The ultimate compilation of rock star romance novels

posted in: Various Musings | 7

If you’ve been following my blog over the last few months, then you know that I’ve been compiling lists of rockstar romance books. I’m trying to find ALL of them in every sub subgenre. I started out with just a couple of years (2011 and 2012), but then I realized there were far more books published than I’d initially thought.

Before I knew it, it became an obsession. I had to track down every single rock star romance novel ever written. It’s such a huge project that I’m still working on it months later. Every single list I created has been incomplete, so I’ve had to go back and add more books.

Lots more.

If you’ve been following along and have gone back to look at some of those earlier lists again, you already know this.

If you haven’t and you’re a rockstar romance reader, I invite you to check them out now. I’ll link to all the posts below to make your life easier. 😉

I have a few theories but have landed on one.

I don’t know many real life rock stars. Although I’ve known a few local rock bands, I’ve never met any huge (like multi platinum around-the-world touring) rock stars. I’ve been close to them at concerts, but I have never done meet and greets or anything like that. So, other than local rock stars who haven’t made a big yet (not to say that they’re not good enough—they just haven’t been “discovered” yet), I don’t know many huge rock stars.

But my imagination? It goes wild.

I’ve been a fangirl since I was young. Although I couldn’t tell you the first rock star I had a crush on, I’m pretty sure I was a freshman or sophomore in high school (possibly younger). But the one I remember the most (and we’re talking dozens of rock star crushes) was George Lynch. At the time, he was the guitarist for the band Dokken (still one of my very favorite axe men). I had a long-lasting hardcore crush on the man, and even though I was young and naïve, I started writing my first “rock star romance” at the age of eighteen (I even wrote the first draft of the story that eventually became Bullet back then).

I imagine a good many of my colleagues who also write rock star romance have the same kind of vivid imaginations and love rock stars as much as I do. And so…for them, for me, and for all the readers out there who can’t get enough rockstar romance, I wanted to compile a list of every rocker romance novel I could find. That is what started this labor of love.

How long has rocker romance been around anyway?

Like me, you might be surprised.

When I first wrote Tangled Web, it didn’t take me long to wake up to the fact that my book was not in a brand-new subgenre. Very quickly, I saw Amazon connecting my book to other recent releases very similar in scope. Still being quite new to indie publishing, I actually bought several of them and read them to see if what I was writing was similar to what these other authors were publishing (plus I wanted to get an idea of how I should format).

There were so many to browse! In fact, there were quite a few books I didn’t buy but years later I wondered about some of them. One book in particular that I couldn’t remember the author name, cover, or title, I was able to recall the plot described in the blurb and even the name of one of the characters, if that’s not crazy. About a year ago, I tried to find it based on what I could remember and came up short. So I figured I’d never see it again.

But guess what? In my quest to find every single rock star romance ever written, I found it recently! And that just fueled my obsession because I thought, Wow! If I was able to find a book that I could barely remember, maybe I could help other readers do the same. I know it’s a common problem. There are several groups on Facebook, for example, where a reader will tell as much of the synopsis or any details about the book that she can remember, and other readers will try to help figure out what book the reader is describing so she can go back and find it in her Kindle library or on Goodreads. So with my quest, I’m hoping I can do that.

A few things of note

I’m not posting any synopses here on my blog, but I am posting links to every single book so you can view it yourself—the cover, the blurb, etc. I’m linking it first to Amazon (because most of my readers get their books from there), but if I can’t find it on Amazon, then I’m linking it to Goodreads. I’m hoping you’ll browse through the titles and think, “Oh yeah, I remember that book.” A few of you have already said that! It’s been a fun trip down memory lane! And I love trying to help solve some mysteries while I gather all these books together.

You might, as you peruse, notice that sometimes I’m a little loose with what we might consider to be rockstar romance but here’s why: some folks like musician romance, whether it’s the struggle to become famous or the struggle of fame itself once attained. So I’ve also included more “fringe” stories: punk rock, boy band, pop music, country music. I’m erring on the side of being inclusive.

