Slow burn. Friends to lovers. Forced Proximity. All of these describe Sara Ney’s newest romance, The Player Hater. The first book of her Accidentally in Love series, this newest book tells the story of Juliet and Davis. These two meet when their best friends who happen to be dating each other invite them on a weekend away, hoping to build relationships within the group. Juliet is already suspicious of her friend, Mia’s boyfriend, Thad. A professional football player with a social media filled with pictures of him with models, Juliet is concerned about their relationship, so she agrees to go. Thinking they will be staying in a tropical destination, she is ill-prepared for a weekend of camping. When Thad’s best friend, Davis, shows up (he’s a former football player turned finance guy), she realizes quickly that they are slated to stay together in a small trailer. Just as she judges Thad, she begins her time with Davis judging him for his good looks and past occupation. As their weekend progresses, however, she realizes quickly that Davis, while incredibly handsome, is a bit of a beta-man. Davis wants to find a woman to marry and have children. He works hard, cares for his sister and niece, and he wants a life filled with family. He is also incredibly frightened by bears, and one night, he asks to sleep with Juliet to feel safe from some noises outside of their trailer. This leads to a make-out and heavy petting session. The next day, however, Davis is gone, and Juliet thinks she won’t see him again, even though she hopes for it. She realizes that Thad and Davis are nothing compared to her first impression.
This is the lesson of The Player Hater: that you cannot judge someone by their outer beauty and their accomplishments. Sara Ney makes her message clear from the start, weaving it throughout her story. Unfortunately, that is the best of this newest book. If you’re used to Sara Ney’s jocks and douchebags and their “alpha-ness,” her Davis is not that. For me, both Juliet and Davis are one-note in their characterization. In fact, the entire chronology of the story feels this way. When you finish this book, I challenge you to say you were satiated by their story because I didn’t feel as though the story was complete for them. Ney takes her time in developing their chemistry, and there is a moment midway through when you doubt they will ever be more than acquaintances. A well-placed make-out session and you begin to see them as a couple. What happens after does nothing to build that chemistry, though. In fact, Ney quickens the pace of their coupling, and it seems confusing.
Here’s the thing: I want to like everything that Sara Ney writes. Her Douchebag series as well as her jocks have been some of my favorite rom-coms, but The Player Hater simply didn’t hit for me. I will read The Mrs. Degree, the second book of the series, to see if there is more to the story, but overall, I was wildly disappointed in her newest book.
The Mastermind, a standalone novella set in the Rivers Wilde World from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Dylan Allen and 1,001 Dark Nights is now available!
He lives under a golden spotlight. I’m shackled to a past that must stay hidden.
Omar Solomon is the king of the comeback. Ten years ago his career as a star athlete ended in injury and scandal. He may have traded in his cleats for Gucci loafers, but he’s been as victorious in the boardroom as he was on the pitch.
He returns to London, wealthy, influential, and powerful beyond measure. And he spends every weekend in the pub where I work. A law student with a night job and a dark past, I’m hardly the type of woman a man like him would notice.
Or so I thought.
When he offers me a no-strings-attached affair, I forget all the reasons I should say no. He’s straight out of my dreams— with a body and a mouth made for sinning.
Our passion turns my gray existence into a vibrant, colorful life. But it has an expiration date.
When his time in London is over, we will be, too. And it will be for the best. Because he can never find out who I really am.
But my Mastermind has set his sights on a new goal: me. And this time he’s playing for keeps.
**Every 1,001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.**
He cuts through the crowd of people in glamorous garb, crystal cut tumblers or fragile flutes in their wildly gesticulating hands. Yet they seem to move just as he wants them to so that he doesn’t need to turn sideways to accommodate his broad shoulders or taper his remarkably long strides. Long strides that are bringing him straight toward me. I barely have time to spin around before he’s right behind me. “Scotch on the rocks,” he tells the bartender when he slides onto the empty barstool next to me. I disguise my gasp as a cough, place a hand on the bar to steady myself, and stare straight ahead. The young man nods and grabs a glass. “We’ve got Macallan 18 for the masses, but I’ve got a bottle of Craigelachhie that might be more to your taste.” “I don’t really care, whichever,” he responds in a voice that’s not rude but doesn’t match the adoration in the server’s. Undeterred, the young man leans forward across the bar and lowers his voice to a loud whisper. “I know you’ve been gone a while, but I’m still a huge fan, Mastermind. Can I snap a selfie?” To my surprise, Omar doesn’t rebuff the bartender. “Only if you promise you won’t post it for a bit. No one knows I’m in London yet, and I’d like to keep it that way for just a few more weeks.” I watched an interview from very early on in his career when he was asked about his dislike of public availabilities. He explained that he understood it was part of the job. So he did it. “I play for the love of the game, and if I had my way, I wouldn’t do any interviews at all. I don’t even know why you want to interview me. I say everything I need to out on that pitch. I get it. I had sports heroes, too. But when they fall off the pedestals you put them on, you swoop in and eat them alive.” That interview would prove prescient when he left Chelsea years later. The press tore him to shreds for sitting out an entire season, leaving as soon as he became a free agent and basically abandoning London, his fans, and his team. He still doesn’t talk to the press regularly, but he doesn’t leave their accusations unanswered. He became his own press secretary and posted videos on social media pushing back on false headlines. And when they lost interest, he started sharing his private pictures. And sued newspapers that used his images without his permission. I watch the exchange between him and the bartender out of the corner of my eye and am giddy that the wickedly sweet dimple is as deep as I’d imagined. And God, I want to lick it. One day, my pretty. This has to be a sign. He’s so far out of my league, I shouldn’t be able to see him. And at the pub, I wouldn’t dare approach him. But here I am, close enough to see and touch. And I look good tonight. I’m glad I took special care to send my most fashionable friend off. The bustier I invested in makes my otherwise unimpressively small breasts look their very best in the very low neckline of my scarlet red minidress. It’s hugging every inch of a body that even CrossFit and a vegan diet couldn’t kill the curves on. The lighting in this ballroom sets off the healthy glow of my bare legs, shoulders, décolletage, and back that is courtesy of my homemade sugar scrub. It leaves me smelling like a tropical garden at midnight. Liquid courage and my heels give me height and confidence that override my nerves, and I shoot my shot. “Do you want to dance?” I ask loudly so there’s no way he won’t hear me. Those wolf eyes slant down to look at me, unblinking, the smile he’d given the bartender long gone. There’s no flicker of recognition, but there’s no mistaking the interest as he stares at me. He’s never done more than look past me at the pub, so I don’t know why I’m disappointed that he doesn’t recognize me. “Excuse me? I didn’t hear you,” he says when he finally speaks. His voice. It’s deep, smooth—no gravel but a lot of bass. And is there anything sexier than an American accent? I smile as widely as I can manage, the punters at the Effra call it my traffic stopping smile. Then I break my golden rule and repeat myself. “Would you like to dance?” He doesn’t return my smile, and when he turns to look at the dance floor, that scowl reappears. “I don’t dance,” he comments without looking back at me. I follow his gaze. “Childhood trauma on the dance floor?” I ask with a teasing grin. His lips tug up a little, but he doesn’t smile. “No. General observation. People look ridiculous when they dance.” I can’t deny that. But I shake my head in disagreement. “They’re having fun, not putting on a show.” He shrugs. “That’s not my idea of fun. Like I said, I don’t dance.” He reaches into his jacket pocket, pulls out his phone, and glances at it. He gives me a quick, stiff smile. “I’m sorry, but I have to take this call.” He doesn’t sound sorry at all and doesn’t wait for me to respond before he walks off. “Ouch,” the bartender drawls, and I want to glare at him and tell him I didn’t ask for his feedback. But he’s so right I can’t be mad. “I know,” I groan. “For what it’s worth, if I wasn’t working I wouldn’t have said no.” He grins, and I wish I was attracted to him instead of Omar. I smile gratefully and take the refill he hands me. But a few sips of it while swaying by myself to a song I’ve never heard before only makes me feel worse. I put my glass on the tray of a passing server and head to the coat check to collect my things.
About Dylan Allen Dylan Allen is a Texas girl with a serious case of wanderlust. A self-proclaimed happily ever junkie, she loves creating stories where her characters chase their own happy endings. When she isn’t writing or reading, eating or cooking, she and her family are planning their next adventure.
“Tijan delivers on the fun, edge, and angst. Her books never fail to please!”―Kylie Scott, New York Times bestseller
The Damaged, the next unputdownable romantic suspense in The Insiders Series from New York Times bestselling author Tijan, is now available!
No longer an outsider, Bailey has a family and love that she never could’ve imagined.
Used to living in the shadows, Kash will now do anything to protect his family and his woman.
They will take on the world together…
In the meantime, stunning motives, lies, and explosive secrets continue to unfold.
1. Quinn is in jail, awaiting trial.
2. Friends might actually be enemies.
3. And what is Calhoun plotting? More importantly, will Kash discover it before it’s too late?
Everything will come to a head as passion and danger ignite in The Damaged.
Excerpt
Swish, swish. The windshield wipers were busy at work this morning. It’d been raining since late the night before, and now there was just a whole dreary feel to the day. Dark and gloomy, matching my mood. It was perfect. Swish, swish. “Are you nervous, miss?” I wasn’t responding, because this isn’t how things were supposed to be. I wasn’t supposed to wake up in the middle of the night and find the bed empty. And I wasn’t supposed to have to be escorted by one of our guards down to the apartment building’s gym to find my boyfriend , the guy I loved, the guy who was so not a secret from the entire world anymore, pummeling a boxing bag so hard that his knuckles ripped open every night. It was not right that I had to stand on the side, waiting for him to fight through his haze before he noticed I was there, and then watch as blood dripped from his hands to the floor. But all of that was happening. Because three weeks after there’d been a kidnapping attempt on me, after he had saved me, everything was just, simply, not okay. To be more frank, everything was shit. And here I was. In the back of an SUV being driven by one of my two personal bodyguards, to a school that I used to daydream about attending, while my boyfriend, that guy I had come to love so much, was heading into his own personal nightmare. Fitz, my guard, clued in on my state and didn’t ask again, but his eyes were on me . He saw. He more than saw, and I knew I’d be getting a call from Kash about two minutes after the first chance Fitz had a moment to text his boss that I was not okay. Because I wasn’t. Today was the day all my dreams were supposed to come true. Instead, I was a week late going to my graduate program and I wanted to be anywhere except where I was going. And I had no say, because the world found out in a big way I was the daughter of Peter Francis, a tech legend that I’d grown up idolizing until I found out myself, this past summer, that he was also my father. And then there was my boyfriend, Kash Colello, whose grandfather was one of the richest men in the world, but that came with strings and dangerous alliances with the dark underground of the world. My boyfriend, with his inherited wealth, now that he had come out of the shadows to the world, and whose “coming out” was even bigger than mine because of his connections and his family, was now the ninth wealthiest man in the world. Life as Peter Francis’s daughter, life as Kash Colello’s girlfriend, was a whole lot different than life had been as Bailey Hayes. There were rules and expectations and lots and lots of people watching you. So no, I was not okay.
About Tijan Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She’s written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and the Broken and Screwed Series among others. She is currently writing a new series from north Minnesota where she lives with an English Cocker she adores.
Brutal Vows, an all-new intense stand-alone dark romance from international bestselling author J.T. Geissinger is coming June 1st and we have the stunning cover!
An Irish mobster with a brutal grudge. An Italian mafia princess with a dark secret.
