Member Reviews
Complementary copy for honest review
Great book even though the cliffhanger ending has me in my feelings. This book was deep and raw. Suppurb!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I don't know where to start with this review. I didn't like this novel at all. The book's written from the main character's point of view in a first-person present tense structure. This was extremely irritating, especially since I couldn't relate with her at all. I found her sense of humor very lacking, with crass jokes that weren't really funny. I wasn't able to finish reading it and had to quit halfway.
Marshall masterfully portrays the rock world. The story provoked many emotions and I found it hard to put down. I liked the characters and they were well defined. I’m going to need the next installment very soon to resolve the cliffhanger.
Many thanks to Bell Bridge Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.
Broken's a good rocker romance.
Starting with a tragic accident, the story follows as Henley struggles to recover mentally from all she lost.
I definitely enjoyed her struggles, as well as her great group of friends. There are some scenes that absolutely gutted me.
I was immediately swept up into the lives of Henley and her band, and couldn't put it down.
The writing is great, taking the reader on one hell of an emotional ride.
The minute I started reading this book, I was completely engrossed. I couldn't put it down! I love how Sasha Marshall just sucks you in to this crazy behind the scenes world of Rock-n-Roll. I had to IMMEDIATELY get my hands on the next installment!
Rockstar romances are a favorite of mine. I couldn't put it down until I devoured it. I highly recommend it as soon as it comes out.
Omg how can it end like that?! I need the next book in my life now!
I'm a real sucker for a rock star romance and this book was no exception. I normally read rockstar books with a strong male lead so this was really refreshing to be written about a very strong and sassy female.
Henley is a bad ass! She doesn't take any crap and I loved that about her.
The book was a real roller-coaster of emotions straight from the get go. It had me in tears from the raw emotion at the start to fits of laughter throughout the book.
Kip was my favourite character and I can't wait for more of him in the follow up book. I loved how his witty banter worked with the rest of the group yet he was always very protective of Henley.
I'm so glad I got the chance to read this story. I didn't want to put it down and stayed up untill the early hours constantly telling myself "just one more chapter" books that make me feel like that are winners in my eyes 🙂
Rhys, Caleb, Griffin, and Henley grabbed hands as they stood mere feet from the crowd. They all have at least three personas: the musicians away from the spotlight , always writing and composing, the musician who records while fighting for perfection, and the musician who stands on the side of the stage waiting for the moment when they can be their true selves under those hot light. When a musician enters the realm, nothing else matters. The scorching lights don’t bother you, the crowd is barely audible, and you can only see the first three rows of fans. They put the show on for the fans, but they did it for themselves first. They head for the stage standing in the dark. This is the moment henley lives for. She breathes the energy of the crowd and then she plucks the first chord on her guitar. Three hours later- Connor is getting Henley close to a climax , then he steps back and says he can’t take anymore, drops his pants , puts on a condom and steps back to henley. Connor is the picture perfect bad boy. He is the lead singer to Kellan’s Cross- the modern rock band. Henley is headlining this tour with her own band- Abandoned Shadow. Henley had tried for six minths to not have sex with connor. He relentlessly pursued her. She has a feeling she’s about to lose the fight. She is going to have sex with Connor. Hemley felt like it sucked to be the only female on the tour. Henley has known the members of the band since grade school. Griffin was the bassest, Rhys was the drummer and resident playboy, and caleb her best friend and guitarist. Her brother Koi has his band Broken Access. Henley had been a guitar prodigy at the age of twelve, Caleb at fifteen. Henley wenley had made her way to the top in her own in a male dominated industry as a band singer and lead guitarist. Henley os twenty two. Henley enjoys the fans who tell her how much they relate to her music, bu the most amazing part of doing what she loves, but the best is having a fan tell you that a sang she wrote saved their life. That makes it all worthwhile, all the bs this job entails. After meeting the fans it’s time to go home. They have a month off. Henley is riding with Caleb as they plan on going night fishing. Her grandfather was waiting for them as he loved night fishing also. As they are driving they feel a slight bump from the rear , than the car jolts her, than a harder following. Caleb reaches for Henley’s hand as he looks in the rear view mirror Than another crash to the rear and Henley is shot forward. She looks to see Caleb struggling with the wheel but the car is out of control and they begin to spin. She feels the car stop spinning and hears Caleb scream Henley . He throws his upper body over her and pushes her against the seat. Than the car starts to flip. Than there is darkness. Jagger and Kip helps Henley from the car. She learns Caleb was shot across the highway and ets to her feet and runs to Caleb. Henley starts CPR. An ENT is there- Manual and he tells her he will take over and keep up CPR until they get to the hospital- when she is ready. Manual tells Henley to look at Caleb, to look at his head and neck. She finally gets the courage and knows Caleb is already gone. She looks at the man who was her best friend. Her partner-in-crime since first grade. Henley begs Caleb not to leave her. She begs Jagger to make him come back. Henley doesn’t know how long she stays wrapped in Caleb but Manueal told her to take her time. She lays Caleb's upper body down and Jagger and Mauael help her up and she walks toward an ambulance and darkness takes her. It had been a drunk driver who had caused the accident that had taken Caleb’s life. Henley had been in a coma for fourteen days due to a hematoma on her brain. Four years later,
Henley goes home. She had aimlessly traveled from country to country. She left music, left it all behind her because she refused to fall apart in front of the whole world. She also can’t muster the courage to play music without Caleb.
