Review: Rough Rhythm by Tessa Bailey

Title: Rough Rhythm 
By: Tessa Bailey
Series: Made in Jersey #1.5
My Copy: Ebook from Publisher
The BookWhisperer's Rating: 

God help the woman I take home tonight.

Band manager James Brandon never expected to find the elusive satisfaction he’d been chasing, let alone stumble upon it in some sleezy Hollywood meat market. Yet the girl’s quiet pride spoke to him from across the bar, louder than a shout. Troubled, hungry and homeless, she’d placed her trust in him. But after losing the grip on his dark desires that one fateful night, James has spent the last four years atoning for letting her down.

This time I’ll finally crack him.

Rock band drummer Lita Regina has had enough of James’s guilt. She wants the explosive man she met that night in Hollywood. The man who held nothing back and took no prisoners—save Lita. And she’ll stop at nothing to revive him. Even if it means throwing herself into peril at every turn, just to get a reaction from her stoic manager. But when Lita takes her quest one step too far, James disappears from her life, thinking his absence will keep her safe.

Now it’s up to Lita to bring James back…and ignite an inferno of passion in the process.

Lita and James made a few small appearances in Crashed Out and their story intrigued me so I found myself extremely excited when the ebook popped up as an ARC. 

I think that I am going to be the minority here when I say that while I was excited to start the book, that excitement didn’t continue all the way throughout the book.  Nothing really grabbed a hold of me and kept me glued to the pages.  I don’t know if it was because Lita was constantly poking the bear James and was surprised when he would turn around and bite or that James held back for so long and while the moment that he explodes was hot, I didn’t like how he retreated afterwards.  It felt like a very unstable relationship was building and then it would crumble and then it would build again.  That repetitive action got a little old for me.  The clarity for James at the end was great because it helped him realize why what he craves isn’t bad but it came as a surprise on who opened his eyes when he didn’t even want to see James.

I did find the bedroom time written well.  I think this is the first kind of style fantasy that I have read from Tessa and she did a great job writing it and making it hot.