Date of publication: 6 April 2015
Genre: Romance

Author's links:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 2 stars

Title: The Hooker and the Hermit

Author: L.H. Cosway and Penny Reid

Genre/Themes: Contemproary romance / Sports

Release Date: 5 February 2015

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My rating: 3 Stars

Synopsis

THE HERMIT

Annie Catrel, social media expert extraordinaire at Davidson & Croft Media and clandestine celebrity blogger, can make anyone shine in the court of public opinion. She is the Socialmedialite, anonymous creator of New York’s Finest and the internet’s darling. Virtual reality is Annie’s forte, but actual reality? Not so much.

THE HOOKER

Ronan Fitzpatrick, aka the best hooker the world of rugby has seen in decades, despises the media—social or otherwise. The press has spun a web of lies depicting him as rugby’s wild and reckless bad boy. Suspended from his team, Ronan has come to Manhattan to escape the drama, lay low, fly under the radar. Only, Ronan isn’t easy to overlook, and he can’t escape the notice of the Socialmedialite…

THE PLAN

When Ronan is sent to Davidson & Croft Media to reshape his public image, he never expects to cross paths with shy but beautiful Annie, nor does he expect his fierce attraction to her. He couldn’t be happier when her boss suggests pairing them together. 

What lengths will Annie take to keep her virtual identity concealed? And what happens when the hooker discovers who the hermit really is?

My review

This is a very difficult review to write since I absolutely love Penny Reid's books and I'm a fan of L. H. Cosway's stories as well, but this book really didn't work for me. I was naturally excited when I heard they are teaming together to write a romance, a sports one at that, which I particularly enjoy.

The story is told from a dual POV of Annie and Ronan and even though I loved some aspects of it, there were a few things that bothered me and left me conflicted.

I quite liked Annie initially - she just as adorable in her unique and strangely awkward ways as Ms Reid's heroines from the Knitting in the City series which I have come to love so much. Annie is a contradiction in terms - shy and closed-off in real life and open and outgoing in her online persona. I was intrigued by her quirks and was curious how her character will develop throughout the story. 

On the other hand, I didn't like Ronan very much initially. He came on to Annie too strong embodying all the stalkerish, alpha male traits so popular in romance lately and which I hate so much. His invasion of her personal space especially during their initial meetings was totally unacceptable for me.

Their relationship went through many ups and downs and throughout the story the characters changed quite a bit. I got the like Ronan more, his past and his character made him more sympathetic. Still, the whole BDSM element came out of the blue for me and it was not a nice surprise. Annie also changed a lot and even though her opening to the world and her acceptance of her feelings for Ronan were part of her growth as a character, I felt she just became a different person overnight. Her quirkiness and hermit-like style was completely gone in the second half of the book.

The story had the trademark wittiness and humour typical for Ms Reid's work but it didn't flow as smoothly as her other works. I found the story employed one too many romantic cliches and elements that I personally don't enjoy in my romances. That is not to say that it's an inherently bad story or badly written, on the contrary, I feel it's good book, just not the right one for me.

In short, I found this book quite different from Ms Reid's previous ones. For me it lacked the off-beat, out-of-the-ordinary quality of her other works and felt much too similar to most popular romances today. I think this story may work better for fnas of hot sexy sports romance with a touch of BDSM.

Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Title: Shooting for the Stars (Gravity #3)
Author: Sarina Bowen
Genre/Themes: Contemporary romance, Snowboading

Release Date: 16 March 2015

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For one night she had everything.

Pro snowboarder Stella Lazarus has always loved her brother's best friend. But the one time she tried to show him, she was shot down faster than you can say "competitor disqualified."

Until one blissful night in Tahoe, when Stella finally gets her man.

Or does she? In the morning, Stella and Bear wake up to horrible news. The sort that sends them racing back to Vermont, and straight into the arms of guilt and family obligations.

For all of Bryan “Bear” Barry’s life, three natural laws held true: his best friend Hank was destined for greatness, Hank’s sister Stella was off-limits, and Bear would always manage to negotiate the rocky paths that life threw his way. In the space of two days, that’s all shattered. 

