Borrowed
By: Victoria Ashley
Trope: Fake Relationship, Forbidden
Genre: Rockstar Romance
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: December 18th, 2023
My Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮
My Reading Format: Advanced Copy Received For An Honest Review
Synopsis:
I was never supposed to want to keep her.
She was meant to be borrowed.
Mine for six days and not a day longer.
She doesn’t belong to me.
She belongs to someone else.
My brother…
The closest person I have outside of the screaming fans and paparazzi—a constant in my new life—other than the whiskey I drown myself in to numb the pain left by someone else.
But a secluded cabin in the woods and my ex who decided she’s not over me forces me to go to the extreme in order to take control of my world again before I lose it completely.
Unfortunately for me, my brother’s girlfriend is the only girl I haven’t slept with and made fall for me, resulting in hating me in the end.
She’s my only option.
Sharing a room in a cabin with me is most girls’ dream come true, but for Natalie, she claims it’s her worst nightmare. She thinks I’m nothing more than a reckless rock star and has always been good at destroying my ego.
I never realized when I asked to borrow her for the trip, that I’d feel something I haven’t felt in a long time, or that I’d like the way she pretends she doesn’t enjoy being around me.
Have you ever borrowed something and didn’t want to give it back?
Yeah, well, me too. And I’m starting to think she should’ve been mine to begin with…
Whew, I can say with an honest heart, I missed the hell out of Victoria Ashley! It has been a long damn time, and I’m so happy to finally see a new release from one of my favorite authors. If you’re looking for a romance that will consume your every thought, look no further and grab Borrowed by Victoria Ashley. Believe me when I say, you won’t be sorry!
Before I start with my full review, let me give you a little insight into what Borrowed is all about! If you all didn’t know, (to Quote the BIO on Amazon) Borrowed was recently titled Reckless Rock Star and was published as part of the Cocky Hero Club world, a series of original works, written by various authors, and inspired by Keeland and Ward’s New York Times bestselling series. Now, Victoria Ashley has rebranded Natalie and Madden’s epic love story as a standalone with some fine tuning to no longer connect it to the Cocky Hero Club. She also added a spicy scene in the midst!
Now let’s get to what Borrowed is all about, shall we…
Madden Parker is at the top of his game in the rock n’ roll world. He lives for the lyrics and respects his fans. But the one thing Madden truly wants, is to finally be over his ex-girlfriend Alana…. But with the annual camping trip coming up, Madden is bound to fall right back into old patterns with Alana leading to an irrevocable heartbreak. And it doesn’t help that Alana is texting him with the notion of getting back together…. What’s a man to do.
Enter Natalie, the girlfriend of Madden Parker’s Older brother…..
Natalie is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and her boyfriend pimping her out to his little brother isn’t helping. The situation of helping Madden out of the ex-mess isn’t a hard task, Natalie can fake it just as well as anyone else and there is absolutely no chance of her falling in love with him… The problem is, he’s not as easy to resist as she initially thought…. Bring on the feelings and bring on the drama!!
My Thoughts:
I’m going to throw it all out there, when I first picked up Borrowed, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. For some back information, I didn’t read the previously titled Reckless Rock Star and I wasn’t even aware this was a novel. I’m a lover of rock star romances and a fan of Victoria Ashley, so I immediately requested an arc of Borrowed without knowing anything about this novel. To put it mildly, I was intrigued by the title and having read past novels from this author, Borrowed had me assuming I was in for some hardcore drama!
The premise of this novel is that a man is trying to get over his ex. His older brother knows that he’s having issues with staying away so when the man asks the older brother if he can ‘borrow’ his girlfriend for a week and fake it in front of their friends, the older brother agrees due to past… issues…. Thinking his girlfriend will say no….. Reluctantly and angrily, the girlfriend accepts boyfriend’s younger brother’s offer… and holy hell is this a recipe for delicious drama!
So let’s start with Madden Parker, rockstar extraordinaire! This man had my heart swooning and breaking all at once. There was one constant throughout this novel, that being the fact that I wanted this man to find his forever love. I wanted to see his heart mend, and I wanted him to finally move on from his ex-girlfriend Alana. I hated Alana with a fiery passion! This woman was a master at manipulation and turning the tables so he was always in the wrong… But on the other hand, I felt sorry for her. She screwed up monumentally and realized what she had a little too late in the game. Too little too late…..
Entering into this cluster of heartbreak is Natalie. Natalie is the manager of a hotel, and has been in a relationship for two years with Madden’s older brother, Logan. I loved Natalie’s independence. However, beneath the surface Natalie also wanted to be able to depend on someone. The fear of putting that part of her out there was what really had me invested in her point of view. Throughout this novel, I loved watching her give up a little bit of her independence in favor of actually putting her trust in someone like Madden. And the same goes for Madden… UGH! I feel like I’m rambling on and on….I loved seeing the friendship spark between Natalie and Madden. I loved the fact that Natalie was the kind of friend Madden needed in this situation. I loved the awkwardness that came with their fake relationship in the beginning. The tense vibes and the awkward moments had me falling in love with a trope that I normally don’t read. I also loved watching these two accept something into their lives that was missing through the years, that being an everlasting love.
And then we have the dramatic point where secrets are exposed and people are FINALLY put on blast! I’ll admit, I predicted the outcome… but oddly enough it didn’t let me down like it typically does. Without giving anything away, I’m just going to say, my heart broke for all involved…
Now on to why I rated this book the way I did. I decided to give Borrowed by Victoria Ashley five stars because it had me invested from beginning to end. I literally could not put this book down. When I walked the dog, I was reading. When I folded laundry, I was reading. When I cooked dinner, I was reading. This romance had me consumed! I wanted to do nothing but read the day away and I haven’t felt that vibe in a very long time! What more can I say aside from I loved everything about Madden and Natalie’s romance! And if you enjoy slowburn with a forbidden vibe, chances are you’ll love this one too!
Overall, Borrowed was a great read. There isn’t anything about this novel that I would change!! My heart feels full and content! This is definitely a rock star romance novel I will be recommending in the very near future!
The section below contains amazon affiliate links. This is a way for my site to earn advertising fees by advertising or linking to certain products and services.
Read Today:
Available in kindleunlimited
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/41cWUwS
Amazon Universal: https://mybook.to/borrowedva
Peace Love and Happy Reading,
This certainly sounds dramatic!
So much drama! It was such a great read!