Rock Chick Regret - Rock Chick #7 - Kristen Ashley
Sum up: (Goodreads)
Sadie Townsend is known by all as The Ice Princess and she’s worked hard to earn her reputation. Her father, a now-incarcerated Drug Lord, has kept her under his thumb her whole life and she’s learned enough from living in his world to give everyone the cold shoulder. But one inebriated night, she shows the Real Sadie to the undercover agent she knows is investigating her father, the handsome Hector Chavez, and he knows he’ll stop at nothing to have her.
Hector makes one (huge) mistake; he waits for Sadie to come to him. Tragedy strikes and Sadie’s got a choice, she can retreat behind her Ice Fortress or she can embrace the Rock Chick/Hot Bunch World. Guided by Hector, the Rock Chicks, the Hot Bunch and her new gay roommates, Buddy and Ralphie, Sadie negotiates a life out from under her father’s thumb, a life that includes poison, arson and learning how to make s’mores.
Some scenes contain sexual and violent contents that may offend sensibilities of readers.
Plot:
Sadie Townsend - known as the Ice Princess - is the daughter of a dangerous drug lord that Hector Chavez just put in jail. Her mother disappeared eighteen years ago and no one knows what happened to her. She goes to Nightingale Investigations looking for help. Now that her father has been sentenced, she is the victim of all his enemies who want to strike hard.
The first encounter with the Hot Bunch and the Rock Chicks does not really go well. She is perceived as an enemy and cold. She also has history with Daisy. A history that unfortunately has been partially altered by Marcus. But Daisy does not know it yet.
I saw Daisy, Daisy's eyes turned to polar icecaps when she saw me, she whispered something in Ally's ear, Ally's eyes cut to me and they went hard.
That was it. Not a run-in but not pleasant either.
Now Indy and Ally were laughing at something but when their eyes moved in the direction of Shirleen, they saw something in her expression then they moved to me and their laughter died.
"Shit, I forgot, is it Wednesday?" Indy said to Ally.
Ally's eyes went glacial as they rested on me. "Yeah," she answered.
Sadie does not mind people hating her. She is used to it now. Her father is a drug lord so she had to put up with it her whole life. She created the mask of the Ice Princess to survive. There are only few moments when this mask slipped. The first time was with Hector, when he was an undercover agent. She knew he was in her life to make her father's empire fall and she helped him. The second time is when Lee declines her demand for help, which leaves her hopeless.
And this little mistake from Lee will cost greatly to Sadie when she comes back to Lee's office beaten up and raped.
"It's okay if I don't wake up because there's no one to care."
She is found by Hector who lost it. He brings her to the hospital where all the Rock Chicks and the Hot Bunch gather, waiting for more news regarding Sadie's state. When she finally pulls out, Sadie tries to act like the Ice Princess so everyone could just let her be. But Hector waited. He waited too long and now it is time to claim Sadie and he will not let her Ice Princess cling into place...
Opinion:
My! My! This book was intense and beautiful and sad and lovely and everything you want. It touched me so deeply. It literally gripped my heart and never let it go. This is the first Rock Chick book that got me in tears.
Sadie is a rich, powerful, very lonely woman who had never really known love. She had no friends, no real family. She was barely surviving.
As for me, I'd never had a friend, not a true, genuine friend, in twenty-nine years. I used to feel sorry for myself about this fact. But then I realized it was just my life and, as with everything else, I learned to live with it.
She thought she had a friend in Daisy but things did not go as she would have liked when Marcus intervened. She longed to just have someone to talk to like the Rock Chicks.
These people would never want me to be their friend.
And I have to say that I was disappointed the Rock Chicks were so cold with her when they heartedly welcomed Darius and Shirleen. They were very judgmental, which is usually not in their nature.
At the beginning of the book we think that Sadie has truly no friend but it is actually more complicated than that. She does not know love, thus she does not really know how to identify it. After she gets released from the hospital, Sadie's gay friends - Ralphie and Buddy - come to pick her up. With their help, she slowly starts to heal and learns how to trust again but above all, she starts to love again. It is a long way but she can count on the Rock Chicks, the Hot Bunch and her friends.
I absolutely adored Ralphie and Buddy. They were so funny! I loved them! They reminded me of Stevie and Tod. They gave almost all the guys some nicknames: Hispanic Hottie for Hector, Hawaiian Hottie for Mace, Just Plain Old Hot Hottie for Luke, Alaskan Hottie, Surfer Dude Hottie, African American Hottie and Native American Hottie for Vance.
But I also loved them because they knew how to bring the Ice Princess down and brings a new Sadie in.
Hector proved to be a tender, gentle man. We saw him in the previous books and he seemed to be wild and carefree. Trust me, he is a very different man here! He would lay his life for Sadie's and he shows patience. He does not hide that he will make sure Sadie remains to his side and in his bed. He understood that he screwed up when he waited for her but he will do his best to make it right.
I didn’t share that I did feel okay. In fact, it might be the first time I felt “okay” in my life. In that bed, in that room, in that house with Hector, I felt I was where I was supposed to be.
Where I belonged.
I loved this love story because it is raw and it is beautiful. This book was very tragic and intense and yet, Kristen Ashley proved that she is best because I'd never laughed so hard. Sadie and Hector were just perfect for each other. He is super hot, she is super cold... PER-FECT MATCH!!!
I also loved that in this book we also had the POVs of Sadie, Jack, Lee, Eddie, Marcus, Hector and Buddy.
As usual, be prepared for some actions! You will not have a single moment to catch your breath! You're warned, my little lambs ;)
Excerpts:
"What's this woman to you?" Eddie asked.