J.T. Geissinger is a #1 internationally bestselling author of twenty-seven novels. Ranging from funny, feisty rom coms to intense, edgy suspense, her books have sold over five million copies and been translated into more than a dozen languages. She is a three-time nominee in both contemporary and paranormal romance for the RITA® Award, the highest distinction in romance fiction from the Romance Writers of America®. She is also a recipient of the Prism Award for Best First Book and the Golden Quill Award for Best Paranormal/Urban Fantasy. She’s a Southern California native currently living in Nevada with her husband and rescue kitty, Zoe.
“The fact that people underestimate me is my superpower. They never see me coming.”
I have decided that Karla Sorensen had it out for the Pierson sisters. LOL. First, in The Lie, she put Faith through her paces with the trouble-making Dominic. Thankfully, they found their happily ever after, and we read snippets of them in her newest story, The Plan. If you think her sister, Lydia, catches a break in her own story, well, you will be sadly mistaken. Thankfully, this reader ADORES grumpy, stubborn, “their own worst enemy” heroes like the hero of The Plan.
In The Lie, we find out that Lydia has been in an automobile accident. It has left her injured. In The Plan, we realize it has left her mentally and emotionally shaken as well. Struggling to find her place and re-enter society, her parents decide to hire her a driver/bodyguard, a former Washington Wolves player, Erik Wilder. Reticent about his hiring, Lydia ultimately agrees. She’s intrigued by him plus she needs to meet her responsibilities, so she allows it. Over time, Lydia finds herself drawn to the silent, sullen protection. Little by little, she tries to whittle into him, and over time, he becomes enamored with her. When a misstep threatens to rock any potential, Lydia almost gives up. However, Erik must ask her for a favor, and it may change everything.
There is so much that is always lovely about Karla Sorensen’s stories. For one, she has such impeccable pacing. I’ve mentioned this in other reviews, but I’m fairly certain I will continue to yell this from the rooftops. She knows how to build out the chemistry between her hero and heroine in such a way that you want to throw your Kindle at the wall sometimes. That’s definitely the case with Erik and Lydia. There may be a keen interest between her hero and heroine to start, but they are a slow-burn couple. And it should be so. Erik has solid emotional walls for days. If Lydia breaks them down too quickly, the story would lose its unction. It needs to happen as it does, and it’s brilliant as far as I’m concerned.
“You want a big, overwhelming wreck-your-world kind of love.”
Lydia is everything I love about a heroine. She isn’t perfect. She has anxieties that she must handle, and initially, she isn’t taking action in a way that allows her to live life abundantly. She hides behind schoolwork. Yet, this is still a move to improve. She is intelligent, she is insightful, and like her mother, she sees people, not just the ones who are important. She connects with everyone. She is spirited and lovely and the perfect mate for Erik.
Sadly, our hero, Erik, is a tough one. He needs a heroine such as Lydia, but he makes it so difficult on her. There were many times during this romance when I wish I had the superpower to reach through my Kindle and smack him upside the head. But again, this is Sorensen’s capacity to write characters that feel real, that make us feel and attach us to them. Once Erik’s secrets are revealed, it makes it easy to forgive his stubbornness, but he does make it difficult to love him. Thankfully, Lydia loves him for all of us.
I really don’t know how Karla Sorensen does it. Honestly, as I sit with her stories, books such as The Plan, as I’m reading her words, I wonder how she, time and again, writes stories that are relatable, reflective, and rich with story. I find myself actively considering her as a writer while I’m reading her books because she grabs at me, causing me to believe in her characters. Grumpy hero, sunshine heroine, slow-burn sultry romance? If this is your jam, then The Plan should be your next read. There isn’t even a question about it.
“He just needed…he needed to know that it was okay to let the walls down, even for a moment.”
Have you ever fake dated your bodyguard? I don’t recommend it.
Especially if he’s anything like Erik Wilder: former football player, world class know-it-all and unapologetic grump.
To be clear, I didn’t want a bodyguard (hence the fake dating idea). Most days, I can’t figure out why he wants the job either. We drive each other insane, probably because we’re as opposite as two people can be.