I loved this book and it was a five until the very end. Which was a huge cliffhanger. I took one point off my rating for that. I hate cliffhangers. I was not happy to be left hanging at the end of this book. I loved Henley and jagger together and how they interacted. I loved she forgave Jagger for his underserved rant. I was so disappointed with the end of this book. I still gave it a four. If you are ok with large cliffhangers I recommend this book
I enjoyed the first half of the book. For me it was all about Henley recovering from grief and finding her way back. The romance was sweet and conflict-free which worked very well for the story. That doesn't mean the first half was perfect: it was inconsistent in places and it could've been more subtle. The interaction between all the characters mostly made up for those flaws.
The second half of the book was disappointing. Some conflict was introduced and it didn't make sense at all, including how both main characters reacted to it. But everything was fixed easily, which I liked for a couple with such a strong connection. Sadly all the way at the end of the book everything falls apart again with a cliffhanger. Even without knowing what the second book is about, I'm pretty sure I know what the conflict is. And again, it doesn't make sense. Why didn't he just tell her? I thought that was the type of relationship they had. Very disappointing.
Never read this author before but I love rock band stories. I was not disappointed this was well written and a decent plot. I will read this author again the story never lost pace I really enjoyed it.
Broken is the first in the guitar face trilogy. Henley Hendrix is the guitar goddess. She is part of music royalty. Her grandfather is well known in the industry, her brother is a rockstar in his own right and she is a guitar prodigy. Henley survives a car crash that kills one of her band mates. After that she withdrawals into herself, she doesn’t want to do anything with music and just wants to heal.
Being a part of a rock star family doesn’t allow you to give up on music and curl up and hide. Henley starts spending more time with her brothers band and her forever crush, guitar player, Jagger. He is her brothers band mate and best friend. Everything about him screams that this would be a bad idea.
This book was fantastic. I loved the characters and I started the second book right away, which I recommend because it ends on a cliff hanger!!!
"You hurt, cry, bleed, laugh, get angry, and, most of all, you love. You aren't broken, baby. You are human."
I can't resist a guitar on a cover or in a title. I'm rockstar romance addict and I've been lucky enough to find some amazing new authors this way. Broken is a perfect example of an amazing story discovered by accident.
While the story includes many rockers, the story focuses on Henley Hendrix. It's a heartbreaking story, but it also made me laugh and love. I enjoyed going back in time with young Henley as she discovered music and learned to play the guitar. She let me inside her head and I fell for Jagger right along with her. I also fell for her besties, bandmates, and her family. It was so much fun hanging with all of them... until her world exploded.
My stomach rose to my throat at the drop from the cliff that I wasn't expecting. I felt like Hen when she attempted bungee-jumping, but I wasn't given a "Three, two, one, go!" Nope, I was pushed kicking and screaming toward the cliffhanger ending and I still haven't caught my breath. I wish I could stay and chat, but I'm heading for the next book in the Guitar Face series and I won't be available until I turn the last page. See ya there.
The Guitar Face series is being rereleased by Bell Bridge Books starting with Book 1, Broken.
Who would have thought that a contemporary romance was exactly what I needed right now. Not any contemporary romance though; Just this book. Broken has everything I enjoy in a romance. Plus it was about musicians. Hello…. Sasha Marshall…. Thank you for writing my ultimate wish fulfilment book. It’s like she dipped into younger Maxine’s brain and took out all my favourite things.
Henley Hendrix is a rock goddess, women want to be her and men want to fuck her. She is slaying the music scene with her band Abandoned Shadow. She rose to fame as a guitar prodigy and while she came from music royalty, she has earned her position. Along with best friend Caleb she has been touring since she was 16. She is close with her family and friends and headlines tours with her brothers band, Broken Access.
Everything changes one night when Caleb and Henley are in a horrific car accident. For four years she hides from the world until her brother, Koi, and his band mates Jagger, Kip and Cam ask her to be their photographer on tour and she goes back on the road. Not quite herself, but more so than in a long while.
Maybe its because I always wanted to be a rock star (I’ve never even tried to play an instrument though haha) but this book had me completely sucked in from the first page. The fact that it’s Henley’s story and not one of the boys just pulled me in even more. This book wrapped it’s pages around my heart. I laughed my arse off, I cried buckets full of tears and I couldn’t get enough. I have been fangirling over this book for the last 24 hours. As soon as I finished it, I jumped onto Amazon to grab the rest of the series… If you guessed that I can’t get them as they haven’t been rereleased yet, you are right. Fucking devastated.
