A Life

Rock You by Candy J. Starr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Title: Rock You
Author: Candy J. Starr
Publisher: self-published
Num. of pages: 174 pages
Published: April 2015

Working for a cranky, old hermit in an isolated house sounds like Ruby’s idea of heaven but her boss isn't quite what she expects.

Tex is a fugitive from the rock and roll world – a tragedy abruptly halted his career. No one knows why, no one knows where he is.

The two of them try to live in the same house without ever seeing each other until Tex screws up, endangering their lives and forcing them to live in close quarters.

Suddenly, the idea of human contact seems more appealing, if only with each other.

The sanctuary they have built is enough for Ruby but the outside world encroaches. The man she's grown to love is Tex the hermit, not Tex the rock star.

Their fledgling love can’t shine brighter than the rock dream but can Ruby bare to let him go?

Review
 
"Rock You" follows the story of Ruby, a 22 years old girl who has to left her parents' house since they decided to move to Bali and rented the house in a price Ruby can't afford. Through Craiglist, Ruby found a job as a housekeeper in a big house at a secluded area. At first Ruby thought that her employer was a hermit-like old man, until she met Tex O'Malley, the hot and reclusive ex-rock star.


I like this novel, but I think it could be better. First of all, I like Ruby. She was described as an anti-social, though I'd call her reclusive/hikikomori-ish, with a great sense of humor. My problem with her is that her characterizations weren't consistent enough. It's true that at the beginning she showed that withdrawn personality, but later it suddenly disappeared without enough effort/uncomfortable situations she had to go though in the story. And no, I don't count what happened in the recording studio as uncomfortable enough for the change.

"You need to leave the nest," Mum had said. "You need to go out into the real world.

I also like Tex. He was the sensitive rock star type, the type of male lead that I haven't seen enough of (in my admittedly little repertoire of) contemporary romance. I couldn't help but kept on thinking of Hugh Grant during the whole story. I don't know why. Was it due to the rom-com nature of the novel?

"The other thing is that you aren't alive, Tex. Not really. You can't just stay shut up from the world. [...]"

The story is also surprisingly clean. There were only kisses and one time when they almost did it. So, if you're looking for a hot steamy novel, maybe not this one.

Overall, I enjoy the story. It was funny and compelling. I plan to read the continuation of Ruby and Tex.

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