He’s suspicious, never talks about his past and has the comfort skills of a cactus. I’m a happily ever after kinda girl who knows exactly what she wants out of life.
Erik’s words might say that the lines have to stay firm between us, but those dark eyes of his? They tell another story when he looks at me.
He’s just as stubborn as I am, but when our fake dating plan starts to feel a lot more real, it’s only a matter of time before his professional walls come crashing down.
I just have to hope my heart doesn’t get buried in the rubble.
Well, let’s see … I’m a wife and a mother. If the things that I write bring a smile to someone’s face, then I’ve done my job.
I am obsessed with Outlander (both the books and the show). I’m almost exclusively a romance reader, which means some people will never consider me a literary snob.
If I could meet one historical figure, it would be Jane Austen. I received my Bachelors in Public Relations and worked in health care marketing before I had my babies.
I hate Twitter. I do it, but I hate it. Also, if you want to get on my good side, bring me wine and I’ll love you forever.
Andi Burns has revealed the cover for Uninhibited!
Releasing February 23, 2022
Uninhibited
I can’t be trusted with anyone’s heart, especially hers.
Whit
My first memory is of breaking my mom’s heart. Yea, people know me as the good-time guy, the guy with the jokes, the deejay who’s always up for a party. But underneath all of that, I’m the guy who lets people down wherever I go.
The one person who sees past all my bullshit is Lucy. She always has, since we were thirteen and she hated my guts. But I’ve never hated her. Lucy is my ideal in every way– gorgeous and funny and smart and takes no shit with an ass that’s the stuff of my dreams. Too bad she’s also my stepsister.
But don’t worry, ma. Nothing to see here. Afterall, Lucy can’t stand me, so when we go roadtripping together, nothing will happen, right?
Except it does. And neither one of us is ready for the fallout.
Uninhibited is a full-length novel with a fun-loving hero, a straightlaced, goal-oriented heroine, a Stepsister trope, and an HEA. It is the third inter-connected standalone in the Bainbridge University Series and it follows Uncovered and Unknown. They are all standalones, but for the best reader experience, they should be reader in order.
Cover Designer:Sarah Sentz of Enchanting Romance Designs
Andi Burns writes contemporary romance infused with humor, sass, and steam. She loves a happily-ever-after as much as her characters do, and she always reads the last page of a book first, just to make sure it all turns out okay. Andi lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two daughters. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, folding laundry, or daydreaming about her next hero and heroine.
Since Corinne Michaels’s story, The One for Me, Oliver has been a character sitting at the back of my mind. This good guy needed a story. When we meet him in Michaels’s most recent series, Willow Creek Valley, the promise of his story had been set on the horizon. With A Chance for Us settled on my Kindle, I dug in. What you find is a story that, at first glance, is a marriage of convenience for the jocular, beloved Parkerson. What you actually receive is a story about being someone’s first choice.
I would love to say that Oliver and Maren’s story bowled me over. There are distinct moments of sentimentality and emotion. There is clearly a connection between Oliver and Maren. Their marriage of convenience is done as a self-sacrifice to provide solace for Maren’s father. It’s well-meaning, and it isn’t trivial as some marriage of convenience romances can be. However, I struggled with the depth of chemistry between Oliver and Maren. With the first three books of this series, the pain left in the wake of the problems of those relationships slices you to your soul. You feel the depth of their love for each other with those couples, but I never felt this with Oliver and Maren. There is a definite evolution into friendship, but I kept waiting for a moment between the two that left me yearning for them to be together. And that moment was a blip instead of a volcano of emotion. I know Michaels struggled during this book, and I can’t help but wonder if this affected the development of her characters. This isn’t usually the case with her. It’s also possible that I had such high hopes for Oliver’s story as he was a person of interest for me after his broken engagement to Devney. For whatever reason, instead of A Chance for Us ending the Willow Creek Valley series strong, it leaves you wanting a bit more, I think. Even after reading the epilogue and bonus epilogue, the emotion wrought in the first three books simply didn’t match the emotional travails of the final book.
