Rock Stars! Hunks of Alpha Male with talent to spare, bodies to die for, and a love life that usually sucks. But, hey, that's show business. Not too many of us would turn down the chance to spend some time with one. I thrive on '80s style "Hair Band" musicians. My personal choice is the bass player, the awesome man that bridges the rhythm to the percussion, and adds the warmth, the life, the heartbeat to music. From Def Leppard's Rick "Sav" Savage to Poison's Bobby Dall to Journey's Ross Valery to the fictional ShadowsForge's Ty Synclair, I'll take the hunky bassist over the hunky front man. Rebecca Goings does not give Emily Parker that choice in Promise Me Forever. Oh, no. She tosses the young widow right into the arms of David Callahan, blond 'n' blue hunk and lead singer for Stormfront.

Emily feels guilty for being unable to take her eyes from David as he performs; guilty because Jason has only been dead a little over two years. Everyone tells her that it is time she moved on, but she's not ready to find someone new. Besides, what man would want a widow with three young children? Tonight, she only wants to have a good time, a few drinks, and what could it hurt to flirt a bit with the man on stage?

Agreeing to go out to celebrate her thirty-first birthday with friends has brought Emily to be staring up at David Callahan, and having some disturbing thoughts about his hands as he caresses his guitar and caresses her with his satin voice. Since David is a high school buddy of Mark, she's not going to avoid meeting the man who stirs feelings in her that she's lived without since Jason's accident. Unfortunately, turning so fast as to lose one's balance and falling into the strong arms of the man is not the most graceful way to start a relationship. But once she has been there, his arms are suddenly the only place she wants to be.

David Callahan has simple rules in his life. No women with baggage and no women with children. They were strict policies he'd adhered to for thirty-six years and he likes it that way. This petite brunette who danced for him in front of the stage and then fell into his arms left an impression, and her perfume, on him. She'd obviously run to the ladies room to avoid him. Now that Mark and Joy clued him into the fact that she was a widow with children, it was time for him to go. So why couldn't he convince his feet to carry him away from the bar and away from that incredible woman?

Emily and David have their problems to work out in Promise Me Forever. Initially trying to avoid one another, but finding out during a private moment at a barbecue that it is impossible, they do their best to keep to themselves. Emily finds out about David's "No Kid" policy and refuses to date a man that can't accept her children. Going so far as to tell him to lose her phone number and she'll lose his only pushes David into Alpha mode, the results of which where probably the most sensual moment I've ever experienced in all of the books I've read and/or reviewed. I had to read the passage over a couple of times, while thinking, "Where can I get me one of him?"

Promise Me Forever is well written, the characters are fully developed and ready to move right into your Keeper shelf. The ups and downs of their relationship are realistic. It is a fact that children from a first marriage can be detrimental to a second marriage. Even Emily's children are built to take up residence in your heart as they have in the heart of David.

Promise Me Forever was a refreshing read that I recommend to those who love romance, second chances, and Rock Stars!

Reviewed By MargeAnna Conrad
© August 2008