BAD REPUTATION (Bad Boys of Sports #1) by Nicole Edwards-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 3, 2017

Meet the most wanted players in sports . . . one ridiculously hot alpha male at a time.

Chase: With a nickname like “Sin,” it’s no wonder they call me the bad boy of hockey. Opponents curse me. Fans scream my name—in the arena and in other, much more private places. Penalties or not, I’m not afraid to dish out a little pain. But pleasure? That’s my weakness. And no one knows it better than my best friend, Cassie Desrosiers. I’d have to be blind not to notice her rocking body and teasing grin. So when she invites me along on a trip to Vegas, my curiosity isn’t the only thing that’s aroused.

Cassie: Chase Barrett is a world-class A-hole. As his best friend, I’m allowed to call him on his BS. Who else is going to do it? Certainly not the puck bunnies swooning at every flex of his biceps. Everyone knows that Chase is the love-’em-and-leave-’em type. There’s no such thing as commitment for the king of casual hookups. So why should I care? Maybe because all work and no play makes me a sexually frustrated girl. It’s time to put the hockey stud at my beck and call to good use . . . but after a week in Vegas with Chase, I might never want to go back to the real world.

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REVIEW: BAD REPUTATION is the first installment in Nicole Edwards’ contemporary, adult BAD BOYS OF SPORTS erotic, romance series. This is twenty seven year old, professional hockey player Chase Barrett, and twenty eight year old, IT Vice President Cassie Desrosiers’ story line.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Chase and Cassie) BAD REPUTATION follows the friends to lover’s relationship between the Texas Tornadoes bad boy Chase Barrett, and the vice president of app development for a well-known corporation that specializes in mobile devices and computers Cassie Desrosier. College best friends Cassie and Chase have been in denial about their mutual attraction to one another but an IT convention in Vegas, for Cassie’s company, finds our couple facing the fall out of what happened, and the repercussions to Cassie’s professional life. Cassie is scheduled to be the keynote speaker, and our heroine isn’t prepared for the fight of her life. What ensues is the friends to lovers relationship between Cassie and Chase, and the ramifications when their weekend in Vegas comes to light.

Cassie and Chase refuse to admit their attraction to one another; their growing need and desire that is equally matched by the fear of losing their best friend if stepping over the line means an awkward relationship back home. Workaholic Cassie believes her best friend to be a bit of a manwhore but his reputation is more of a side-affect of the life of a professional hockey player. Cassie is one of the youngest and fastest moving vice president’s within the company, and with it comes the responsibility and qualifications of the position but our heroine’s reputation will be tarnished by a weekend in Vegas that she clearly does not remember.

The relationship, as previously mentioned, is friends to lover’s that struggles with too many denials from both of our leading characters. Apparently Cassie and Chase are the only people not aware of the palpable sexual energy that draws one to the other but acting on their attraction could me the end to a life-long friendship. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic, and intense-Chase likes to talk dirty in the bedroom, up against the wall, on the coach….

We are introduced to Cassie’s best friend and her administrative assistant Natalie Waters, and their boss Tom Bradburn; several of Chase’s teammates including his friend Mark ‘Marky Mark’ Marcom, as well as Chase’s two fathers Robert aka Chief, and Frank.

The story line is a little slow to build as the author’s character building shows the obliviousness of our couple’s attraction to one another. I also struggled with the believability of some of the events in Vegas-someone, anyone should have been able to contact our story line heroine including hotel maintenance with access to a key. Cassie is a little uptight when it comes to…well… everything in her life including Chase Barrett; and Chase is actually a stand-up kinda guy who has fallen for his best friend.

BAD REPUTATION is a predictable story line but a story line of friendship, love and a happily ever after. The premise is entertaining and enjoyable (although the couple’s ongoing inability to admit their growing love and attraction to one another was a bit annoying); the romance is fated and seductive. BAD REPUTATION is a fun and sexy read if you can get past the obliviousness and unawareness of the entire situation.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy