LEARNING CURVES

LEARNING CURVES          CATHRYN FOX

When he wins a sexy bet, billionaire Linc Blair can’t wait to get Lauren Neill naked. He’s never gone for her type in the past, and he’s pretty certain it has more to do with her buttoned-up hotness than the nagging sense that something is missing from his life. But when he gets a glimpse of the vulnerable woman beneath the conservative, yet oh-so-sexy clothes, it’s a game changer.
Lauren can’t believe she’s spending a few days with one of sexiest, and most annoying men she’s ever met. But she can’t deny the chemistry between them, and for once in her life she’s letting down her guard so she can explore a different side of herself. The side only Linc brings out in her.
Taking it slow, he unleashes her sexuality and it quickly occurs to him that what started out as a bet for him has become something more. With their weekend nearly over, and her ex showing interest in this new confident version of Lauren, Linc will have to risk it all if he wants to win the game of love.
MY REVIEW:
     Have you ever had a wanting so deep it made your body tremble?  Lauren Neill has but she couldn’t understand it.  You know it really made no sense.  Her last boyfriend dumped her for being boring in bed and uneventful in life. So how could she feel such strong feelings for Linc Blair.  To the point where she could not stop staring at him when he walked into a room?  He was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen in her life and she was intrigued by him.
     Her friend Kelli is Linc’s top regional sales manager, for Sport Source’s the business he owns.  Kelli and she were college roommates and both from New York.  Both of them landed in Miami hers being an accountant for the Miami Rays hockey team actually for the owner himself.  And since she worked for him all his office staff were give passes to sit in the skybox.  It .  was there that all this began on this crazy night.
     Ironically, Kelli’s boss, Linc, and Lauren’s boss, Michael are best friends.  In fact, Linc would go to the office to see, Michael Rock and he would ignore her to the point where she felt invisible.  There was something about Linc that she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.  As she couldn’t this night at the game.  When he ignored her she got angry and she couldn’t figure out why then it hit her.  It had nothing to do with him and everything to do with it making her feel how her ex made her feel.  Like a nobody and invisible.
     Tonight Linc surprised her by talking to her.  Not only that he makes a bet with her.  Really it was a blackmail because he heard her cheer for New York instead of the Rays so he teased he by saying he would tell Michael.  Anyway, the bet was if she loses he gets her for the weekend.  If he loses he gets her for the weekend.  He says it’s a win, win for him she said well not really it’s a win for her and under her breath says a loss for him.  So it was a sucker bet or did Linc win no matter what?  Her doubts left by her ex made her feel that no matter what Linc would come out the loser in the sexcapades he planned for her.  By the way she loses their bet and at 7pm Linc plans on picking her up.
     As she goes to leave she runs right into her ex because she is not paying attention because she can’t believe that Linc was serious about the weekend.  Her ex is there with his new fiancĂ© and proceeds to rub in her face their plans to marry at the end of the month.  Even going as far as having the bad taste to invite her to the wedding.  Telling her she can pair up at the singles table with his boring cousin Frank the banker who she would have a lot in common.  When out of nowhere Linc appears goes to kiss her temple and says, “Follow my lead.”  He pours on the act as if they have been dating since her breakup from her ex.  Then he kisses her deep throating her several times before he acknowledges there are even people around them.
     When he turns to the ex and extends his hand in greeting the ex’s mouth is hanging open.  Which excites Linc since he can’t stand him.  Lauren noticed that even though her ex’s fiancĂ© Linc’s usual type when introduced he barely shook her hand before turning back to her.  Saying that he will pick her up at seven and to wear the blue dress he loves so much. (The one her ex hated.) She says okay if he promises not to pop the buttons because it was hard to find the last time all over the kitchen.  He gave her one last kiss saying no promises.  They both left the two standing there.  So who’s the one boing and not good in bed?
     Be warned this is an erotica.  Although it is with two people who have been in love with each other.  It has taken a dare to wake up just how much they didn’t know they wanted each other.

     Very cute story that takes you through a fast courtship and a hot sizzling weekend.  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com.  Follow us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com.

