Rating: 4.25 stars
Buy Links:  Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novella

Rock star Nico is just looking for a quiet vacation in Belize when he is kidnapped and taken hostage aboard a boat.  As a rich and famous rock star, Nico worries the pirates are looking for ransome money.  But as it turns out, they have no idea who he is.  Instead, the day before the kidnapping Nico accidentally messed up an illegal deal for Patrick, the captain.  Now Patrick is holding Nico hostage until he can get Nico to help him out of the situation and recoup his losses.

Nico does everything he can to escape and make his way to safety but all his efforts are fruitless.  However, the more he learns about Patrick, the more he realizes he is not really a bad guy, just someone caught in a bad situation he can’t find his way out of.  There is definitely an attraction between them that both men eventually act on.  But Patrick is involving Nico in some dangerous business, and though he promises to let Nico go after the deal is done, the men must first survive it.

So I was drawn to this one right away due to my love of rocker books and I like the pirate/captive aspect of the story as well.  This one is fun and light and I found it entertaining.  I appreciated that we don’t get instant lust on Nico’s part overriding any normal person’s sense of self-preservation, something that too often happens in this type of story. Instead Nico tries to escape and fight his attackers every chance he gets. And even though Nico is pretty and somewhat feminine in appearance, he is no damsel in distress, but instead strong willed and physical and taking charge of his own destiny.

Of course, this is a relatively short story so Nico still moves somewhat quickly from hating Patrick to being attracted to him, which I get.  I liked that even after they get together, Nico still retains his wits about him and makes smart choices about his future. But I did wish we saw a little more clearly why Nico suddenly has his change of heart about Patrick.  Or even what is drawing the two of them together beyond the physical.

I also would have liked to have a better sense of Nico as a rocker. It is such a small part of his character, I wish it had been a little more of a focus. We are told he incredibly rich and wildly popular.  I would think being so wealthy and famous would have impacted his personality in some way, but we really don’t see it at all. In fact, for most of the book his job is almost completely irrelevant to the story and it is only near the end that it really comes up. This isn’t a major downside, but not what I was expecting from the blurb or the cover.

But overall I found this one fun and entertaining.  Both Patrick and Nico are likable and the story is a light and easy read.  The scenes and descriptions of Belize made for a nice backdrop and I liked how it all comes together at the end.