Book Review: The Summer Games: Out of Bounds by RS Grey!

The Summer Games: Out of Bounds
Author: R.S. Grey
Publication Date: August 1, 2016
Published: CreateSpace
Source: Author

My Rating:

I despise Erik Winter.
He’s arrogant and cruel—a man I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy—and by some twisted turn of fate, he’s my new Olympic gymnastics coach.
I’ve had to contend with gruff coaches in the past, but Erik is far worse. His stern demeanor complements a body built for intimidation, and his reprimands come from a mouth so cunning, I know it could strip me of my defenses—if I let it.
Though each of us would love to be rid of the other forever, we are bound to each other by need and necessity. I’m his rising star, his best shot at proving himself to his critics. And without a coach, I have zero chance of winning gold in Rio.
The easiest way forward would be to wave a white flag and make peace with the man I’ll be sharing close quarters with for the foreseeable future, but he is intent on war.
Fine. By. Me.
If he pushes me, I’ll push back harder. If he wants to test me, to play with my head, I’ll show him just how many boundaries I’m willing to cross. Because I know it’s not a choice between winning or warring—not if you can have them both. At the end of it all, I plan on leaving Rio with gold around my neck and his icy heart in the palm of my hand.

With this year being a summer Olympic year, this book couldn’t have come at a better time. The final five blowing it out of the water in Rio, and this final five doing the same. Add some romance into the mix, I felt like I had a front row seat to the action.

Book Review: Forever Pucked by Helena Hunting! (@helenahunting)

Forever Pucked (Pucked #4)
Author: Helena Hunting
Publication Date: March 29, 2016
Published: Helena Hunting

My Rating:

Being engaged to Alex Waters, team captain and the highest paid NHL player in the league, is awesome. How could it not be?
In addition to being an amazing hockey player, he’s an incurable romantic with an XL heart, and an XXL hockey stick in his pants. And he knows how to use it. Incredibly, orgasmically well. Alex is the whole package and more. Literally. Like his package is insane. Total world record holder material.
So it makes complete sense that Violet Hall can’t wait to nail him down to the matrimonial mattress and become Mrs. Violet Waters.
It’s so romantic.
Violet is totally stoked to set a date.
Eventually. At some point. Likely before the next millennium. Or when Violet stops getting hives every time someone brings up the wedding, and their mothers stop colluding on stadium sized venues. Whichever comes first.

So Helena took the series back to the beginning couple, Alex and Violet. These two are my ultimate favorite couple. There are no filters in their conversations, no limits to the weirdness as a couple and just all around so much freaking love between them.

Release Day Blitz & Review! The Summer Games: Settling The Score by @AuthorRSGrey!

Settling The Score (The Summer Games #1)
Author: R.S. Grey
Publication Date: May 2, 2017
Published: CreateSpace
Source: Author via Southern Belle Promotions

My Rating:
 

As an Olympic rookie, Andie Foster has spent far more time in her cleats than between the sheets. For 21 years, her Friday nights have consisted of blocking shots rather than taking them. But now that she's landed in Rio, she's ready to see for herself if the rumors about the Olympic Village are true:
The athletes are all sex-crazed maniacs... The committee passes out condoms like candy... The games continue long after the medals have been handed out... As Andie walks the line between rumor and reality, she's forced into the path of Frederick Archibald, a decorated Olympic swimmer and owner of a sexy British accent--too bad he's unavailable in a way that "it's complicated" doesn't even begin to explain.
In other words: off limits.
It doesn't matter that he has abs that could bring peace to the Middle East and a smile that makes even the Queen blush; Andie fully intends on keeping her focus on the soccer field. But the Village is small. Suffocating. Everywhere Andie goes, Freddie happens to be there--shirtless, wet from the pool, and determined to show her a whole new meaning of the phrase "international affairs".

