Rock and a Hard Place is a novel by Angie Stanton. In this novel, Libby Sawyer has recently suffered the deaths of her mother and sister in a car accident. Consumed by grief, Libby's father has abandoned her at the home of her aunt. Like something out of a fantasy, Libby meets Peter Jamieson, lead singer and songwriter of a sibling boy band. Peter falls for Libby immediately and they begin spending every spare moment on the phone. However, Peter becomes distracted from work and his brother, Garrett, takes it upon himself to remove the distraction by breaking up with Libby for him. Libby then finds herself caught in the center of a police investigation into her aunt's illegal drug activity and shipped off to a group home, leaving Peter with no way of locating and correcting the wrong. Rock and a Hard Place is a teenager's fantasy come to life in a poignant story of first love.

Libby Sawyer is sitting alone under a tree, watching the cars go by on the highway as she draws. When a tour bus stops in the reserve, Libby is curious about the seemingly perfect family that disembarks. This curiosity draws one of the young men to her. They talk for a few minutes and Libby finds the encounter sweet, but does not expect to see him again. Therefore, when the same bus arrives at the reserve a short time later, Libby is delighted when Peter seems pleased to see her again. They talk for more than an hour before Peter must leave again.

Libby's mother and sister were killed in a car accident and her father left her with an aunt when grief made it impossible for him to cope. Libby's aunt is an uncaring woman who spends the majority of her time drinking and watching the home shopping network. Therefore Libby's only solace is her drawings and school. Peter quickly becomes a highlight in her life as well. When Peter returns a third time, he gives Libby a phone so that they can keep in touch as he and his brothers go off on tour to promote their new album, Triple Threat.

For months Libby and Peter speak on the phone multiple times a day and see each other when they can. Peter becomes aware of Libby's unhappy home life and begins to plot a way to get her out of there. However, before he can, his father has a heart attack and Peter finds himself embroiled in family business as well as band business. Garrett, Peter's older brother, decides that Libby has become too much of a distraction for Peter. Garrett calls Libby and tells her that Peter no longer wants to see her. Libby believes what she hears and is dejected.

When Peter learns what Garrett has done, he is very angry and determined to make things right with Libby. However, before Peter can reach Libby, Libby is sent to a group home after her aunt is arrested for dealing drugs. As Peter searches for her, Libby struggles to survive among the juvenile delinquents that make up her new home. Finally Libby can take no more and she runs away, finding herself at the mercy of kind people in a small town in Georgia.

Six months pass as Peter continues to search for Libby and Libby fights to win her independence from the state of Wisconsin. Just as things appear to be coming together for Libby, she discovers that Peter has launched a national campaign to find her. Libby does what she can to reunite with Peter, accepting free tickets to one of his concerts as part of his campaign. When Libby attends the concert, Peter's brother takes her on stage and they are reunited in front of thousands of fans.

Peter and Libby spend a glorious twenty-four hours together, but Libby soon realizes that their opposing responsibilities will make it impossible for them to have a relationship. Libby tells this to Peter, but he refuses to accept it. Two weeks later, Peter arrives in Libby's tiny adopted town and sweeps her off her feet, convincing her that they can make their relationship work if they try hard enough.