Bear can't believe he slipped up so badly with Stella. Even if his best friend wasn’t lying broken in a hospital bed, it would still be unforgivable. Determined to do better, he devotes himself to his friend's recovery, denying himself the very person he loves. And the very thing he needs.


Why am I waiting for this? - I love Sarina Bowen's NA series, The Ivy Years. Book 1 in the Gravity series, Falling from the Sky (my review) was a nice sports romance and I'm interested in reading more of this series. Hank's sister sounds like a wonderfully unique heroine :) 

  

Synopsis

LUST FOR LIFE 

No matter how many times he’s left her in the past, Sybil Chalmers can’t ignore her feelings for the one man who stole her heart years ago. For countless nights, she has waited for him—for his kiss, his touch—and has longed for him to emerge from the shadows of his past. Only when she is in his arms does Sybil really feel alive…and finally, after all these years, that time is now. 

A DEADLY DESIRE 

He’s a man raised in a world of strict rules and unbreakable traditions and he’s always yearned to break free. But when a family tragedy lures him back home, he finds his one true passion has been there all along. With Sybil, he can explore his greatest potential—and allow her to discover a whole new level of ecstasy. But will a long-buried secret threaten to tear them apart? The only thing he knows for sure is that he will do anything to keep Sybil in his life…and keep her coming back for more…

The skin on the nape of his neck stood up.

His blood started to pump.

Slowly, he shifted his gaze and found himself staring across the neat, tidy little lawn.

There. That was the other thing he felt, a bizarre mix of need, longing and a twist in his heart that he couldn’t fully understand. It only happened around one person.

It wasn’t a surprise that she’d found him here.

Nor was it a surprise when his heart did that odd little twist.

She was the other person who managed to make him feel.

She made him want.

She made him need.

She made him regret, too.

Regret that he needed to push her away, regret that he couldn’t reach for her the way he wanted.

Regret that he wasn’t as strong as he should be, because even as he told himself to push her away, she started up the walk, the short skirt she wore barely clinging to her thighs and all he could think about was pulling her into his lap so that the skirt rode higher and he could cup her hips, pull her down to straddle him.

Vivid, overbright starbursts seemed to explode behind his eyes as that fantasy played out in his mind. It would be so easy. This was a secluded street and people had finally given up on the rubbernecking. Hardly anybody drove down the street to check out the burnt out wreck of the Frampton house. He could pull that stretchy bit of fabric up and be inside her in two minutes. It would be so easy to just lose himself to her.

She came to a halt in front of him while his blood pounded in slow, steady waves, while need clenched inside him like a fist.

Tell her to leave, common sense dictated. He’d already made the decision he needed to make.

But his head, his heart, his cock didn’t want to listen.

“Hey,” she said, her red-slicked lips curving up.

He stared at her mouth, thought about seeing that mouth open, seeing it glide down his chest.

Blinking, he managed, barely, to look away. “Hey back.”

This was yet another thing he lacked, the ability to talk, even to her, about anything that didn’t involve getting her naked and fucking her. Naked wasn’t even necessary as long as he could be inside her, lose himself to her, hide away from the demons that chased him.

But if he kept doing that, all those demons were going to start chasing her, too.

He wasn’t worth a whole hell of a lot and he didn’t care about a whole hell of a lot. But he’d burn this whole damn town to the ground before he let anything from his past start to haunt her. Every moment of peace he’d ever known had come from her. She mattered, more than anything or anybody else in his miserable world.

So instead of reaching for her, he stared out at the water, acutely aware as she sat down at his side. The journals sat at the other and he resisted the urge to grab them, disappear inside the house, hide them away from her. Hide them away, hide their secrets, as if that would make the truth any less than true.

“I don’t blame that kid,” Sybil said out of the blue.

Caught up in his own head, he barely understood what she meant. Looking over at her, he tracked her gaze and then, as a shiver of cold raced up his spine, he looked back over the water.