Amazon 

The summer Olympics is a glorious time, every four years when the best of the best from countries around the world converge to show their excellence in their give sport. It is also a time when we get to see attractive individuals plastered over our TVs for weeks during the sweltering summer. Swimmers, gymnasts, soccer players, and so on. It’s a wonderful time to be alive.

Book Review: Us by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy! (@SarinaBowen) (@ElleKennedy)

Us (Him #2)
Author(s): Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: March 8, 2016
Published:
Source: Author in exchange for honest review

My Rating:

Can your favorite hockey players finish their first season together undefeated?
Five months in, NHL forward Ryan Wesley is having a record-breaking rookie season. He's living his dream of playing pro hockey and coming home every night to the man he loves–Jamie Canning, his longtime best friend turned boyfriend. There's just one problem: the most important relationship of his life is one he needs to keep hidden, or else face a media storm that will eclipse his success on the ice.
Jamie loves Wes. He really, truly does. But hiding sucks. It's not the life Jamie envisioned for himself, and the strain of keeping their secret is taking its toll. It doesn't help that his new job isn't going as smoothly as he'd hoped, but he knows he can power through it as long as he has Wes. At least apartment 10B is their retreat, where they can always be themselves.
Or can they? When Wes's nosiest teammate moves in upstairs, the threads of their carefully woven lie begin to unravel. With the outside world determined to take its best shot at them, can Wes and Jamie develop major-league relationship skills on the fly?
Warning: contains sexual situations, a vibrating chair, long-distance sexytimes, and proof that hockey players look hot in any shade of green.

Hat Trick! In hockey, a hat trick is when a player scores three times in a game. Even though this is the follow up to Him, Us is a total score in my book. When I think of follow ups with the same main characters, I get nervous. I wonder if things are just going to be regurgitated or if it’s going to read stale. All of those fears were blown out the window with the return of Jamie and Wes.

Book Review: The Score by Elle Kennedy! (@ElleKennedy)

The Score (Off-Campus #3)
Author: Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: January 11, 2016
Published: Self-Published

My Rating:

He knows how to score, on and off the ice

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she's going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di-Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands.

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

There is probably a good and rational reason why I didn’t give this book 5 stars. Currently, I don’t remember that reason. ANYWAY….

The Score was a total hit! A touchdown, slam dunk, homerun, goal, and any other sports euphemism that I missed. This was filled with humor, sexy times, heart wrenching sadness and uplifting hope. I don’t know how Elle Kennedy manages to keep this series fresh but when I think it is going to be a repeat of the last, she changes it up.

Book Review: Pucked Over by Helena Hunting!

Pucked Over (Pucked #3)
Author: Helena Hunting
Publication Date: January 22, 2016
Published: Self-Published

My Rating:

Lily LeBlanc isn’t versed in the art of casual sex, but after seven years in an on-again, off-again relationship, she’s definitely willing to give it a shot. And who better to try it with than her best friend’s boyfriend’s best friend? What could possibly go wrong? Nothing at all.

NHL player, Randy Ballistic, lives up to his last name on the ice and in the bedroom. His best friend and teammate has recently given up the puck bunnies and traded them in for a real girlfriend. And she just happens to have a seriously feisty, extra-hot best friend on the rebound. Randy’s more than happy to be Lily’s spring board back into the dating scene.

Casual sex is only casual until those pesky things called emotions get involved. Once that happens, someone’s bound to gets pucked over.

PURCHASE

Amazon US | CA | UK | AU | iTunes | Nook | Kobo | Google Play

I was a little disappointed by this one. I was hoping for some more conversation between the characters. A lot of this book was what they were thinking. Though I could appreciate that, it was a little over kill and not what I was expecting from a Pucked book. 

Although the sex scenes were great as usual with this series. Though there wasn't enough dialogue for me, the things Randy and Lily would say to each other were scorching. 