One other thing I want to let you know is that this is leading to an even bigger project. I’m not going to tell you exactly what it is yet, but just know that I’m working on something having to do with all things rock star romance, so stay tuned, because I’ll announce it here first. But no worries—if you’re connected to me on Facebook or my newsletter, I’ll make sure you know when that huge project is finished!

Now, without further ado, if you want to check out any of the posts having to do with tracking down every single rock star romance out there, I’ll link them all below so you can find them easily, and I’ll keep this list up to date. Before that, though, I’m going through all the lists I’ve already posted and adding all of the books that I’ve found since—and we’re talking hundreds of books that I hadn’t initially found. It’s incredible how many rocker romance books are out there! I also plan to, moving forward, post all new releases semi-annually. To keep them all connected and easy for you to find, all those links will be posted below (I’ll add future ones when the time comes).

Last but not least…enjoy! Good luck finding that book that you’ve had a hard time tracking down!

2010 and earlier

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

first half of 2021

second half of 2021

And the post that started it all: Is Rock Star Romance Really a Thing?

Plus Why I Stopped Compiling These Lists

Some fun lists of subgenres and tropes:

Christmas Rockstar Romance

20 Small Town Rockstar Romance Novels

20 Second Chance Rockstar Romance Reads

10 Friends-to-Lovers Rockstar Romance Books

12 Female Rockstar Romance Books

One more VERY IMPORTANT thing: whether you’re a reader or an author, if you see that I’ve made a mistake or missed a book (highly possible!), please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment, or you can fill out the Contact Me form on this page. I appreciate it, because I want this list to be as accurate and as complete as possible.

Some other things to keep in mind:

  • If you’re looking at the dates and they don’t seem right, maybe they don’t match up on Amazon, for example: know that the dates I’m assigning books to are the very first day those books were published. So maybe there’s a book that was published in 2012 but on Amazon it shows that it was published in 2013. Well, that just means that according to Goodreads and my records it was originally published in 2012, and it was republished in 2013 (sometimes due to rebranding but other times because an author got picked up by a traditional publisher). Whatever the case, I’m arranging the books according to first publication date (or trying, at any rate!).
  • I’ve also tried to note when authors have more than one name/pseudonym that they’ve published that book under (but I may have missed some). I’ve also tried to note when they’ve changed the title or the series or anything like that, but it’s sometimes difficult for me to discern those things—so if you know something I don’t, please feel free to share! As an indie romance writer, I know I’ve done the same—sometimes just a slight tweak or a major change, and I don’t always inform Goodreads or anyone else about it.
  • All the books I’ve shared are books that were published on at least one bookseller’s platform. If it was a story exclusive to an author’s mailing list, for instance, I’m not including it.

All that is to say…please, if you notice anything that doesn’t look right, don’t hesitate to let me know. Thank you to those of you who’ve already contributed! But enough about the project. Happy browsing, my friend, and thanks for tuning in. Without further ado, scroll back up the page to find those links to the yearly lists. I hope you enjoy the memories just like some of my readers already have—remember those book hangovers, the book boyfriends you hated to love, the stories you never wanted to end!

7 Responses

  1. Donna Hannickel

    I am looking to find a book that came up on my recommendations a number of years ago. It was before I knew how to put things into a list on Amazon. I thought it would appear in my recommendations again so didn’t read it at the time. The main thing I remember about it is it’s a second chance about an impotent rockstar. I figured if anyone knew what book it could be, it would be you. Any ideas? Thank you in advance for any information you can send me. Btw, I really enjoy your recommendations. I’ve read and purchased numerous of the books that you have listed on your newsletter

    • Jade

      Hi, Donna!

      I actually don’t know what book that might be–but, as you know, I have lots of avid readers who might have an idea! I’ll ask in my Facebook group but also in my newsletter next week. I have no doubt one of my other readers will know what book that is.

      And I’m so glad you’re enjoying the lists. I’m having lots of fun finding books and compiling them. If you ever have any recommendations you want me to share, please let me know!

      Hugs,
      Jade

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