“Plenty of people don’t. Too bad he couldn’t find a way to trap his dad and uncle in there, too.”

Sybil murmured, “His uncle’s brains splattered all over the chief’s wall.”

“He went too easy.”

“True. But he is still gone.” Her gaze came over to him. “We fell asleep on you. What did you think about the movie?”

He frowned, tried to remember something about it. The boy. Wands. A rock. Then he shrugged. “What sort of name is Snape?”

Sybil laughed. “An interesting one. For an interesting character. Is he a good guy or a bad guy?”

The question caught him offguard. Then he looked down. “What does it matter?”

“Well, if you want to watch more of the series with us, it would be kind of fun for me to know now, what you think of him. He plays a big part in it.”

I’m not watching more. That was what he should tell her. Sighing, he looked away. Everything he should do, he couldn’t do. It had been like that for most of his life. He should found a better way to make people listen. He should have fought harder. He should have run sooner.

Then there were the things he shouldn’t have done. He shouldn’t have involved Lana. He shouldn’t have stayed in town. He shouldn’t have reached for Sybil that first night.

A hand reached up, touched his cheek. “You’re always so serious, baby.”

“Little reason to be otherwise.”

“True.” She moved then and he didn’t even have time to brace himself before she had settled herself in his lap, one leg planted on either side of his hips. Her hands came up, cupped his face. “How much longer until you decide to tell me?”

His hands moved of their own volition, fingers splayed wide across satiny soft thighs. “Tell you what, Sybil?”

“Don’t play games with me.” She dipped her head so that her hair fell around them like a curtain. “You’ve never done it before. Don’t start now.”

Noise clamored in the back of his head, all that chaos rising to a roar as he stared into those beautiful eyes. They slid between gold and green and right now, they all but glowed as she watched him.

Send her away. Tell her.

He slid his hands up, cupping her ass. And he groaned when he found her naked under that sorry excuse for a skirt. “I keep thinking it’s time to tell you to just go. To stay away from me.”

“That’s what I thought.” She rubbed her mouth against his. “Why don’t you do it, then? So I can ignore you and we can fight it out?”

The cool silk of her hair brushed against his cheek. He tangled one hand in it. “This isn’t a game anymore.”

“It never was.” She eased back, watching him with knowing eyes.

He curled his lip. “It was one thing when you were fucking some guy you thought was an Amish builder. It’s another thing when it’s me, possible murder suspect, sick degenerate. It’s just a matter of time before the cops decide to start pulling me, demanding answers about what happened the night I disappeared. Just a matter of time before everything comes out in the open. When nobody knew—”

She lifted a hand and pressed her finger to his lips.

“I always knew.”

Check out the previous books in the series!

DEEPER THAN NEED, Book 1                 SWEETER THAN SIN, Book 2

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About Shiloh Walker: 

Shiloh Walker is an award-winning writer…yes, really! She’s also a mom, a wife, a reader and she pretends to be an amateur photographer. She published her first book in 2003. Her newest series, Secrets and Shadows, launched in April 2014. Look for the newest book Deeper than Need, to be followed by Sweeter than Sin and Darker than Desire. She writes romantic suspense, contemporary and paranormal romance, and urban fantasy under the name J.C. Daniels.         

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February, despite being the shortest month, is always the hardest for me emotionally and physically to some extend. I'm tired of the cold and snow and winter depression and by the end of it I'm desperate for spring, sunshine and new things. Despite some lows, it was a good month in terms of the books I read.

Just like the previous month, in February I also had two Recommended books and 2 Honourable mentions.

Genre/Themes: Contemporary romance, France, roses

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Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / iTunes / Kobo

I love Ms Florand's Amour et Chocolat series and this book is the first in a new spin-off series, set in France and telling the stories of a family making rose oil. It\s the perfect fairy tale romance 

while keeping things real and easy to relate too. The writing is sensual and rich 

and there is this highly entertaining play with popular romantic tropes.