Thursday, November 16, 2017

Disturbing His Peace (The Academy #3) by Tessa Bailey

Title: Disturbing His Peace (The Academy #3)
Author: Tessa Bailey
Publication Date: April 24th, 2018
Publisher: Avon

Blurb:

Danika Silva can’t stand Lt. Greer Burns. Her roommate’s older brother may be sexy as hell, but he’s also a cold, unfeeling robot. She just wants to graduate and forget about her scowling superior. But when a dangerous mistake lands Danika on probation—under Greer’s watch—she’s forced to interact with the big, hulking jerk. Call him daily to check in? Done. Ride shotgun in his cruiser every night? Done. Try not to climb into his giant, muscular lap and kiss him? Umm…

Greer doesn’t let anything—or anyone—distract him from the job. Except lately, all he can think about is Danika. He’s wanted the beautiful, cocky recruit since the moment he saw her. But she’s reckless and unpredictable, and Greer is painfully aware of what can happen when an officer doesn’t follow the rules. Probation seemed like a good idea, but now Danika’s scent is in his car and he’s replayed her voicemails twenty times. Christ, he’s a goner.

Danika’s melting Greer’s stone-cold exterior one ride-along at a time. Being together could have serious consequences… but breaking a few rules never hurt anybody, right?

Review:  I guess it’s no surprise that after gushing profusely about the first two books in the Academy series that I would be about to do the same thing for the third installment, Disturbing His Peace.  Do authors know which two characters in a series are the most anticipated?  Do they do this on purpose?  Could they be that cruel?

Yes, they could.

Tessa Bailey is the cruelest of them all, putting off the romantic relationship between Danika and Greer until her final book, making us all suffer through those little scenes in the first two novels until we were foaming at the mouth for Greer to finally get what was coming to him with that tight butt and domineering personality.  I was beyond ready to read about Danika rocking his world and turning his well-ordered life upside down and I was not the least bit disappointed by this novel.

One word: Spanking.

Should I end my review there?  I won’t.  But I could and you’d probably get the gist of my excitement and hopefully hop right on your computer and pre-order Disturbing His Peace at your earliest convenience.  For those of you who might take a little more time to convince, feel free to continue reading.

I love, love, love strong women. This should be obvious from the type of novels I read, but if it wasn’t… there it is.  Danika is top of her class at the police academy, strong-willed, dependable, and she could probably wrestle most men and win, which I think is incredibly impressive.  She’s an awesome example of the sort of female we should all strive to be: cool, calm, and confident… and funny.  Really, really funny.

Greer is in my top five of favorite male characters ever.  Of course that top five list is really like forty guys, but top forty doesn’t sound nearly as impressive.  There’s a lot of ties on the list.  Twelve guys tied just for first place!  But man, Greer is something else.  He’s rigid and a perfectionist and there’s something about him that makes you want to mess up all the papers on his desk and watch him go mad.

He has a place for everything and everything is in its place.  Except Danika.  She won’t fit into the little box he has set out for her and that frustrates him to no end until finally the frustration builds into an explosion of passion and lust.  It’s writing at its finest.  It’s perfection, just like Greer.  I read and reread portions of this novel until I thought my head was going to boil from the heat.

I loved watching Greer battle his personal demons and seeing such a strong man learn to accept support from Danika.  There’s something immensely attractive about a man discovering how to ask for help.  He was such a treat to experience and I implore everyone reading this review to put this novel on their To Read shelf.  And while you’re waiting, get to reading Indecent Exposure and Disorderly Conduct.  (Click the links to experience those wonderfully obsessive reviews).


I am devastated that this series has come to its end with Disturbing His Peace.  But with Tessa Bailey pumping out books like nobody’s business I know I won’t have to be upset for very long.  Soon another novel will come and take the place of Most Loved on my bookshelf, but this one will always hold a special place in my heart.  Get to pre-ordering.  Right now!

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Head Coach (Hellion's Angels #2) by Lia Riley

Title: Head Coach (Hellion’s Angels #2)
Author: Lia Riley
Publication Date: November 21, 2017
Publisher: HarperCollins

My best friend is currently living with us which can make reading and reviewing a little more difficult than usual because she’s feeding my Netflix addiction.  We’ve watching Back Off, Haters, Grey’s Anatomy, Mindhunter, and Stranger Things since she’s arrived here.  (Obviously we haven’t gotten all the way through Grey’s).

Still, when I sat down to write this review she told me she would write it for me, despite not having read Head Coach by Lia Riley.  Here are her words on the novel: “This book was saucy with a side of sexy.  Much sex was had.  It was a very fun time for everyone involved.”  Is she wrong?  No, surprisingly.  There was much sex and Neve and Tor’s relationship was very saucy with a side of sexy.

I loved the build-up of the love-hate relationship between Neve, a sports reporter, and Tor Gunnar, the stoic head coach of the Hellion’s.  She’s the biggest thorn in his side, always gunning for the best story and asking the questions Tor hopes that no one asks.  He has reason not to want to be around her, but for some reason he finds himself drawn to her strength, her tenacity, and her beauty.

Neve throws everything she has into her work.  She isn’t looking to complicate her life with a relationship right now, especially not one with the moody Tor Gunnar whose personality is less than stellar and who clearly despises her.  Certainly not him.  It doesn’t matter that he makes her gut clench and her chest ache just from being close to her.

There’s more than a spark between these two.  There’s an explosion.  A forbidden splash of heat across the pages.  Their relationship was really wonderfully done.  I thought there could have been a little more drama, but that’s a subjective opinion obviously.  I’d love it if my characters had off-the-wall explosions every other page, but that’s not realistic and it can get a little old.  There’s probably just enough drama in here to keep the average reader more than pleased.

I like Lia Riley’s habit of putting strong women with strong men, but adding just a little bit of weakness between them to draw you in.  I want to see them both struggling with past demons, working through their damage to come out stronger together and that’s how her characters work.  Her novels are easy, enjoyable reads that have you reading so quickly that you don’t even realize you’re half way to the end until it’s over.  The perfect read for a Sunday afternoon.

Head Coach comes out November 21st, but if you’re looking for something to read before then you can always check out Mister Hockey, her first novel in the Hellion’s Angel series, featuring Neve’s sister Breezy and the hot hockey captain, Jed West.  My review of Mister Hockey can be found here.