I was really looking forward to Wild Angel, the follow-up to Rock’n Tapestries, by Shari Copell because I liked the first book (although the second half of the book Chelsea and Tate’s relationship seemed forced and convenient to me, and also made me bawl for a douche-y rockstar who may or may not deserve a girls tears), and because it was about Chelsea and Asher’s daughter all grown up, taking Pittsburgh by storm with her (daddy’s — unbeknownst to her) tabacco sunburst guitar. I always wanted to read a book that’s about the characters children's own book. So this answered my prayers in that respect. Wild Angel was the first one that did, so I was even more excited to get into it.
Right from the first chapter, I was excited. Nicks (heroine/the daughter) kicks off with a fiery demeanor while rocking out on stage, just like her biological daddy, the late Asher Pratt. Not only that, but while mouthing of expletives about sex and curse words to shame a sailor, Stone Jensen is there watching and not scared one bit by whatever she throws his way. See, they’ve been on bad terms for a year by then because he said some not-so-nice things about her and her guitar-playing skills. Right off the bat, you can feel the tension when they challenge each other. When I read that, I was locked and loaded for more challenges and tension to come. Only to be disappointed from that point on. Instead, Stone went up to her and talk to her for the first time ever to apologize for saying all those mean things about her. Oh, she stood her ground and basically told him off alright.
She may have brushed him off at first, but Stone turned soft from that point on. Like I said, I expected more of a fight from them, but I didn’t see the same challenge he had when he saw her play that stage that day. He makes nice to get her to forgive him and be on good terms, if not friends. Long story short, they both form a friendship and bond over guitars and the mystery of who willed them to her. This leads to a string of theories, snooping, digging, questions, a near-panic attack or two from Nicks mom, and the truth. All the while, the school principal seems to have it out for Nicks and strange occurrences and dreams have been happening around the household... Well, you can see that a lot stuff goes down.
See, this book is over 500 pages. Usually I don’t complain even if it is a NA contemporary, but this draaaagged at parts. If you cut down all the unnecessary crap, it would be a good 300/400 pages and wouldn’t drag so much. If you ignore that part, this is a good book. All the events, the building, mystery, secrets, kidnappings, a sadistic school principal, sketchy characters, attempted murders, paranormal elements, and plot twists.
The ending is what made me want to throw my kindle out the window at 7am and go hunt down Shari with a pitch fork and torch in hand. Or near the end, I should say. There’s like 2-9% of the book left that had me bawling and screaming how is this fair? Why would you do this? How dare you! This was not the happy ending you promised us, Shari! I mean, I know not every story had a happy ending, but I expect an HEA if the book description promises one, especially if it’s from the author themselves. I was so nervous and hopeless by 98%. But then Asher, from beyond the grave, somehow gave them a miracle that gave us the HEA. I took the much need breath that was steeled from from me.
Overall, even though I wanted more tension/challenges between Nicks and Stone and some parts dragged and the ending literally had me on edge, I enjoyed this book. There was rock n roll, steamy times, mystery, and family values.
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