Wonderlust / Wonderment (Steel Roses 1-2) by BL Wilde-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway tour
WONDERLUST (Steel Roses #1)
by BL Wilde
Release Date:August 1, 2015
Genre:adult, contemporary, rock, romance
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
Natasha White has always been unlucky in love. The men she falls for only want one thing from her, and it isn’t commitment. When her boss and on/off fling announces his engagement to another woman, she finds herself running from her feelings for him by taking a job as a personal assistant to the legendary rock god, Alex Harbour—half a world away.
Her new boss is sexy, damaged, and insatiable, but Natasha has been a fan since she was a young girl. Conflicted by her emotions, she begins a love/hate relationship with the egotistical rock star.
Alex’s intentions toward her are clear from the moment they meet, but Natasha isn’t about to run from one emotionless connection to another. She is determined to keep her distance from her childhood crush, by any means necessary.
When lust begins to cloud her mind, however, she becomes hell bent on protecting her heart. What good could ever come out of falling for a rock star, anyway?
••••••••
REVIEW:Wonderlust begins with Natasha White at her wits end. David, her boss at Flavour Records, with whom she has had an on again/off again relationship, announces that he’s engaged. She’s known for a while that she needed to something different and get away from David, but that engagement sealed the deal.
Natasha goes in for a job interview with Gina, who handled lots of people in the music industry, thinking her chances of landing the job were small. She finds herself surprised when she makes it to the next round, even though they haven’t told her that she would be the personal assistant for. When they head to the penthouse in the building for the second interview, she is assured it is for security purposes. Intrigued, she enters the space only to turn around and see none other than Alex Harbour from the band, Steel Roses. The same Alex that she and her best friend have been fans of for years. He is, after all, a legend. Even though the band had broken up several years before, Alex had gone on to have a solo career and was still very much in the public eye. He was known for a few things: his rock god status, his battle with addiction and going through women like wildfire.
Alex Harbour thought that Natasha was yet another fan who had gotten past security and was more than willing to give her what they all wanted. When Natasha assured him that that was not what she was there for, Alex then assumes she’s a reporter, only to have Gina walk in to tell him that Natasha is his new PA. After his bawdy actions, Natasha knows she could never work for Alex, even though she had idolized him for years.
However, Gina knows that Natasha is perfect for the job. It takes some doing, but Natasha finally takes the job and moves to Los Angeles (from England) to be Alex Harbour’s PA. When she arrives in Los Angeles, her and Alex’s working relationship is strained, to say the least. He has always gotten his way and won over whomever he wanted to, but he found that Natasha was not just anyone. Natasha finally finds her bearings and becomes friends with Alex’s best friend and stylist, Diego, and his head of security, Shane. As the job progresses, she finally sees that there is more to Alex than just the tabloid headlines and that somewhere along the way, something bad had happened causing him to shut the world out.
Alex knows he’s a lot to deal with and makes it his mission to break down Natasha’s walls, but after a while, it takes him by surprise when he finds himself wanting to do it for the “right” reasons. She’s a no-nonsense person who is very good at her job. She’s also very good at making him see things he thought he never would again………real interest in a woman, but more importantly, real interest in himself.
Wonderlust is a WONDERFULLY written story that draws you in from the beginning. Natasha is such a relatable character with her fiery streak and sense of loyalty. Alex Harbour is your typical ego driven rock start until you get to know him and understand that he has closed in on himself and closed everyone else out. The chemistry between the two of them is utterly palpable and leaves you wanting more. The secondary characters were so well written that I hope they get their own books, even if they’re just novellas. Diego?! He is simply amazing. The world that Wilde has built with Steel Roses is second to none. If you’re a romance fan, you have got to give this one a go. Well done, B.L. Wilde!!!! Very, very well done!
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WONDERMENT (Steel Roses #2)
by BL Wilde
Release Date: June 26, 2020
Genre: adult, contemporary, rock, romance
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Natasha has dreamt of going on tour with Steel Roses ever since she was a little girl. She never thought she would be dating the front man when it happened, though.
Now she has been immersed into Alex’s world of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Can she keep them both safe with temptation lurking around every corner?
Going on tour is going to test their relationship on levels they never even fathomed, and when Alex’s past comes back to haunt them can their love survive?
The wonderlust might be over, but their love story is only just beginning. One thing is for sure—surrendering your soul to a rockstar never hurt so good.
•••••••••
REVIEW:Wonderment picks up not long after Wonderlust ends. The powers that be have finally convinced Alex Harbour, rock god, to go on a world reunion tour with his former band, Steel Roses. Natasha, Alex’s PA and girlfriend, cannot believe that she is actually going on the tour with Alex and his band. She also knows that it’s going to be hard. They have kept their relationship from the press and from everyone else, except those they were closest to.
As they are getting ready for the tour, he has a meeting with his label, only to find out from Gina that there has been a “girlfriend ban” added to his contract for the entire tour. Of course, Alex is furious. They were going to go public at some point when Natasha was comfortable with it, but that feeling is nothing compared to the fury when he sees who his label has hired to oversee his tour. As Natasha enters the room, she is surprised to see David there. She then finds out that he is the one who’s added the ban to Alex’s contract and tries to talk him out of it. David assures her that that will not happen. He also assures her that he wants her back and he always gets what he wants.
