Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. ♡

caught between 3.5-4 stars.

₊˚⊹⋆ i understand rome is meant to be tortured and has a rough past, but it seems he uses it for literally everything he is or will ever be. he would never be a book boyfriend of mine personally bc tbh, he's an awful person. the only growth he really has is the fact he falls in love which is something he "doesn't do" and he makes sure it's known the whole book lol. he does beat up lili's shitty ex, but like honestly it's like the pot calling the kettle black... and i genuinely dont think he even realizes.

₊˚⊹⋆ lili had lots of potential. she also is tortured in some sense, with letting her mother and everyone else control her life. the yin to his yang, which seems to be a big metaphor for their love. the poor girl has no self respect and it kind of hurts to even see it. i get its a book and its really not that deep, but lili girl - get off the ground!! this man's dick game and silver tongue cannot be the end all!

₊˚⊹⋆ the spice was spicy! 10/10 for that honestly. the writing and plot itself wasn't bad by any means, i just struggled with fully loving the characters, especially rome. to each their own! i wish it could have been slightly longer to give both characters more room for a deeper growth and development. overall it was enjoyable, i was able to finish within a day or so and i do wanna read the other books in the series.

The perfect final book in the Enemy Muse series.

Rome Romero, known as the Riff King by the fans of Enemy Muse, comes across as happy go luck and free spirited. No one knows the turmoil he's harboring deep inside. He's covered in tattoos, but each one has a reason for placement.

Lili is a dancer whose life is controlled by her mother, her ex-boyfriend, and the dance company where she works. She has no say in any decisions regarding her life but decides to hold strong in her decision to stay out of town during one of her dance productions. Turns out she's renting the house of Enemy Must band member Eloise, who lives next to Rome.

The first encounter for Rome and Lili starts out on the wrong foot. He learns she's a dancer but assumes that means she's a stripper. She's quick to correct him then walk away. When her car later breaks down in the middle of nowhere, close to where she's renting, Rome shows up to save the day.

These two are so broken and have scars that run deeper than the Mariana Trench. Rome's childhood was terrible with an awful father. Lili's grown up with transactional "love" and relationships from everyone around her, even her parents. Her father passed away but her mother is the most controlled person ever. When the two find each other, Lili is guarded and Rome is smitten.

If you're looking for angst, tragedy, and redemption, this book is for you. I read it for the first time in April 2024. I was able to receive the ALC from NetGalley and devoured it yet again. I highly recommend this book and series.

I ate this one up! I requested the audiobook ARC without knowing it was the 4th book in a series, but they are interconnected standalones, and I was able to follow along just fine. I’m definitely going to go back and read/listen to the first 3. The audiobook narrators did a really great job. I was especially impressed with the female narrator’s male voice. Sometimes I find it laughable when a woman attempts to create a man’s voice, but she was still somehow able to make Rome sound hot in the chapters from Lily’s perspective.
Rome and Lily are two flawed and broken people who find healing with each other, and that has to be one of my favorite tropes ever. I did expect one more twist towards the end with the antagonist, but it wrapped up pretty quickly and cleanly.

This was ok. I don’t feel like the male narrator was the correct match.

I liked the harshness of a rock musician and the delicateness of a ballet dancer.
Feel like the chemistry wasn’t there for them they were just slammed together and that was it is.

Rome is dark and twisted with past trauma and Lillie is dark and twisted from years of brainwashing from dancing.
Together they burn apart they crumble.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange for a review

This is a romance between a rock star and a dancer. They are both beautifully broken. Can they mend each other together?

Many thanks to Net Galley and Tantor Audio for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Didn’t finish. This was not for me. There was literally zero plot and the main point of conflict was that he’s a mess and she’s not.

“Sometimes people will always be pieces” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lily and Rome’s story is so beautiful. Rome is a reformed (for 17 days! )playboy (yes he’s keeping count) with a pierced Yk, and she's a dancer under strict supervision. Both are broken in ways that draw you in to their stories.