SWEET RESOLVE

SWEET RESOLVE           JILL SANDERS

Amy Walker is steps away from her perfect job. The day she makes partner at her real estate firm will be the happiest of her life, second only to the day in junior high when her tormentor, Logan Miller, finally moved away. But fate has a warped sense of humor, because Logan is back. In her town, in her office, gunning for the same promotion. Worse, the man is sinfully hot. But that won’t keep Amy from exacting the revenge he richly deserves…
Logan had reasons for acting wild in his youth, but he still regrets the way he treated Amy. Especially once he’s sharing an office with the smart, self-controlled beauty. For one thing, she’s got a wicked sense of payback. For another, he’s realized there’s something he wants much more than a promotion. And that’s to melt the ice he helped form around her heart all those years ago and to prove that loving thine enemy can be the ultimate happy ending.
MY REVIEW:
     When you grow up in a dysfunctional home where your parents are broken and they try to drag you into their madness there are bound to be scars.  That is exactly what happened to Amy Walker.  One night at the age of eleven her mother comes into her room with tears running down her face.  She wakes Amy and Although Amy can’t understand all the things she’s saying she does understand the word “divorce.”
     As her mother’s talking she is packing up all of Amy’s things.  Half asleep all Amy can do is ask what she is doing.  Amy started to panic because this would mean she would have to move away from her best friend Kristen.  Which would be wonderful her in that she would get to leave her tormenting bully that has been after her since kindergarten, Logan Miller.  She would hate to leave Kristen so she just couldn’t do that.  When finally, her father comes into her room and takes her mother by the arm and takes her out of the room telling Amy it will be okay and to go back to sleep.
     For Amy it was never the ever the same.  She never was able to unpack for fear her mother was going to come in and really say they were moving.  A month after that episode her father moved into an apartment in town.  Her bully who she hated with a passion and more than life itself, Logan, stepped up his campaign to torment her.  Once he found out my parents divorced he used that to torment her.  Which crushed her beyond anything he had done before.  A way to get to the heart of the matter where it would hurt the most her soul.  One of the best days of her life is when in junior high she arrived at school and she found out he had moved.
     Now 14 years later Amy is a whole new person.  In school her name had been Amelia Craig but she needed to feel more empowered so she changed it to Amy Walker.  She went to college and now she is a successful realtor at Rocky Mountain Realty owned by Gary Bortolo.  Where she has her eye on becoming RMR’s first partner.  Which she stands a good chance at since business has increased five-fold in four years since she has been there thanks to her.  So her confidence is high.
     Until Gary introduces a new handsome guy that showed up late to her presentation.  It turns out it’s Gary’s nephew Logan Miller.  Yup!  You got it her own personal bully.  She plays it off like she doesn’t know him and he does the same.  She’s thinking it may be because of her name change but she’s not sure.  Or he is after the partnership and is just gaming her.  She says, “Hell No!”
     See how these two work together.  See what happens when Amy finds out he has to share her office.  Not only that she has to show hi the ropes for the next month.  But when Logan’s secrets are revealed can she forgive him?  Can he see past her anger? The characters are well thought out and fun to read as they make their past come to life and make their paybacks fun to read.  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com.

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FOR THE WIN

FOR THE WIN            SARA RIDER

What happens when you fall for your biggest competition? Sara Rider scores with this charming romance about soccer stars battling their tough opponents and playing the field of love.

Lainey Lukas has sacrificed everything—sleep, family, carbs, a life—to earn her spot as the top player and captain of the Seattle Falcons women’s soccer team. She’s determined to lead her team to a national championship and finally earn the sport the respect it deserves—and nothing will throw her off her game. When Lainey’s hero Gabe Havelak, star of the Seattle Surge, crashes her team’s first press conference—making the Falcons look like a joke to the local media and humiliating Lainey in the process—she’s hell-bent on revenge.

Charming, confident Gabe is practically a god to Seattle soccer fans, but he doesn’t mind a little friendly competition from tough-as-nails Lainey, with her top-notch athletic skills, her mile-long legs, and her girl-next-door freckles. But when he learns the Falcons are booting the Surge from their coveted practice space to the notoriously cursed Cricket Field, those warm feelings give way to crippling superstition. With his contract up for renewal and his thirty-fourth birthday just weeks away, Gabe will risk anything to protect his position with the Surge.

The rivals agree to settle their differences in a Battle of the Sexes competition—a test of skills, fitness, and willpower. At first the situation seems win-win: Gabe gets the chance to earn back the Surge’s practice space, and Lainey’s team will finally get some much-deserved media attention. But as the friction between them becomes hot enough to spark and smolder, Lainey and Gabe are entering new territory—and with both of their careers on the line, love might just be the toughest opponent of all.
 