It’s surreal when Natasha meets the other members of Steel Roses. This is a band that she has been a fan of her entire life. However, she soon finds out that the tension Alex had warned her about between him and Matt had not been a lie. Matt literally seethed whenever Alex was in the room but had vowed to make the tour work.
While they travel the world from one venue to the next, things between Alex and Matt seem to get better, which makes Natasha happy……….for a minute. What doesn’t make her happy is that Alex reverts to his old habits and leaves her feeling vulnerable and alone.
The tour continues as Alex’s old demons rear their ugly heads. Not knowing if she can be what he needs her to be, Natasha needs to decide if it’s all worth it. The fame and all of the trappings that comes with it is a lot to deal with, but when Alex finally reveals the reason behind the tension between himself and Matt, Natasha’s heart breaks for him. However, when she realizes what she thought were Matt’s good intentions with Alex and the band were actually not good for anyone but himself, she wonders what else she has been wrong about.
Wonderment is an amazing addition to the Steel Roses series. Just when you think you can’t love the two main characters any more, you find new reasons to root for them. Once again, the chemistry between Alex and Natasha burns bright. Once all of the secrets are out, your heart breaks for everyone involved, but especially for Alex. Having to drag all of the demons around is exhausting, but when he finally opens all of the way up to Natasha? You actually feel the weight lifted yourself. And, when Alex finally takes charge of his life? Man………….. Once again, what an amazing world Wilde has built with this series. This one will take your breath in more ways than one. We once again get to see all of the secondary characters we loved from the get-go and they add beautifully to the story. The final scene before the epilogue though??? YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! I truly have no idea if there is another one in the works for this series, but I sure do hope so. Well done, B.L. Wilde! Very, very well done!!!!!!
Copies supplied for review
Reviewed by Vickie K
It didn’t take Diego long to do my makeup. Alex was pacing back and forth at that point, waiting for me. Patience wasn’t something he was very good at. I’d even thrown him a chocolate bar to pacify him, but it only kept him busy for a few minutes.
“There you go, Cupcake. Don’t let Alex smudge your lipstick straight away. You don’t look like the easy type.” After swatting my butt, Diego pushed me toward Alex.
“Finally,” he teased, circling his arms around me. “You look beautiful, Straight Lace.” All I could do was smile in response as his lips pressed urgently against mine. Diego sighed behind me, but I didn’t really care about my lipstick right then.
“We’re going on your bike?” I gasped as he handed me a helmet. Alex’s Harley was legendary, but Shane had once told me that he only rode it alone.
“Is that a problem? You’re not scared, are you?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve wanted to go on this bike since I was a kid!” My excitement was obvious. Alex let out a loud laugh and shook his head.
“You’re not that much younger than me, Nat. Don’t make me sound so old.” I got onto the bike behind him and hugged him tight. “Whoa. Don’t hold me too tight. I need to breathe,” he joked, looking at me over his shoulder. I was still beaming like a Cheshire cat.
Alex’s bike was fast. I loved the adrenaline rush that I got as we rode. The growl of the engine sent tremors through my body. With my arms around his waist, I held on tight as Alex accelerated. The sudden rush of wind made my hair that was free from the helmet dance frantically behind my back. The world around us was flashing by so fast it was a blur. I couldn’t get enough of this feeling. I’d never felt so free on an open road before.
Alex took us to a secluded restaurant on the outskirts of LA. It was lit up with hundreds of twinkle lights and had ivy climbing the walls of the whitewash building.
“Where did you find this place?” I asked as he entwined his fingers with mine. “It’s really pretty.”
“I found it on my last ride up here. It looked like our kind of place.” I knew he meant no one would interrupt us here, which I was really looking forward to. It wasn’t very easy to find places outside of his mansion that we could be together.
He allowed me to go in first. The restaurant was empty. A single table laid up for two was all I could see. “You booked out the entire restaurant, didn’t you?” Realisation hit me. His actions always took my breath away.
“I wanted to apologise for my outburst earlier. The way I treated you in front of my personal trainer was wrong of me.”
“You should have brought him instead. He was the one you shouted at.” Truthfully, his outburst had me more concerned than offended.
“I don’t think of you as a possession. If you thought…”
“Alex, I know.” Touching the side of his face, I tried to make him understand. “You didn’t have to do all of this to prove it to me.” I waved my arms around at his grand gesture.
“It’s just…I’ve been so stressed these last few weeks. I don’t want to mess this up. You mean too much to me. You know that, right?”
“You need to stop worrying about that. I’m not going anywhere. You couldn’t get rid of me even if you paid me to leave. Like it or not, you’re stuck with me.” I nudged him playfully with my shoulder so he knew I was teasing.
B.L. Wilde is a British author who has always loved the written word and takes great pride in bringing her stories to life.
She lives in Worcestershire with her partner and their two spotty dogs.
B.L is a sucker for happy endings but will always make her characters work for it.
If you enjoy romance, suspense and erotica let your imagination run ‘Wilde’ with one of her books today.
Website: www.bl.wilde.com
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