The author mentions tough issues like eating disorders and abuse adding depth and “imperfections” to these characters. The narrators fit the characters perfectly making the story such a fun and easy listen.

The book does have a third act break up that last about 3 chapters due to circumstances that you’ll understand when you read it but it definitely shows the growth between the characters and how they went from not believing in love to being in love with each other.

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. It was a bit of a darker storyline than I’m used to but it was so good. I liked the back stories of the characters. It really gave them depth and gives the listener an understanding of their lives and what makes them the way they are.

The spice was perfect for me and that’s the type of books I love. And the narrators did it perfectly. I did skip the first books but will have to go back and read them!

I enjoyed Lily and Rome story. I loved all the characters in the story. I'm going to read their stories in the series. This is my first time reading from this author. I found another author who may make my favorite list.

DNF @ 17%
Im sure it doesn't continue through the whole book, but the way the MMC speaks about women is so gross. I get the whole bad boy X good girl trope but this just felt uncomfortable to listen to...
Outside of that it seems like it could have some potential but I couldn't get past this bit

Rome is your classic bad-boy rockstar/playboy, emotionally unavailable. Lili is a talented dancer trapped under the thumb of her abusive, controlling mum. Expect plenty of smut with a dash of character development. Is this the most unforgettable book ever? Probably not. But was it a fun, entertaining escape. Even without reading the other books in the series, I never felt lost and the narrators were both great.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The audio was good. I enjoyed the narrators. The plot/story. It is much. It was so cheesy!

"Worth the Trouble" is a heartfelt, slow-burn romance beautifully brought to life through the amazing dual narration of Connor Brown and Desiree Ketchum. Their voices perfectly convey the tension, passion, and depth of Rome and Lili’s opposites-attract journey. The thrilling forbidden romance and the intriguing bad boy/good girl dynamic add so much intensity, while their emotional scars make the story feel wonderfully raw and real. Even though it's part of a series, you can enjoy it as a standalone. Thank you to NetGalley and Eva Simmons for the chance to experience this ALC.

The audiobook narration was really good overall. But one thing that bothered me was the male narrator mimicking a girl's voice during Lily's lines in Rome's pov and the female narrator mimicking Rome's lines in Lily's pov. Since this is a duet narration, I don't understand why they just don't give the lines to the respective genders?

However, I didn't love the book much. I had trouble liking Rome's playboy character. The story wasn't one with a lot of angst or tension so I couldn’t connect well with the story.

Worth the Trouble by Eva Simmons
dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0

This was a treat!
Rome has tried everything to shut himself off from everyone around him. He was so close to reclaiming his bachelor rockstar lifestyle… until Lili waltzed into his life.

His bandmates totally have his back, and watching him try (and fail) to hide his pining? Absolutely adorable.

On the flip side, Lili’s relationship with her mom is rough: calorie counting, a painfully segmented lifestyle, eating disorders, and even arranged relationships — ugh. Honestly, this book could double as an easy guide to "How to cut contact with a toxic parent."

By the end, the story wrapped up the many tangled plot points that had me hooked from the start.

In love,
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️
Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for sending this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Eva Simmons for the chance to listen to this ALC!

“Maybe Rome is the sky, out of reach and echoing with thunder. He hurts like lightning and soothes like rain.”

With beautiful writing like that capturing the moments and emotions between characters, I thought this was a good quick read.

The narration by Desiree Ketchum and Connor Brown was great. They captured the characters and their emotions well. Especially Desiree Ketchum. Her range and voice was great at keeping me engaged in the story.

I give this 3.75 stars and 🌶️🌶️🌶️ It had the potential to be a 4 star read. But for me I struggled with the first several chapters. Romes activities and the count of his issue went on and on as he struggled to understand or agree with the choices of those around him to settle with a woman due to his history. Once Rome and Lili met, I was able to get into it. The story takes off and gets good from there. There’s some character growth, chemistry, spice and some funny moments between them with a good steady pace to the story. Overall I enjoyed it. The charachters and side charachters were likable and the story of Rome and Lilli was good.