"She's mine," Hector replied.
When I returned with the coffees, the Rock Chicks were gone and Ralphie gave me the third degree. I deflected the third degree until that evening when Ralphie enlisted Buddy and they ganged up on me. They did this with the addition of lemon drops which we drank sitting on stools around their kitchen island (they had a fabulous kitchen, all chrome and gleaming black cabinets and granite countertops, it was Buddy’s domain, he cooked like a dream).
I held out, for awhile.
But lemon drops always did me in, eventually.
After around lemon drop three, I told them about my Dad. A few sips into lemon drop four, I told them about my Mom. Sucking back lemon drop five, I told them about Hector and added on what I knew about the Rock Chicks, the Nightingale Men and the cherry on top was my history with Daisy. During lemon drop six, I shared what happened when Ricky Balducci broke into my apartment. We were all crying by this time, me uncontrollably, so it was uncertain how much they understood because I didn’t figure I was making much sense.
"What did you think of me when you first met me?” I asked before I could think better of it.
His fingers were warm on my neck and he gave me a gentle squeeze.
He didn’t hesitate with his answer. “I thought you were beautiful and I thought you were cold.”
This didn’t offend me, a lot of people thought that way because I wanted them to think that way, so I nodded.
“Do you want to know what I think of you now?” he asked.
I really didn’t, I wasn’t sure I could take it but for some bizarre reason I nodded again anyway.
“I think you’re even more beautiful and I think you’re totally lost.”My brows went up. “And you think you can help me find my way?”He shook his head, his eyes went warm and I got another neck squeeze coupled with a tightening of his arm around my waist.“Mamita, only you can find your way. I just wanna be along for the ride."
Before he left, Hector told me he needed to give me something and I waited in the hall while he jogged back out to his Bronco.
I found I was nervous as to what he might give me. He hadn’t had any time to shop; it wasn’t like he was going to produce a bouquet of red roses or anything.
He came back in, stopped in front of me and held up a device. My eyes grew round with excitement.
“This is a –” he started but stopped when my hand whipped out and I snatched it from him.
“It’s a stun gun!” I cried, so excited I was being nearly as loud as his family. “Veronica Mars has one of these!"
My father displayed a one track mind and his response made my heart squeeze painfully.
“Hector? You call him Hector?”
“Well, I can hardly call out, ‘Agent Chavez, oo Agent Chavez,’ when he makes me climax, now can I?” I snapped, New Ice Princess gone, Attitude Sadie in her place and I heard Roxie let out a surprised giggle.
Shirleen appeared at my side. “I tell you, six weeks ago, you asked me to take my pick, I woulda picked Luke. Now I’m thinkin’ I’d like me a little piece of that boy.”
“Shirleen!” Ava exclaimed on a giggle.
Shirleen looked at Ava. “Your boy’s still hot,” she assured her
I was no Rock Chick; I’d never been to a rock concert in my life.
My favorite recording artist was Madonna, for goodness sake!
“Why?” Hector asked.
“I like Madonna,” I told him, unable to stop myself.
Hector stared at me like I’d just announced my devotion to Engelbert Humperdinck.
“What?”
“Madonna!” I cried as the elevator doors opened. “Like a Virgin? Confessions on a Dance Floor? You know, Madonna!”His face cleared and he started grinning. “I know Madonna.”“Well then, there you go. I’m not a Rock Chick, I’m a Pop Chick. Pop Chicks aren’t cool, they don’t go to gigs. They don’t rock out! They go to clubs and dance! And I didn’t ever do that either!"
"Do you ever file a thing?” Kitty Sue asked Shirleen from her hands and knees on the floor.
Daisy and I were with her, alphabetizing a mountain of paperwork in twenty-six piles across the Nightingale Investigation’s reception area.
“It’s not in my job description,” Shirleen replied from her seat behind the reception desk, currently engaged in the difficult task of painting her nails a frosty grape.
Kitty Sue sat up so she was on her knees, she planted her hands on her hips, twisted to Shirleen and glared.
“You’re the receptionist!”
“Yeah? So?” Shirleen asked, not taking her eyes from her nails.
“Receptionists file,” Kitty Sue retorted.“Filing people file. Receptionists answer phones and guard the door,” Shirleen returned.Daisy looked at me and giggled. I pulled my lips between my teeth and tried not to laugh. Kitty Sue didn’t look like she thought anything was funny.“This is my son’s livelihood,” Kitty Sue said as she got to her feet. “What if he needed something urgently and couldn’t find it?”Shirleen threw her head back and laughed for a long time.“That’s funny,” she said (unnecessarily) when she finished laughing.“What’s funny? I’m being serious,” Kitty Sue shot back.Shirleen leveled her amused gaze on Kitty Sue. “I practically gotta « chain Lee to his chair to get him to fill out reports, type out notes and whatever other shit he’s gotta do. He hates paperwork. All the boys do. Badass mothers get fuckin’ grumpy when Shirleen rides their asses to get them to put pen to paper or, worse, fingers to keyboards. If it wasn’t for me, our invoices would be six months late goin’ out and no one would get paid. Including Shirleen. And Shirleen likes to get paid. I got two growin’ boys who eat me out of house and home and are always takin’ bitches to the movies and shit like that. I don’t get paid, I’m fucked and Roam and Sniff’ll look like beggars in front of their babes. Not… gonna… happen.”“Well,” the wind, I could tell, had gone out of Kitty Sue’s sails, “the least you could do is help us now.”“I will help you,” Shirleen replied. “I’ll tell you, you missed a pile.” And she nodded to a pile of papers at the end of her desk that was at least a foot high.“Shit,” Daisy muttered.
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