ROUGH AND READY (Lightning #3) by Tracy Wolff-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 16, 2018

Tanner: I may be a baller, but I’ve always tried to do the right thing. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in charge of my four younger sisters for half my life, or because I understand how important it is to be a role model—something I learned from my grandfather, a Southern Baptist preacher who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. Either way, my pro football career makes it easier to give back, so when a local rec center needs help, I do my best to even the playing field. And not just because Elara Vance, the smoking hot ex-WNBA player who runs the place, has me looking to score off the field.

Elara: Before I got sidelined by an injury, my time on the court taught me that pro athletes are all flash and no substance. Sure, Tanner Green talks a good game and wields a big checkbook, but I’m not buying the whole good guy routine. Still, it’s hard to miss all the good he’s doing for my rec center and even harder to ignore the way one look from him makes me tremble in all the best ways. I just wish I knew if he’s for real. Something tells me a little one-on-one might be the only way to find out.

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REVIEW:  ROUGH AND READY is the third instalment in Tracy Wolff’s contemporary, adult LIGHTNING romance series focusing on the members of the professional football team the San Diego Lightning. This is former WNBA star Elara Vance, and football player Tanner Green’s story line. ROUGH AND READY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Tanner and Elara) ROUGH AND READY follows the building relationship between This is former WNBA star Elara Vance, and football player Tanner Green. Elara’s introduction to Tanner Green is all about the fire and tenacity of a woman scorned. Hoping to be the recipient of a large donation to her children’s youth centre, Elara sees red when all of the money is allocated and given to professional football player, and San Diego Lightning team member Tanner Green’s football foundation leaving Elara’s youth centre scrambling for funds. A locker room meltdown, a quick game of pick-me-up, and an explanation about the how and why finds Elara and Tanner fast becoming friends, that quickly turns into something else. What ensues is the building love and relationship between Tanner and Elara, and the potential fall out as Elara’s past becomes the elephant in the room that continues to pick at Tanner’s over-protective heart.

Elara Vance knows success but success that has come at a cost. From the loss of familiar support, to the dark secrets of her past, Elara comes across as a powerful feminist, a ball-buster that pushes at the fringes of psychotic b*tch. Elara is a prickly heroine whose confrontational attitude was irritating and made enjoyment difficult in the early chapters. Tanner Green is a successful and well respected professional player but he too, keeps secret, a past mired in heart break and loss. Meeting Elara Vance stirs something inside Tanner Green, long thought dead by our story line hero, something that has Tanner hoping for a happily ever after.

The relationship between Tanner and Elara begins acrimoniously when Elara verbally berates and attacks our story line hero. Believing Tanner was responsible for the loss of her funding, Elara becomes the aggressor in an effort to release her pent up anger, aggression that comes across impulsive and wrong. Throughout the story a softer but damaged side of Elara is revealed, a side she has kept hidden for close to four years. The $ex scenes are passionate and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

The colorful and strong secondary and supporting characters include quarterback Hunter Browning and his wife Emerson (Down and Dirty #1), and Shawn and Sage Wilson (Hot and Heavy #2); Tanner’s sister Tina, as well as a number of boys and girls, and staff members at Rebound, the centre run by Elara Vance.

ROUGH AND READY is a spirited story line. The premise is entertaining, engrossing and stimulating; the characters are confident and animated; the romance is impassioned and seductive.

I did have an issue with the book cover. Throughout the book Elara mentions Tanner’s ‘dreads’ a number of times, yet the cover model is bald, with a completely shaven head. I wish the publishers would realize that readers take the covers seriously, oft times comparing the image to the story line description.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Down and Dirty
Hot and Heavy
Rough and Ready

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy