COEN (Pittsburgh Titans 4) by Sawyer Bennett -Review Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 27 2022

Coen Highsmith was a league star, but he lost more than his team the day the Pittsburgh Titans’ plane crashed. Can he be saved from his downward spiral of guilt and regret to become the man he once was?

I had it all—a successful hockey career, the respect and adoration of the fans, a rotation of beautiful women warming my bed, and a feeling of self-worth and contentment with the direction of my life. But that all changed the day the team plane went down, taking my only chance of redemption with it. Now I’m left with the daily reminder of all my failures and my inability to correct them.

My new teammates are tired of my attitude and following my suspension, I hole up in a mountain cabin to get away from all of it. The isolation is exactly what I need to get out of my own head, and I’m beginning to think I could be content in this quiet forever.

Tillie Marshall isn’t the type of woman who would usually catch my attention, yet she manages to do so for all the wrong reasons. I’m here for the peace and seclusion but the quirky artist is hell-bent on destroying that by cutting down the trees that separate our properties so she can open a pottery studio. If it’s a fight she wants, it’s a fight she’ll get. I have the money and the time and no issues bringing her down through the court system. While I see flashes of steely determination within her, I’ve found that being a jerk comes naturally these days and she won’t be hard to intimidate.

Unfortunately, that gorgeous and somewhat odd neighbor who has been causing me grief is creating another type of feeling within me. And once that spark is lit, Tillie displays a faith in me that for the first time since the crash I desperately want to believe. Now it’s time for me to step up and become the man—no, a better man than I once was.

••••••

REVIEW: COEN is the fourth instalment in Sawyer Bennett’s contemporary, adult PITTSBURGH TITANS, erotic, hockey romance series focusing on the NHL’s fictional Pittsburgh Titans. This is star player Coen Highsmith, and artist Tillie Marshall. COEN can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the series in order for back story.

SOME BACKGROUND: Several weeks earlier, a devastating plane crashed claimed the lives of the entire Pittsburgh Titans hockey team including coaches and staff. Rebuilding the team, owner Brienne Norcross, offered positions to one-time professional and semi-pro players, including our story line hero.

Told from dual first-person perspectives (Coen and Tillie) COEN follows in the wake of hockey star Coen Highsmith’s suspension from the NHL. Since the plane crash that killed his former team, Coen has struggled with survivors remorse and personal guilt, a struggle that was about to spiral his professional career. Taking his anger out on fellow players and officials, Coen finds himself sidelined as the team is about to head into the Stanley Cup playoffs. Determined to quit hockey, Coen buys a cabin in the woods, preferring to become a recluse, all by himself but Coen never expected to come face to face with his closest neighbor, a woman who wants to change the landscape to further her art. Enter Tilden ‘Tillie’ Marshall, and the woman with whom Coen will fall in love. What ensues is the building but acrimonious relationship between Tillie and Coen, and the potential fall-out as Coen must come to terms with the loss of his friends, and the remorse that often threatens to overwhelm.

Tillie Marshall knows loss first-hand but has battled all of her life to fit in and belong. Bullied since childhood, Tillie empathizes with her new neighbor, a man who is currently struggling to fit in where he doesn’t feel he belongs. Coen Highsmith wants to be left alone but his new neighbor is determined to take down the trees between their mutual cabins. Threatening a lawsuit , Coen must battle between head and heart when he begins to fall for his new found enemy.

The relationship between Coen and Tillie begins acrimoniously when Coen discovers Tillie has plans to remove several trees. In an effort to stop Tillie from changing the landscape Coen hires a lawyer to stop the woman with whom he is falling in love. Love is about to change our story line hero, love that breaks through the grief and sadness of a man who is unable to forgive himself. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including most of the previous story line couples and characters, as well as Tillie’s closest friends, and the requisite small town bullies and gossips.

COEN is a story of loss, grief, guilt and sorrow, forgiveness and moving forward. The premise is captivating; the romance is seductive; the characters are battered but starting to thrive.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews

Baden
Stone
Gage

Reviewed by Sandy

Copy supplied for review

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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