the Rock Star life, they write the book when the Rock Star is on vacation or something, and I think that’s why we don’t remember them as such. What I want to read is Rock Stars beeing Rock Stars, that’s why Sinners on tour was so good I think…
Yes, this is true. I just read Love’s Rhythm by Lexxie Couper and was disappointed that there was no “rock star life”. Just a contemp where the hero happens to be a rock star.
Beth Kery’s Gateway to Heaven (which was free on Amazon the last week or so) features a rock star and was a sweet romance. The hero in Lauren Dane’s Never Enough is a rock star. Leather, Lace, and Rock-n-Roll by Mia Dymond is a good one too though it has an outrageous plot (hot rock star who’s part of a top secret military group).
And if you’re into paranormal rock stars, there’s also a series featuring the members of a rock group (one who’s a phoenix) but I can’t recall the series name or author at the moment. It was an Ellora’s Cave publication, possibly released in 4-5 years ago?
ooh..paranormal rock stars..I might be into that :)
Re Brie’s killer outline for a rock star/blind nun romance: Smexy should run a thread titled, “Write this story please!” where you collect more brillant and hilarious story outlines. I die thinking Brie’s brillance could be lost in internet ether…it’s tooo good.
It’s one of my most favorite comments :)
I just read Mari Carr’s Ruby Tuesday and it was pretty good. Not my favourite in her Wild Irish series, but it’s the one with a rock star hero.
Thanks!
Lauren Dane recently shared the blurb for Lush and it has a rock star. But it won’t be out until next year :(
Ooooh. I want!
I never really contemplated the lack of rock stars. I’ve read both of Olivia’s books and am a tiny bit perturbed that we’ve had to wait so long for book 3. What is up with that? The only other books I’ve read mentioned above is the Heaven series by Jet Mykles which I loved. I going to check out Gateway to Heaven since so many liked it and it’s still free on Amazon. Yay!
Great post Mandi!
I’m dying for the next book in the Sinners on tour series to come out. Apparently Olivia has finished the whole series already but the publisher isn’t cooperating. *shakes fist at Olivia’s publisher*
I think she blogged that originally the third book was too dark in her editor’s eyes so she was asked to rewrite. If I remember correctly.
As far as I know the next book would have been Jayce’s story but the publisher wanted her to publish Trey’s story first, which Olivia planned to finish the series with.
I will just have to be patient…
Oh! I forgot all about Chloe Cole’s rock star series. Convincing Quinn, Breaking Beau, and Taming Tai. Short and dirty novellas ;)
I’m all over it. Thanks!
Thanks Mandi for including the link to Rock Star Week over at Joyfully Jay! For some reason the one Brie added in her comments doesn’t work, but here is another link that takes you to my end of week wrap up where there are some additional books that aren’t listed in that first post.
Rock Star Week Wrap Up
Cool, thanks!
I got nothing and I am with you, where are they? They should be everywhere, but nope
There are lots of good suggestions in the comments.
I read Heather Lynn’s Pride and Prejudice with Darcy as a rock star as a fan fiction and it was a sensation at the time! We were all wild about, everyone loved it, don’t knock it. It’s better than you think! Her modern Darcy was very sexy! :)
Hmmmmm….maybe…. :)
Thoughtless and Effortless by S.C. Stephens!! Seriously good with lots of drama and angst and sex. There is ALOT of focus on being a rock star. Main character is the lead singer of a band!!!
And on the list it goes! Thanks!
Loved:
Contemp
A Little Night Music by Sarah Dale. No ebook version though.
M/M
Moonlight Becomes You & The Luckiest by MJ O’Shea & Piper Vaughan
There are 2 freebies on goodreads as well that are part of the series.
Craven by Eden Cole
Be The Air For You & Shades Of Dreams & Wishing For a Home by T A Chase
Thanks Mary!
Jane by April Lindner has a rock star hero who is very Springsteen-esque.
Oooh..I like the sound of that :)
I can’t remember reading some rock star romance, and I don’t read M/M at all. But didn’t Lauren Dane has one last year? 4th in a series? And I do remember the Carpathians by Christne Feehan, one of the books is about the lost children who have become a band together. But don’t ask my the titles of those few books, besides Dark Song.
Dane has a hero who is a rock star (I think) but you don’t really see him being one (maybe?).
Feehan lost children who form a band sounds a little scary. LOL
Thoughtless by SC Stephens is crazy good! I haven’t found anything else like it and I have totally been looking!
two of my favorites are Sheet Music by Ann Lister and Blindside by Sayer Adams.
What a great discussion! I just came across this blog tonight so I hope I’m not breaking any rules by mentioning my book Secret Bodyguard. It’s about a synchronized swimmer turned bodyguard who’s been assigned to protect a rock star.
I totally agree with Mandi that it is so sexy to have a man on stage singing to you. Trevor takes it one step further since the song he sings is the one he wrote for Erica while watching her swim.
If you all are so inclined, I’d love it if you’d check it out and let me know what you think.
Kindle Version
This is so my genre: Epic Rock Stars and Bad Boys. Goodreads has a list: Epic Rock Stars ~ worth checking out! My favorite series: Pure Wildfire series (lynne Connolly), Rock Hard series (Olivia Cunning), Rock Hard Seduction (Tonya Remargos), Sinners on Tour (Olivia Cunning). Individual novels? Ravensong (M.L.Hamilton) read this through twice in three days it was that good!, Rock My World (Lex Valentine), Sheet Music (Ann Lister), Love’s Rhythm (Lexie Couper). There might be a few I’ve neglected to mention. Bad Boy novels: My all-time fav is Rock Me (Cherrie Lynn), Going Under (Georgia Cates)
I just read The Mighty Storm by Samantha Towle….I am in love! It is a great book! There are times where you are kinda like alright already with the girls thoughts, but man….LOVE IT….can’t read it enough times.
Thanks! I got it earlier today LOL
Read Adriana Hunter’s “Rock Hard” series (Rock Hard, Rock Bottom and Rock Solid) and loved them all. Erotic romance though so a bit dirty ;)
COOL!
I hope you will excuse me for coming in two years later and jumping in to talk about my own book, but I am in the process of publishing a rock star novel myself called Identity Theft. I googled “rock star novels” and found this thread. So if you really are waiting for the next rock star fiction I’d like to let you know about this one. I hope it will be enjoyable.
Hi Laura
You can always submit your book for review – https://smexybooks.com/review-policygiveaway-info
Mandi :)