What I love, though, is the promise of more Corinne Michaels’s romances. This is an author who writes small-town romances that stick to your ribs, that tug at your heartstrings, and that whisper promises of a love bigger than your imagination. A Chance for Us has the shadows of this; it simply needed a bit more.
Nothing makes me happier than a new story, a new angle to Dylan Allen’s Rivers Wilde world. Her newest story, The Mastermind, introduces us to Omar, a recent transplant to the Houston area and a former footballer turned businessman intent on changing the local landscape with his investments. When the trauma and grief of his past send him back to England where he played football, he meets the gorgeous, independent, ambitious Jules, a local barrister in training. They connect at a mutual friends’ birthday party, but they had observed each other from afar at the local pub where Jules works part-time. Emboldened, Jules flirts with Omar who tries to keep her at a distance, but he is completely attracted to her, and his will breaks. Over the course of several weeks, these two fall deeply into love and lust, and fairly quickly, Jules moves into Omar’s home. Believing that their happily ever after is nigh, the ghosts of Jules past come to haunt her. When Omar finds out, will he still want her? Will Omar finally face his own family and return to Rivers Wilde to make amends? Will Jules and Omar ever find their happy ending?
The Mastermind is a multi-layered scintillating romance. As she does so beautifully, Allen crafts two characters with trauma as their foundation who need each other to mend those hurts. Omar and Jules are beautifully constructed from the start. They fall madly in love with each other. Their love is never really questioned throughout this story. Instead, another hallmark of Allen’s romances, steam, burns the pages between these two. There is a moment when you wonder if they can overcome their pasts, but Allen hardly makes her readers wait in reconciling them. Instead, she treats her readers to the development of more facets of her Rivers Wilde world. For me, beyond adoring Omar’s complete adoration of Jules and loving her strong womanhood, the most exciting part of The Mastermind is the introduction of new characters into this world. When Allen published The Daredevil, I was worried that we would have to leave this universe. However, this new book promises so much more. Two words: Noah. Royale.
If you’ve loved Dylan Allen’s Rivers Wilde world, then you will want The Mastermind. It’s clear that she has more planned for those of us who adore her characters and their stories in this universe. Even more, if you’re a fan of a hero who is seemingly a player, but falls madly for his heroine, and a heroine who has the strength of character to endure the challenges of life only to be loved fiercely through its unraveling, then you MUST read Allen’s newest book.
He’s the man of her dreams. But their love has an expiration date.
The Mastermind, a swoon-worthy standalone novella set in the Rivers Wilde World from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Dylan Allen and 1,001 Dark Nights is now available!
He lives under a golden spotlight. I’m shackled to a past that must stay hidden.
Omar Solomon is the king of the comeback. Ten years ago his career as a star athlete ended in injury and scandal. He may have traded in his cleats for Gucci loafers, but he’s been as victorious in the boardroom as he was on the pitch.
He returns to London, wealthy, influential, and powerful beyond measure. And he spends every weekend in the pub where I work. A law student with a night job and a dark past, I’m hardly the type of woman a man like him would notice.
Or so I thought.
When he offers me a no-strings-attached affair, I forget all the reasons I should say no. He’s straight out of my dreams— with a body and a mouth made for sinning.
Our passion turns my gray existence into a vibrant, colorful life. But it has an expiration date.
When his time in London is over, we will be, too. And it will be for the best. Because he can never find out who I really am.
But my Mastermind has set his sights on a new goal: me. And this time he’s playing for keeps.
**Every 1,001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.**
About Dylan Allen Dylan Allen is a Texas girl with a serious case of wanderlust. A self-proclaimed happily ever junkie, she loves creating stories where her characters chase their own happy endings. When she isn’t writing or reading, eating or cooking, she and her family are planning their next adventure.
Professor Romance 