Review: His Rock Hard Rhythm – Flora Dare and Josie Kell

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When I saw that this romance involved an Orc rock band, well, I had to read it. And to be honest, this is more erotica than romance, but it’s still a light and fun read.

After an unexpected disaster that she handles well, Alexis has been promoted from managing a teen pop band to AxeBender, a fairly popular orc rock band. It’s definitely a different environment than she’s used to, especially when Mace, the lead singer, initially mistakes her for a groupie. That’s not to say that she isn’t attracted to him but getting involved with a band member would be completely unprofessional. For Mace, Alexis is the first person he’s attracted to since a bad breakup left him reeling. But fixing his bad first impression is only the start of figuring out what to do with the attraction between them.

“Literally the last thing I needed in my life right now was some big, handsome, buff orc hitting on me. Ugh, who would want that? Who would want a hateful, sex-obsessed rock god?”

Alexis comes across as competent and caring. While serving as a surrogate parent for a bunch of teen boys is very different from managing some hotel-trashing adult orcs, she quickly jumps into action to salvage the rest of their tour. She knows the value of hard work, especially as she’s a witch with very little in the way of power. Her sister though is practically a superhero, using her power to do good deeds, something Alexis’ parents never let her forget. Having someone like Mace – who’s a rock sex god – paying attention to her for her sake and not as a stepping stone to her sister is intoxicating. It’s perhaps one of the reasons she’s unbelievably and inexplicably attracted to Mace. It’s a good thing he practically told her she wasn’t his type….

Mace is still recovering from a bad breakup where the woman he loved cheated on him and then dumped him for higher profile rising rock star. Their entire relationship was based on jealousy and hot sex. But Alexis seems nothing like his ex and she certainly doesn’t need to use him to get ahead at her job. In fact, when they both decide to test their chemistry, Alexis’ main request is that their relationship remain secret, something that Mace doesn’t understand. But to give this a chance? Well, he’ll do whatever she asks.

The book as a whole is relatively light and fairly humorous. Most of the conflict comes from ex drama and miscommunication, and it relies a lot on the evil ex stereotype. It’s definitely an insta-lust relationship, though, which didn’t work so well for me. There’s a bit of cuteness, including doing a crossword puzzle together (she’s very, uh, appreciative that he uses a pen to do them). Most of their time together, though, focused solely on their attraction. Look, I’m a huge proponent of the fact that sex scenes are a great way to explore the relationships between the main characters and advance the plot. That’s unfortunately not as true here as it felt like the scenes were a way for the characters to avoid communicating, all the way up to a bleak moment caused by that miscommunication. As for what I did like, the side characters – the other band members and her assistant – were interesting and the epilogue neatly set up the next book in the series.

Overall, it was definitely a trope combination I haven’t read before! I liked this book enough to try the next one, and I’m hoping for more romance!

Content notes: View Spoiler »cheating (of side characters on MCs), property destruction, mention of catfishing « Hide Spoiler

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