Rock Courtship is a novella set between the first and second novel in the Rock Kiss series by Nalini Singh.
Finished on: 15.3.2020
[Here’s my review of the first novel in the series.]

Plot:
David, drummer of the band Schoolboy Choir, has been in love with their publicist Thea since about forever. His first attempt to ask her out, though, was a catastrophe: she blocked him off so cooly, he barely recovered. When Thea’s half-sister Molly advises him to write her a memo, he decides it’s worth a chance. And his memo does have a great effect on Thea – the question is, can she look past their professional relationship as well as her recent bad break-up to take the plunge with him?

Rock Courtship is a sweet, quick read. In fact, it could have been a little longer – I think it suffered a little from the fact that it was only a novella. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it.

As a fan of epistolary novels, I was hoping that they’d emphasize the memo angle here a little more. I wouldn’t mind reading a love story that is all memos – that could be fun. But here, they do take a back seat. Yes, a couple of memos are included, but they are not a huge part of the story, which is a pity.

That being said, I did enjoy David and Thea and their story together, despite the fact that it being a novelly exacerbated my usual problem with many romance novels: it all moves so fast. At least in this case, David and Thea have known each other already for a long time, so their decision to give it a try together and how fast they become very serious is much more okay for me. (That is, of course, a very personal hang-up.) Still, it wouldn’t have hurt if Singh took a little more time for telling the story. Many things outside the relationship felt a little hurried to me.

I liked that David is latino and Thea is (half) Filipino, although they don’t really delve deeply into the cultural aspects, it’s always nice to read romances that aren’t about white people. Singh, being a woman of color herself, is usually a good bet in that regard.

There is a subplot here about an (alleged) affair with a teenager, and I definitely appreciated how clearly it is stated how creepy that would be – it wouldn’t just be cheating, it would be reprehensible in and of itself. Unfortunately it’s rare that this is called out that clearly.

This makes Rock Courtship a very quick, engaging read – though it didn’t convince me quite as much as the first novel in the series.

Summarizing: cute.