MY REVIEW:
     Lainey Lukas was a woman with one goal in life and no one and nothing would get in her way of achieving it.  You see she is a soccer player with the AWSL and although as a woman who gets paid way less than man playing at her level in the same sport.  Yet she does it because she loves the sport that much.  Even though she had already technically gone to the World Cup she was still training and playing to go again with this new team The Falcons, in Seattle.  You see the last time she had been so badly injured in the last play of the game that she missed out on the ceremonies and never even got to hold the actual World Cup.
     So her mission now is to get her team to the World Cup.  With her being the captain she would set the bar.  The only problem is the higher ups wanted to do press conferences and such.  And she is not what you would call a people person.  She never really had friends or a family for that matter.  No she had one she just never really lived with them in order to play soccer she came out to live with her aunt and uncle.  What blows her mind the most is that not only are the press being brutal and condescending but her soccer idol showed up and is making comments she can hear and is taking over her press conference.  Plus, the female newscaster keeps going to Gabe Havelak like this is his press conference and not hers.
      This only makes her more nervous and tongue tied.  To where she sees red.  When that happens she tends to retreat into her head more and when she does speak you never know what will come out or how.  Not good when being interviewed.  The next thing you know there is a tug of war going on and a war of the sexes to be the team not to have to practice on the Cricket Field because of the bad juju there is there.  One thing leads to another and it goes to the network and it is official they are going national with this war. 
     Lainey used to have posters up in her room of Gabe he has been her idol for years in the soccer world up the with Pele.  Not today though all she feels is that he has mocked her.  She does not like that feeling at all.  If the rags are correct about him he thinks that his sexy smile will endear him to her and is does in all the wrong places for this event but not what needs to be happening right now or anytime for that matter she will put it on her bucket list.  (For things she wants to do after she wins the World Cup for the second time.)  It’s when he says that she should go with his lead that gets her as if she needs his help.  That really gets her goat and that is what gets them in even bigger trouble because she just talks off the top of her head. 
     You see Gabe is a secret admirer of Lainey’s also.  But he can’t let on because inside him he has a real fear of what it would mean to practice at the Cricket Field.  It is just the way he has grown up.  What or who will it take to get him to get out of that way of thinking?  As far as Lainey she has been so dedicated to her sport she has no time to live and one of the things on her bucket list is get a library card.  Something most of us takes for granted but she can’t find the time to do because she spends her every waking moment working at her craft.  She’s good but who or what can make her see what she is missing and who?
    Very cute story about a young woman who was always made to feel made to feel different and not equal to a man.  And her fight to make it in a man’s game and to help women make the cross over.  Yet, she comes to realize she has no friends, no life, and no man until she meets her idol Gabe.  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com.  Follow us at:

www.1rad-readerreviews.com.

Coming Friday 7PM-PST. Jen Doyle AUTHOR OF: CALLING IT! SEE EXCERPT NOW

Coming Friday
7PM-PST.
Jen Doyle

Author of:


After a near career-ending car accident and with paparazzi surrounding his penthouse, all-star catcher Nate Hawkins can only think of one place to go: home. But when he finds his old apartment occupied by a half-naked woman wielding a baseball bat, he’s not sure what to think…except that maybe his luck has finally changed for the better.
Librarian Dorie Donelli never thought she’d get to meet her fantasy man in person—much less while she’s wearing her bathrobe. To her surprise, her nearly naked run-in with Nate leads to more unclothed encounters. But Dorie is sure their fling is only temporary. As long as she remembers he’ll be gone once his life gets back on track, she won’t get hurt. In the meantime, she throws herself into enjoying their three weeks together before he has to report for spring training and go back to his old life.


CALLED UP, by Jen Doyle (Carina Press)
Available August 29, 2016
Available for preorder at: bit.ly/CalledUpAZ


There are two things Max “Deke” Deacon can always count on: his old high school teammates and Fitz Hawkins. But no matter how much Deke might secretly fantasize otherwise, a relationship with his best friend’s sister is off limits. Until one unexpectedly smoldering encounter has Deke and Fitz giving in to the feelings they’ve both been fighting for far too long.
Angelica “Fitz” Hawkins knows for a fact that it is not better to have loved and lost. After losing her parents, she’d rather lock up her heart and throw away the key than endure that kind of pain again. If that means giving up any hope of a lasting relationship, then so be it.
With Deke, Fitz finally feels like she's back in the land of the living. But she won’t risk another broken heart—even if it means saying good-bye to Deke for good. It’s up to Deke to convince her that the safest place she could ever be is right here with him. 


“Hey, Dorie,” she heard from above her. “Do you know where Fitz wants these bottles of water?”
Speak of the devil. Fitz brought her head up a little too suddenly, banging it on the underside of the table. “Ouch!” Her hand going to the back of her head, she came up frowning, and...
Oh, God, was he this gorgeous before? Had he always smelled amazing?
Doing everything she could to keep herself immune from his physical charms, she spun on her heel. “Back here.”
Very specifically not looking in Deke’s direction so that she didn’t give anything away, she forced herself to act exactly as she always did around him. Except she suddenly couldn’t quite remember how that was. Did she flirt with him? Did she flat-out ignore him? Did she generally just go around in a state of low-level irritation? Because right now she had absolutely no clue.
She had even less of a clue as she bent down to open up the lid to the cooler and he crouched down next to her, his head so close all he’d need to do was turn it slightly to the left and his mouth would be on her breast.
And was that…?
Oh, hell, no, her nipples had not just hardened. She slapped her arms over her chest.
Because they had. And Deke, with his superhero sex god extra sensory perception, had definitely noticed. He at least had the decency to look down at the ground as he grinned.
“It’s the cold,” Fitz snapped. “From the cooler.”
Pushing the bottles down into the ice, Deke just answered, “You’d be amazed at all the bits and pieces I can warm up with my tongue.”

                                                                      Back to You #1 Hard Crush HARD CRUSH                                  ...