If you like tropes like opposites attract, forbidden love, bad boy/good girl, opposite sides of the track and rockstar romance I’d recommend giving this book a try. The MMC is a hot, tattooed, guitarist with questionable morals and the FMC is a sweet, talented, ballet dancer. This is the fourth book in the Enemy Muse series.

Worth The Trouble Honest ARC Review:

4.5 ⭐️

Okay, who is Eva Simmons and why have I not read her books before?! This was great! Interesting, characters with depth, plenty of spice.

Worth the trouble is fantastic.

To the rest of the world, Rome Moreno is a Rock God. When Rome and Lilly bumped into one another, he thought Lilly was a stripper. Lilly was not impressed with him at all at first glance.

Yet, Rome has repeatedly come into her life like some magnetic storm, drawing her in to the deepest parts of his soul. Worth the Trouble really pulls at your heartstrings.

This is definitely one to add to your TBR!

⭐️ Forbidden romance
⭐️ Chance encounters
⭐️FMC and MMC from two different worlds
⭐️ Plenty of Spice

Thank you so much for sharing this ARC with me. I am really looking forward to reading more from this author!

4 stars.

I've never listened to or read an Eva Simmons book but I'm glad this was my first introduction into this author's books. I would definitely pick up another. This book was gritty and heart wrenching the characters were broken in a lot of ways, but I loved how they came together. They were honest and just accepted each other for what they were which actually allowed them to grow from a lot of it. It was gradual but obvious at the same time.

I typically don't like rockstar romances, but I guess I didn't see that this book was prior to being approved for the ALC. I was pleasantly surprised. Although the inner dialogue for Rome in the first 7ish chapters was very repetitive. Like dude we get it, you like sex, no strings attached, no repeats sex and hate monogamous relationships #rockstarlife and all that. That was made clear several times. Rome and Lili had extended dialogues but once I was really into it, I didn't mind so much. Overall, I really enjoyed this author's style of writing. Darker and some trigger themes were explored in each character, and I could tell the previous books in the series were the same in that aspect. *Check the trigger warnings*

My favorite parts were when Lili and Rome were just honest about their darker parts and didn't shy away or judge the other. Mostly to see if they'd scare the other away. They just accepted it and found understanding in each other. Communication is key and I love to see it.

My main gripe with this book was the audiobook, I almost wish I just read it instead. Desiree Ketchum could've narrated the whole thing honestly. Her male voice was perfect, imo. I hate to say that and the only reason I do is because the way Connor Brown narrated Lili's voice was something. High pitched and grating on every nerve. Is that legit what he thinks women sound like? I'm genuinely curious. The deeper into the audiobook, I either got used to it or he improved. Then suddenly he'd return to using it out of nowhere. The way I imagine Lili speaking, who had described herself as a hollow shell, was far from screechy. I digress. I think Connor did a fantastic job as Rome though and really enjoyed his voice overall - minus the slightly insulting female voice.

Anyways, I enjoyed this and will definitely be picking up another book from this author.

Dual Narration - Connor Brown & Desiree Ketchum
Great voices.

Book 4 in Enemy Muse Series
Can be read as a standalone but for best experience reading in order is recommended

Dancer x Rockstar romance
Dark romance
Reformed playboy

Rome is a bad boy, a playboy, he isn’t interested in settling down. That is until Lili shows up in his path. Lili is a small petite dancer with problems of her own.

These two turn each others lives upside down but in all the ways they both need it to. Really enjoyed their story.

This book was definitely worth the trouble. I loved how these two lost souls found each other and helped to heal each other and themselves through their love.
The narrators were great, their pacing and voice acting were on point and the story was better for it.