Advanced Book Review: Rock N Soul, by Lauren Sattersby

Rock N Soul, by Lauren Sattersby
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 18, 2015

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy Link: Publisher

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Blurb:

I’m Tyler Lindsey, and until recently, I had an okay apartment, an okay girlfriend, and an okay job as a bellboy at a respectable Boston hotel. Then rock star Chris Raiden died right before I brought his room service—stiffing me on the tip, by the way—and my life went to hell. My fifteen minutes of fame was more like five seconds, and my girlfriend left me in disgust.

But even worse—Chris is haunting me. Not the room where he died, like a normal ghost. No, somehow he’s stuck to me and is insisting on taking care of a bunch of unfinished business in California. So now I have to traipse across the country with the world’s most narcissistic ghost.

But . . . I keep having these weird thoughts. Thoughts about how much I like the way he makes me laugh. Thoughts where I kind of want to kiss the emo-narcissist, even though he’s a ghost and an asshole and I can’t touch him anyway. And even if I could, what will happen when he finishes his business and nothing’s keeping him here anymore?

My Review:

This might be a book about ghosts, but you’re not going to find any “boos” coming from me!

(Okay, that was cheesy. I apologize.)

But seriously. This novel was a heck of a lot of fun. Tyler is a guy stuck in a rut, not sure where he’s going in life and not able to muster enough energy to pull himself up and follow his goals. Chris is a drop-dead gorgeous (see what I did there?) rock star who oh-so-inconveniently dies on Tyler’s shift at a Boston hotel… and then proceeds to haunt Tyler until he can say his goodbyes.

This novel is sure to lift your spirits. Tyler is sarcastic, Chris is “a huge dweeb” masquerading as a sexy rock star, and the ghost puns had me laughing so hard that I almost gave myself a boo-boo. (Sorry. Not sorry.)

“That’s the spirit,” I said, then smirked. “Get it? Spirit? Because you’re a ghost.”

I love how Tyler and Chris move from animosity to friendship. They’re stuck with each other, which means they drive each other crazy from the start, but eventually they start to find things in common. And slowly but surely, Tyler realizes that he really wants Chris’ boo-ty (and vice-versa).

The romance here was absolutely boo-tiful. There’s an element of tragedy overlaying the entire thing, because they’re two men who cannot be together… for obvious reasons. But Lauren did a great job of writing their slow-build romance, and the novel was definitely more relationship- and character-driven than anything else, which I could really appreciate.

You should definitely check out this book! Because if you don’t, I’ll probably just subject you to more terrible ghost puns.

“I guess I could do that,” he said. “After all . . .” He paused dramatically. “It won’t kill me.”

I groaned. “Okay, you’re going to have to stop with the ghost jokes.”