This does follow a similar formula to a lot of other romance books, but it still had me engaged. The writing and the detail to the music lifestyle was awesome. The use of social media articles was fantastic and really showed just how fucked up the media can be, how people lie and use just to get a story. When tragedy happens a lot of media outlets forget about the people involved they want people watching, they will show a smashed up car and people grieving just to try to get viewers. Just because a person is famous apparently it means they don’t get any privacy, they aren’t allowed to be people.
Henley as a main character was a breath of fresh air. How fantastic is it to have a female character completely comfortable with her body, a woman who is comfortable having sex with whomever she wants, whenever she wants. Completely unapologetic. It is so fucking refreshing to have an author break the “guy is super experienced, yet the girl is a virgin, or has only slept with one person” trope. So refreshing. She is just a decent chick who happens to take no prisoners. She has always had a temper and hated when she was told it’s a boy thing. She can do it to and so she does.
The romance… Oh the sweet romance. And the sexy times… Hell Yes to the well written sexy times.
If you are a lover of contemporary romance, you need to get your butt into gear and read this book. 1. because it’s awesome and you will love it, and 2. So we can swoon together and fangirl and talk about how excited we are for the rest of the books.
I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
One more thing. This book has the most beautiful dedication, which I feel like might be a reason the book is able to capture so much real and raw emotion. Make sure you don’t skip over it.
Loved this book! I am a HUGE rockstar book reader and this one didn't disappoint! I cannot wait for additional books from this series and this author! highly recommend to those who love a good rockstar book!
Excellent! This story is intense and emotional. The characters are well developed with individual strengths and failings. The plot is complex, the author’s love for and understanding of music is woven throughout the story. In addition to the good times, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, it focuses on life long relationships between friends. It deals with issues like death of a loved one, grief, depression, slow burning love. I felt so many emotions while reading this book. The main characters are so real I hope each one gets a chance to “tell” their story.
I would definitely recommend this book to friends.
I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
OUTSTANDING!!! I wasn’t sure how to start off with this review because it was so good that I wanted to catch anyone who liked rock romance books and had a chance to read this, to do so. This is the first time I read this author and I can only hope that she will put out more rock romance series.
This book had me all over the place with emotions and believe me Ms. Marshall took you there to the max. I will start out on the lighter side; when I look for a rock romance book I wouldn’t necessarily be drawn to it if someone said it had humor. I’m sure changing that opinion now after reading this book. It not only made me smile but had me outright laughing on some of the dialogue. This humor was throughout the book and wasn’t just some little snippet.
Another aspect of the book that I liked was how she brought in the real life rock bands and famous people and did so in a way that didn’t seem just like name-dropping. By the way I really like Seether too so that made this all the more fun for me.
Now for the harder part…there were some terribly gut wrenching parts in this book that I don’t think I will forget anytime soon. Again, whether you like it or not you can feel the emotions of Henley when she has to deal with her best friend and their accident. I have to say that I actually had tears running down my face at some of this. Ms. Marshall had Henley dealing with this for quite some time and it made it seem more real because we know that when something like this happens in real life you don’t get “over it” within 1 or 2 chapters time.
And for those of you who like a little “spice” with your rock romance books, Ms. Marshall sure delivered on that aspect also. I would love to meet Jagger myself! The relationship of Henley and Jagger was one that had you rooting for them and would make you wonder what you would do if in Henley’s situation. I also loved the relationship of Henley and Koi and with Kip’s sense of humor you grew to love these people.
Ms. Marshall would be someone I definitely would want to hang out with because if she can write with this sense of humor I can only imagine what she is like in real life! Now I’m off to read the second book in this series because I have to find out what that phone call was about!!
Now, I just want it to be known that this was a rollercoaster of a ride. I laughed and cried and would have given it five stars (which rarely happens), but the author on Amazon says "don't worry the second and third books are out already" and of course, nada!! Zip...zilch.....nothing! I looked! These characters are naughty, strong, sexy and easy to love 💘💘!!! Just would have already started reading the next in the series. Now, I am sort of thinking ....nah! I am Just lost with disappointment and this feeling of really? I have just read a dead end of cliffhanger with not even a HINT of what happens. It is just POOF!! GONE! Bummer! Well, I am off to the next read! Happy reading!
I received this ARC from the publisher at my request for an honest review via Net Galley! The opinions written are solely my own. Thank you Net Galley!
I really enjoyed this gritty Rockstar romance until the end. It is a cliffhanger and book 2 and 3 are not available from Amazon. I would have loved to find out what happens to Henley Hendrix, Guitar Goddess, and her band as well as her on again off again boyfriend, Jagger.
I have wanted to read the Guitar Face series for a long time, but I saw that it was out of print and not available on Kindle/Amazon. So, I was excited to see this installment on NetGalley.
The story was pretty enjoyable- but what a whooper of a cliff hanger ending. and I am not sure when the next book will be republished, so that has me a little worried.
But, I can’t wait to see what comes next for this cool rocker romance.