Blog Tour: Sweet Soul by Tillie Cole - Review (@tillie_cole)

Sweet Soul (Sweet Home #4)
Author: Tillie Cole
Publication Date: December 15, 2015
Published: Self- Published

My Rating:

One shy lost soul.
One silent lonely heart.
One love to save them both.
Life has never been easy for twenty-year-old Levi Carillo. The youngest of the Carillo boys, Levi is nothing like his older brothers. He isn’t dark in looks or intimidating to everyone he meets. In fact, he’s quite the opposite. Haunted by a crippling shyness and the tragic events of his past, Levi spends his days with his head buried in his books, or training hard for his college football team. Too timid to talk to girls, Levi stays as far away as possible and completely on his own… until he saves the life of a troubled pretty blonde, a troubled pretty blonde that might just be the exception to his rule.
Elsie Hall is homeless. Or at least that’s all anyone ever sees. Everyday is a fight for survival on the cold streets of Seattle, everyday a struggle to find food and keep warm. Alone in life—a life that’s dangerous and cruel—her will to keep going is an ever-losing battle. In her world of silence, Elsie has given up hope that her life will contain anything but constant struggle and pain… until the beautiful boy she has severely wronged comes to her rescue at precisely the right time.
New Adult novel—contains sexual situations and mature topics. Suited for ages 18 and up.

Book Review: The Mistake by Elle Kennedy! (@ElleKennedy)

The Mistake (Off-Campus #2)
Author: Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: May 6, 2015
Published: Self Published

My Rating:

He’s a player in more ways than one…
College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants. For this hockey star, life is a parade of parties and hook-ups, but behind his killer grins and easygoing charm, he hides growing despair about the dead-end road he’ll be forced to walk after graduation. A sexy encounter with freshman Grace Ivers is just the distraction he needs, but when a thoughtless mistake pushes her away, Logan plans to spend his final year proving to her that he’s worth a second chance.
Now he’s going to need to up his game…
After a less than stellar freshman year, Grace is back at Briar University, older, wiser, and so over the arrogant hockey player she nearly handed her V-card to. She’s not a charity case, and she’s not the quiet butterfly she was when they first hooked up. If Logan expects her to roll over and beg like all his other puck bunnies, he can think again. He wants her back? He’ll have to work for it. This time around, she’ll be the one in the driver’s seat…and she plans on driving him wild.

Originally, I thought The Deal was going to be it for me. That it was the best hockey book that I had ever read in the world. Okay, maybe not, but I loved it so much. Then The Mistake happened. Usually when it comes to follow up books, they’re either hit or miss. There is no mistake that this was a hit!

Guest Book Review: Pucked Up by Helena Hunting! (@helenahunting)

Pucked Up (Pucked #2)
Author: Helena Hunting
Publication Date: October 25, 2015
Published: Ink and Cupcakes Inc
Reviewer: Elisa
Source: Author

My Rating:

Miller “Buck” Butterson has been banging his way through life ever since a puck to the face fixed his messed up front teeth, and he was drafted into the NHL during his first year of college. After five years of deflecting goals on the ice and scoring them with puck bunnies across the Continental US and parts of Canada, Miller is ready for a girlfriend. A real girlfriend of the non-bunny variety. One he takes on dates and doesn’t jump into bed with after five seconds of conversation.
Miller thinks he’s found that woman in his teammate’s sister. Except, unlike Alex Waters, center, team captain and all round nice guy—who happens to be dating his step-sister—Miller’s manwhore reputation is well earned, and not blown out of proportion by the media. Beyond that minor detail, Miller doesn’t know the first thing about having a girlfriend. But he’s determined to make it happen.

What he doesn’t take into account is the amount of time and effort relationships require, or that constantly letting bunnies take selfies with him to post all over social media isn’t going to win him any points in the boyfriend department. Miller learns—not so quickly—that if he wants to make Sunshine “Sunny” Waters fall for him, he going to have to do a whole lot more than show her his stick skills in the bedroom.