LUCAS (Cold Fury Hockey #8) by Sawyer Bennett-Review and Book tour

LUCAS
Cold Fury Hockey #8
by Sawyer Bennett
Genre: adult, contemporary, erotic, romance
Release Date: September 19, 2017

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 19, 2017

The Carolina Cold Fury hockey team is stacked with hotshots. But when a new player joins their ranks, he learns that even superstars can’t go it alone when it comes to love.

Lucas Fournier is only serious about one thing: hockey. The league’s fun-loving charmer, Luc is always up for a good prank or a great lay, and he has no intention of settling down. But being traded to the Carolina Cold Fury—and to play alongside his big brother, Max—is no joke. With another title in sight, the last thing Luc wants is to let his new teammates down. To succeed, Luc will need to keep his head in the game and the most . . . er, demanding member of his anatomy in check. But when temptation hits, Luc hits back harder.

Museum curator Stephanie Frazier has always put business before pleasure, which just about explains her nonexistent sex life. But when Stephanie meets Luc at a champagne-fueled gala, she finds herself flirting like crazy—and going home with the uninhibited athlete. For one night, she learns what passion is all about. She just never counted on the little surprise Luc leaves behind. And that’s when things really start to get . . . interesting.

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REVIEW: LUCAS is the eighth installment in Sawyer Bennett’s contemporary, adult COLD FURY HOCKEY erotic, romance series focusing on the men and women of the Carolina Cold Fury professional hockey team. This is defenseman Lucas Fournier, and museum curator Stephanie Frazier’s story line. LUCAS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Lucas is Max Fournier’s (MAX) younger brother.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Luc and Stephanie) LUCAS follows the building relationship between the Carolina Cold Fury’s latest player acquisition Lucas Fournier, and museum curator Stephanie Frazier. Having met at a local fund raising gala Lucas finds himself up close and personal with the woman in charge. Enter Stephanie Frazier, museum curator and the woman with whom Lucas will fall in love. A one-night stand with Stephanie will change Lucas Fournier’s future-a future he is hoping to convince Stephanie to come along for the ride.

Stephanie struggles with memories from the past-a past shrouded in parental emotional and physical neglect that has shaped our heroine’s outlook with low self esteem and the inability to trust. Lucas is a man determined to bring Stephanie out of her shell but Stephanie’s past has done too much damage to be overcome by the seduction of Lucas Fournier.

The relationship between Stephanie and Lucas is one of immediate attraction but an attraction that is tempered by Stephanie’s news and Lucas’s battle for the Stanley Cup. Lucas makes every attempt to bring Stephanie into his life but our heroine battles too many demons. Stephanie’s inability to move on from the past is frustrating-sometimes growing up means taking responsibility for the present and the future-not wallowing in what was or what could have been. The $ex scenes are intimate and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

Several of the previous story line characters including Max and his fiancée Jules, and Luc’s parents Marilyn and Laurence Fournier play secondary and supporting roles. We are re-introduced to Max and Lucas’s younger sister Simone, and Luc’s teammate/roommate Van Turner. Simone and Van’s story line is next.

LUCAS is a heartbreaking and emotional story line as one woman struggles with her past, and the man who is willing to push her to accept everything he has to offer. Both of the leading characters have issues with maturity including the push and pull, yin and yang of a relationship that was never meant to go beyond a one-night stand. Stephanie’s independence is hampered by her stubbornness, thick walls, and inability to let go of the past. The premise is engaging; the romance is edgy but I struggled with my lack of lack of concern for the story line heroine. I could completely understand Luc’s frustration with the emotional distance and attitude of the woman with whom he had fallen in love.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews

Alex
Garrett
Zack
Ryker
Hawke
Max
Roman
Lucas
Van (November 2018)

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Since the release of her debut contemporary romance novel, Off Sides, in January 2013, Sawyer Bennett has released more than 30 books and has been featured on both the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists on multiple occasions.

A reformed trial lawyer from North Carolina, Sawyer uses real life experience to create relatable, sexy stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From new adult to erotic contemporary romance, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone.

Sawyer likes her Bloody Marys strong, her martinis dirty, and her heroes a combination of the two. When not bringing fictional romance to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to a very active toddler, as well as full-time servant to two adorably naughty dogs. She believes in the good of others, and that a bad day can be cured with a great work-out, cake, or a combination of the two.

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