Review: Rock Wedding

Rock Wedding by Nalini Singh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rock and roll can be hard on a marriage. A marriage to rock star, Abe Bellamy is rocky all the way. This poignant love rekindled story made me sad. It is moving how much Sarah loved Abe and tried to be what he wanted. She did everything she could only to be abused by him and taken for granted. Her story is sadly all too common across the board. My heart weeps for Sarah.

Sarah is what makes this book so good. She is an admirable character who is just seeking a little love and some acceptance. She possesses so much love inside of her. She want to shower this love on the one person she is devoted to in hopes of a little crumb of tenderness returned. Sarah is the proverbial loving puppy who is loyal and then just gets kicked, beaten, starved, neglected and then thrown out of a moving car into a ditch. God how I hate and loathe Abe. He is not good enough for Sarah. He doesn't deserve a second chance with her. His callous indifference to cutting cruelty is abhorrent to me. I am quite engaged in this book and want to throttle this asshat. Because of Abe, it was difficult for me to like this book as much. Granted, all the jerk moves he did were prior to this book, but the flashbacks were too vivid for me to forget. He threw her precious books into the pool! These books that she loved and treasured, he destroyed them! For that alone, he should be flogged to the bone. Argh, I'm so aggravated just recalling his destruction of Sarah's little treasures. Sarah came into the marriage with very little and left with even less.

This story is character driven and Ms. Singh does a great job of it. Sarah's triumph over many setbacks is remarkable. Her interactions with Abe, his family and friends is very tentative for good reason. Once bitten, twice shy is an understatement. Fortunately, this time around, there is more maturity with Abe and Sarah is more self-confident. Sometimes, love is not enough if it is at the wrong time. This time, it is the right time and Abe does try to make it up to Sarah. He works to show he can be trusted. I personally don't think he can be trusted but Sarah is a softer heart than me. The dynamic between Sarah and Abe is a bit of a tug and pull. Abe isn't used to this new more empowered Sarah. This is good as it unbalances him and he knows he needs to start again. This is a romance with all the messy emotions that make it feel so real. Recommended for romantics who love a lovers reunited theme.

*provided by NetGalley