To Cherish and To Hold by Nicole Simone (Love a Rockstar #1.5)
Contemporary/RockStar Romance
Released: March 10, 2015
E-Book
Reviewed by Sheena
Marlene Parker got her fairy tale ending. Luke Anderson, her one and only love and their darling little girl are finally a family again. However, nobody said marrying a rockstar is easy. The media is out for blood, groupies are singing on Marlene’s front lawn and people are deeming her the new Yoko Ono. If that wasn’t enough, there is a wedding to plan and pies to bake. An expert in chaos, Marlene doesn’t get easily stressed. That is, until an unexpected pregnancy digs up old insecurities, potentially threatening the life she has worked so hard to gain.
Will Marlene and Luke vow to cherish and to hold forever?
Or was their story never meant to be?
(This novella is a companion novel to the Love of a Rockstar series, but can be read as a standalone. . .)
Yeah….not so sure about that. I would caution against reading this as a stand alone. Regarding content, sure, there are no gaping holes that require having read the previous novel, however, there is an investment that is sorely missing as the couple has had their HEA, and much of my “meh” feelings toward them may have been alleviated if I cared a little more about them.
Marlene was not a heroine I rooted for. She also came across rather exasperating and I don’t give her a pass for preggo hormones. She was flat out aggravating. I liked that the novel was a platform for realistic and everyday relationship challenges- especially when one partner is a celebrity- however, how the characters handled these romantic trappings left much to be desired. Luke was a decent hero. Nice guy, wanted the best for his family. But. I didn’t want to bang him. And in romance- I should always want to bone my hero. He just did not stoke any flames, he didn’t light any fires, didn’t make anything tingle, didn’t make me bite my lip, I did not swoon (believe me I tried, have you ever tried to swoon on demand? Don’t. It’s awkward.) and my pearls remained perfectly uncclutched around my neck. To have such a hot cover, the temperature did not rise high at all- besides a few cringe inducing “Is that what you want baby” and “Yes, Don’t stop!”
snooze.
Marlene struggles with feelings of insecurity and trust and patience with her chosen mate who has a kick ass rock star profession that often places him in precarious situations and away from home for weeks at a time. Luke struggles when he tries to help- but ends up hurting instead, in his effort to keep things calm and peaceful. How she handles his needs is a little nauseating at times, though, to be fair, they have a huge history (so I gather) and while I hesitate to condone her actions, I can see where her motivations are born. Good for her she that has a BFF, Camille, who has common sense and talks her down from the brink of insanity- often. Camille was a great supporting character, while I did not thoroughly enjoy Luke and Marlene, I would give a shot to a novel that featured Camille. She kind of out rated Marlene in every scene.
“How can I be calm? my jackass fiance’ sprung this on me. It’s deja vu of his concert proposal in front of a thousand people and you know what my answer was…”
“Honey, your fiancee’ isn’t a jackass. He did this because you are pregnant, stressed to your limit and wanted to turn this affair [wedding] into something you can both look back on with fond memories.”
“He could have just done the dishes for a week,” I mumbled.
Camille gave me a searching sideways glance. “Are we talking about the same man? Because Luke doesn’t think small, he thinks on a grand scale.”
Unfortunately, Camille spends too much time on the fruitless endeavor of introducing rationale to Marlene. Yet she definitely has promise, I liked her spunk and lucky for fans of this series, her story is next, Broken Lullabies along with her hero-to-be, Matthew Lee.
On the whole, this was a miss for me. For far too long, given the short length, Luke turns himself inside out to support and help Marlene through the wedding preparations and petty jealousies and misunderstandings. Marlene has a habit of lashing out and hurting him, Luke then licks his wounds- Marlene is remorseful, and then she rails against him again, and then he licks his wounds and tries even harder to please her annnnd the cycle continues. I wish there had been less talking about moving forward and learning from the past and more actual moving forward and learning from the past. Marlene and Luke lived in extremes. She regressed far too often and he overcompensated for the past to a fault. When surprised with the pregnancy news his elation quickly shifts to disappointment when he realizes Marlene first shared her pregnancy news with Camille as opposed to him. He feels slighted and is emotional, Marlene is flippant and then overly repentant and the entire scene made me weirdly uncomfortable.
“Its not a huge deal?!” He glanced over his shoulder…you told your best friend before me. I’m the father. I should know first.”
Luke sounded like a toddler, claiming ownership over a toy- if a toy were a baby, that is.”
“You know what really stings? You stole that moment from me….the waiting for the two pink lines, the waiting on pins and needles, the excitement, the nausea, and the overwhelming joy when it does. All those emotions you experience as a couple, you gave away.”
Getting on my knees, I steepled my hands in a plea. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We can do it again. I’ll get another test. That’s what I’ll do! And we can experience everything you described.”
“I don’t want some manufactured bullshit, Christ, Marlene.”
With another sad eyed look, he opened the bedroom door and left with my regrets.
Out of control wedding planning, emotional discord and finally the moment when they both throw the drama out the window and refocus on their lasting love and growing family and then the sweet HEA. As far as HEA’s go, this couple certainly worked for theirs, the journey was just to much for my sensibilities.
I do not like “the hero and the shrew” books, so, unfortunately, I can not recommend To Cherish and to Hold.
Grade: D+
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“The hero and the shrew”
Priceless