Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar: A Rockstar Romance
by Rachel Higginson
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Blurb
My name is Clover Calloway and I’ve lived two separate lives.
The first, I like to call “my past.” I never talk about it. I try not to think about it. My rockstar days of playing in one of the hottest bands on the planet are over. Along with the most volatile, beautiful, tragic love story of all time.
Over the past five years, I’ve settled into my second life. My “normal life.” The one where I work a normal job, hang out with normal people and fall in love with a normal, but wonderful guy. The life where I’m admittedly a little bored, but also safe.
My past wasn’t boring. But my past broke my heart into a million, unfixable pieces. So, I’m determined to keep it where it belongs—behind me.
And the man responsible for the shattering of me? Malachi Porter, lead singer and mastermind of Bright Tragedy, should stay there too. Far away from me and this idyllic life I’ve carved out for myself.
But what happens when my two lives collide?
When Malachi comes crashing into my perfectly normal world, he threatens to destroy it, promises to annihilate everything I’ve replaced him with.
He upends everything I thought I wanted and forces me to question the reasons I left Bright Tragedy all those years ago.
But I didn’t walk away five years ago, I ran. As fast as I could go. And while my heart is whispering that it’s different this time—that he’s different—my brain is screaming for me to run again.
Malachi Porter isn’t a normal guy. And he doesn’t belong in my “normal life.” But, nevertheless, he’s bound and determined to make a place for himself here.
I just hope my heart can survive him, that we don’t burn into another bright tragedy.
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Review
4.5 stars!!
Once upon a time Clover was the keyboard player for the popular band, Bright Tragedy. She thought she had it all until everything went up in smoke. Her HEA was ripped from her hands and she left the limelight to pursue a quieter life. Leaving it all behind five years ago, she is finally adjusting to her new normal and trying to be happy. The past still haunts her though, and she has no idea that she’s about to come face to face with it once again.
Rachel Higginson took a frequently used trope and gave it her own spin. She created an entertaining, well-developed, and emotional rockstar romance with first loves and second chances. Full of growth, healing, forgiveness, and all the feels, it’s about finding your way back to your true love while still becoming the person you were meant to be, and I loved it!!
Clover and Malachi are wonderfully messy characters. They were childhood sweethearts and meant everything to each other. They were young when their band started to hit it big and their dreams were in their grasps but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Sometimes you can no longer pretend everything is alright when you are slowing dying inside. Sometimes you have to leave.
I was as in it as much he was back then. He was my entire world. Which was why I ran.
Not because I didn’t love him or had stopped loving him. But because loving him was going to kill me.
Clover is not perfect but her imperfections make her real and relatable. She is strong and brave, and I was happy she did what she needed to do to find herself. She did one of the hardest things she could have done when she left her love, her friends, and her dreams behind. Now, she craves normality. Reliability. Responsibility. She wants a simple life that is easy and with Adam, she has finally found it.
I’ll admit that I am typically not a fan of love triangles. Most of the time it can ruin a book for me so I tend to stay away from them. However, if it is done right then I can get on board with them and find myself fully engrossed in the story, anxious to see how things play out. This is one of those times. The triangle is not terrible and I completely believed it. I understood her life with Adam and why she wanted it but I also saw the connection she had with Malachi. It was definitely not going away once Malachi was back in her life. I only wish she made up her mind a little sooner because I would have liked more Clover/Malachi time.
There were times I felt a bit conflicted, not about who she would end up with but rather what she would go through to get there. I knew she shouldn’t be with Adam but I was worried about her past with Kai. What she saw and went through was awful and I understood why she didn’t want to go back. However, from their first interaction I knew Malachi was it for Clover. There was no denying the emotional connection and electric chemistry between the two of them. I knew they would fit perfectly if they could find their way back to each other.
The fallout between Malachi and Clover was devastating. We only get snippets of their past and we don’t get to see them fall in love but we sure do get to feel the all-consuming love they shared. All the emotion comes rushing back when Clover and Malachi see each other again. Anger, fear, grief, regret, guilt, and sadness flood the pages. It’s real and believable, and you literally feel everything.
Most of the book I was on the edge of my seat, heart pounding, desperate to know what would happen but worried about how my heart was going to handle it. So much is stacked against Clover and Malachi as past and present merge that it was agonizing to read all the heartache they experience.
“You know, my whole life I’ve only known you as mine. You were my friend. My girlfriend. My soulmate. I know you’re not still those things, but it’s hard to let go of that feeling, that… ownership. It’s hard to admit that you’re not mine anymore, you’re someone else’s.”
Even though the attraction and history are there, the romance has more of a slow burn feel and I thought it worked wonderfully in this story. It’s heartbreaking but necessary to take things slow and I liked that they didn’t just dive into a relationship. Both Clover and Malachi go through a lot of character growth as they navigate their new relationship. There is healing, forgiveness, acceptance, and hope. They don’t ignore the past but learn from it and discover a way to be true to themselves so that they can finally be true to one another, and it is beautiful.
Tragedy made me leave. Fear kept me away. But this bright, bright love brought me back in the most beautiful way.
After having my heart stolen by this emotional love story, it’s no surprise that Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar joins the list of my favorites rockstar romances and is a must read for all rockstar fans!
*ARC generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*
Teaser
Cade released me, setting my feet back on the ground and led me toward the bar area of the restaurant. It was set out of the way of the front windows in a darker, more private section.
“We’re back here,” he told me.
Too happy to be spending time with him, I didn’t realize I was being ambushed until it was too late. “We’re?”
“Don’t hate me,” he murmured as we turned the corner.
Kai stood up as we walked into the empty space. Gray, Malcom, and Pete were there too, but I didn’t notice them. It was Kai’s blue eyes that surprised the hell out of me. It was Kai’s dominating, ferocious presence that completely stole my breath.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded in a voice too breathy to be scary, echoing the same words he’d said to me last night.
Kai’s intense gaze held me prisoner, but it was Cade’s request that upended my entire world. “We want you to come back.”
Come back to what? “Come back?”
“To the band,” Kai explained.
“Come back to us.”
Rachel Higginson
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