Quote:
Originally Posted by Loosheesh
@library addict I've been thinking of giving Nalini Singh's contemporary romances a try and I'm curious if you've read any and what you thought of them. Thanks much!
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Her early Silhouette titles are a mixed bag. I liked a few, others I wasn't as fond of. I wouldn't rate any of them as bad books, but they are (a) her first books and she has grown significantly as a writer and (b) category length so basically only contain one main plot. I think her biggest strength as a writer is her ability to weave multiple subplots together with large casts of characters.
That said, I think they are worth reading, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend them to start unless you are already a fan of category romances as they used to be prior to 2007. (side rant Silhouette used to publish a much more varied slate of books within the Intimate Moments and Desire lines, not every book was a suspense or about millionaire rich-but-too-often-a-complete-jerk heroes /rant). Even within the only six books she wrote for Desire there's more of a variety than we see nowadays IMHO.
FWIW, my favorites were
Bound by Marriage (note I love the marriage in trouble trope) and
Craving Beauty, which is the second of two books in her
Kingdom of Zulheil series.
That brings us to her more current contemporaries:
Rock Kiss and the spin-off
Hard Play series.
I quite enjoyed the books in her
Rock Kiss series, except the first one. I didn't hate
Rock Addiction or anything, but had tons of issues with the hero. IIRC the first three books occur during the same basic time frame. She has since relabeled
Rock Courtship as a novella, but it was listed as book 2 on her website for a long time and I never bothered to re-label them all; especially since it is actually longer than a few of her category length books.
Rock Courtship, Rock Hard, and
Rock Wedding were my favorites of that series. I liked the heroine in
Rock Redemption, but had issues with the hero in that one as well.
The
Hard Play series is mostly about the brothers of the hero in
Rock Hard. He is an ex-rugby player, not at all part of the band the
Rock Kiss series revolves around. I have enjoyed all of the books in the
Hard Play series so far.
So where to start?...
If you like category romances, start at the beginning. (see my note above) Pick whichever blurb most appeals to you and voilà...
OTHERWISE
It depends if you like rock stars
If the answer is yes, start with
Rock Addiction. Just be advised even if you don't like that book I would keep going with the series. I know lots of readers who didn't like it, but love the rest. And also readers who loved it.
If the answer is no... how much of a completionist are you?
Rock Hard is a work place romance about the BFF of the heroine in
Rock Addiction. The hero is an ex-rugby player who takes over the company where she works. There's some angst, but it is a slowburn romance. You could easily start with it and then read the
Hard Play series without reading any of the other
Rock Kiss books.
OR
You could start with
Cherish Hard which was published much later, but is set before
Rock Hard. The main characters are ones you meet as a married couple in
Rock Hard.
OR
You could start with
Rebel Hard which is about the BFFs of the main characters in
Cherish Hard. It takes place concurrently with
Cherish Hard and the heroine agrees to have an arranged marriage but decides on one wild night before meeting the man her parents have chosen for her. Hijinx ensue.
HOWEVER
All of that said the
Rock Kiss and
Hard Play series are really
only connected by the characters as they are family or friends. There isn't a drawn out over-arching plot amongst the books as there is with her
Psy-Changeling and
Guild Hunter series. So while events in one book may be mentioned in another they each function as stand-alone stories. They have varying levels of angst, but all are filled with humor and a sense of family.
AND
Just in case you don't want to take the time to sort out all of the associated newsletter short stories...
Rock Kiss
1)
Rock Addiction [Sept 2014]
1.01)
Deleted Scene Rock Addiction [Sept 2014]
newsletter
2)
Rock Courtship [Sept 2014]
2.1)
Rock Courtship Memo re: MZ Talk – David [Oct 2014]
newsletter
2.2)
Rock Courtship Memo re: MZ Talk – Thea [Nov 2014]
newsletter
3)
Rock Hard [Mar 2015]
4)
Rock Redemption [Oct 2015]
4.1)
Sunshine [Oct 2015]
newsletter
5)
Rock Wedding [July 2016]
5.1)
With This Memo [July 2016]
newsletter
5.3)
That Lip Ring… [Dec 2019]
newsletter
Hard Play
1) Cherish Hard [Nov 2017]
2) Rebel Hard [Sept 2018]
3) Love Hard [Mar 2020]
I've included the links to the newsletters since I couldn't find a page on her website for the Rock Kiss short stories. You can also get most of her newsletter stories (those up to Dec 2017) in her
Newsletter Exclusives: Volume 1 set which you get when you join her newsletter.
As you can see, I do have thoughts about this
Let me know if you have any questions about a specific book.
ETA: I should say that the
Rock Kiss series plots are a bit edgier than her usual fare as the series revolves around a rock band. Some of the members suffer from alcohol or drug abuse/addictions. The
Hard Play series is more down-to-earth. Many of the heroes are rugby players, but while there is talk of their team and the sport can play a part of the plots etc. I would not call them sport romances.