It's a lovely romantic story between a mouse and a T-Rex, full of fun, slowly growing attraction, great chemistry and sweet HEA.

Title: Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2)
Author: Nalini Singh
Date of publication: 10 March 2015
Genre: Romance, rugby

Author's links:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 4.5 Stars

Wealthy businessman Gabriel Bishop rules the boardroom with the same determination and ruthlessness that made him a rock star on the rugby field. He knows what he wants, and he’ll go after it no-holds-barred.

And what he wants is Charlotte Baird.

Charlotte knows she’s a mouse. Emotionally scarred and painfully shy, she just wants to do her job and remain as invisible as possible. But the new CEO—a brilliant, broad-shouldered T-Rex of a man who growls and storms through the office, leaving carnage in his wake—clearly has other plans. Plans that may be equal parts business and bedroom.

If Charlotte intends to survive this battle of wits and hearts, the mouse will have to learn to wrangle the T-Rex. Game on.

Review

Charlie is a wonderful heroine. She is shy and intimidated by men after serious physical and emotional trauma in her past. At same time she had this inner strength and sass when dealing with Gabriel in his mode of a slave-driving, high-powered, high-maintenance boss. She was hesitant to open up to him as a woman to a man but very much wanted. I liked that she was aware of her issues and wanted to deal with them.

Her problems were far too serious to just magically be cured by loving and being loved by a good man like Gabriel. She had to work had on letting herself start a relationship with Gabriel. And here comes Gabriel and there is only one word to describe him - perfect.

I liked how patient he was with Charlie, how understanding of her issues and how he takes his time to really woo her and win her over. He was the alpha hero I want to read about in romance - caring and protective, confident without becoming overbearing, aware of his power but never abusing it.

She is his assistant and he is her boss which adds another obstacle to them being together, and I generally wouldn't welcome this type of relationship but the way is was developed here didn't bother me and I felt it fitted the characters and their story arc.

The story functions on many levels - a real down-to-earth story of abuse and dealing with it, powerful and tender forever-type of romance. The magical writing style of Ms Singh's PNR stories was easily discernible her e and made to story really shine for me. 

It's a powerful character driven, complex story, which may seems bit cliche on the surface but it's more than familiar romance trope bundled together. They are presented with depth of understanding making them stand out and engaging the reader in the journey of Charlie and Gabriel. Recommended read for fans of Nalini Signh and any romance lover in general.