Emme Rollins

What is there not to like about “BIG”? Great story, believable characters, lots of drama, and romance all make for a great read. In one word… FANTASTIC.

The story revolves around Annalesa and Ricard “Ric” Ryker who are step siblings. As teen agers they both harbored feelings for each other, but have been apart for several years. Ric was the obese kid in school that no one wanted anything to do with and Annalesa was, the polar opposite, popular and smart. During their time apart show more Annalesa has been studying art history abroad and Ric has been losing weight, getting in shape and being groomed to take over the reins at his father’s company.

Circumstances bring them together again and the spark is still there between them. Unfortunately Ric has been carrying around a lot of emotional baggage from his teens. He feels that Annalesa as his sister should have stuck up for him when the popular kids picked on him. Now he wants revenge against them all including Annalesa. Ric just didn’t plan on falling again for Annalesa.

There are so many secrets and lies that are in their path as they try to navigate through their feelings and start their lives as working adults. Ric has to work through his issues of betrayal. Yet, just as he is starting to work things out the real betrayal blind sides him and Annalesa.

Since this book is sub-titled, I am hoping for more installments. I have read, and loved, the “Trouble” series by Ms. Rollins and I am hoping there will be more to come. BTW, this book is a standalone with no cliff hangers. Thank the Lord!

I received an ARC for my honest opinion. show less

This is the first book in the Trouble series, but it reads like the first in a serial.
Sabrina and her best friend Katie are super excited to be seeing the mega-huge band Trouble in concert. Sabrina is completely obsessed with the leader singer, Rob, and the girls even have front row tickets. Unfortunately, they arrive at the concert venue late and can’t find a way inside. As they’re trying all the doors to get in, a door suddenly opens and hits Sabrina in the head.
Rob Burns and his show more lead guitarist Tyler are looking for the bathroom, but they wind up locked outside with two crazed fans. While Tyler is trying to find a way back in, Rob is making sure Sabrina’s okay, but she’s totally star struck. After the show, Rob and Sabrina meet up for a wild night and the most perfect day neither of them expected.
I loved this book, but I’m surprised there wasn’t a big focus on the band, it’s history, and the other band members (besides Rob and Tyler). Sabrina and Rob are great characters. They’re both kind, smart, considerate, and levelheaded. Their romance bloomed fast, but it felt believable. Most rock star romances I’ve read deal with drug and alcohol abuse, and lots of women. Rob plays music because he enjoys it—he’s not in it for the fame and money—and he’s clean. He’s also married, though separated from his wife, and he’s been having fun with groupies on the current tour. It takes the chance meeting with Sabrina, however, to really make him feel alive and happy again.
Since this story is told only in Sabrina’s POV (first person), the reader doesn’t really know what’s going on in Rob’s head. Though I liked Rob, I couldn’t connect with him as easily as I did Sabrina.
The sex scenes were really hot and sweaty, which is always a plus for me! There were some distracting typos and unanswered questions, however. There’s a HFN ending, but the big question remains: how will their relationship work since he’s famous and living in L.A., and she doesn’t want to leave her home and city? I normally don’t read serials because I don’t like cliffhangers, so I really wish this question had been answered.
4 Stars show less

It's cute, I suppose. It's very little in the way of any plausibly realistic plot. They meet night 1 (and do it, of course), they have a "perfect day" (and do it in almost all of the rooms in her house) and then they have until noon on day 3 when he has to get back on the tour bus (and they do it of course again).

The writing was good enough to almost mae me want to buy the next book to see what happens. But that desire is overridden by the lack of plausible real connection. Pass.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

*This review can also be found on my blog Love at First Write*

This book was quite the quick read and REALLY enjoyable (which I needed after work haha). This was done in a couple of hours tops and I barely put it down to eat dinner! I read this so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to change my Goodreads status to 'currently-reading' before I had finished the book!

The main character of the book is Sara and she lives with her show more mother and stepfather in an apartment. This apartment just so happens to be the same complex that the new boy at her academy lives in. The guy, Dale Diamond, looks just like her idol, Rockstar Tyler Vincent, and she's captivated at first sight. Sara's family is poor, she's not allowed to date, and quite obviously there's abuse going on in the way she calls her stepfather the 'stepbeast'. Fantasizing about meeting Tyler Vincent, becoming friends, and escaping her life has been her goal since 14. Her bedroom is completely covered in his pictures and she draws him all the time (she's an amazing artist) and he's really become her obsession. Sara believes that Tyler Vincent, her idol, is perfect and will be her savior if only she can meet him.

Sara's best friend Aimee also has some very real problems. Aimee is anorexic and bulimic which I found a bit odd. I don’t really know anything about these personally, but starving oneself and then binge eating/puking just seems like an odd combination. Aimee has been Sara's friend for years and Sara seems to go starving from lack of food at school a lot (because she can’t afford the school food). Aimee knows this and eats in front of Sara only to puke it up again later. Like, if Aimee’s not going to eat the food anyways, why not just give it to Sara… Though I suppose it stems from an insecurity issue on Aimee’s part. My point of view probably sounds really judgmental and naive, but I've never been in that situation and really can't decide what to make of it.

With issues of their own (which I can’t get into without spoiling the whole plot), Dale makes Sara happy and they help each other through a lot. Reading their relationship grow and have its ups and downs was completely relatable and very well done. Especially all of the plot twists that I won't talk about because I don't want to spoil the book haha. But the truth just really brought everything down to earth and freed Sara. Her journal addressed to "Dear Rockstar" tied in nicely and the detail was great.

Though I will nit-pick here and say that in some circumstances the detail was a bit repetitive. As in, almost every time they had sex, Dale cumming inside of her was always a "white-hot burst". I mean, there are other ways to say the same thing, vary it up?

That brings me to my next topic, sex. It wasn't super descriptive or anything, but it was a spotlight of the book multiple times, and (Game of Thrones aside) not something I typically read. I don't mind sex in books, I just don't think it should be in YA because while I personally don't mind, thinking about kids reading this sickens me. I WILL praise the fact that these characters were older (out of high school at least) and were prepared for consequences. So kudos to you, Emme, for making quite the interesting book. I just think it should be strictly New Adult, not YA/NA.

So, all in all, a 4 star book that I'll be sure to re-read! show less