HARD HITTER (Brooklyn Bruisers #1) by Sarina Bowen-Review and Giveaway

Hard Hitter
Brooklyn Bruisers #2
by Sarina Bowen
Genre: adult, contemporary, hockey romance
Release Date: January 3, 2017

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About the book: Release Date: January 3, 2017

He’s a fighter in the rink, but he’s about to learn that playing nice can help you score…

As team captain and enforcer, Patrick O’Doul puts the bruise in the Brooklyn Bruisers. But after years of hard hits, O’Doul is feeling the burn, both physically and mentally. He conceals his pain from his coach and trainers, but when his chronic hip injury becomes too obvious to ignore, they send him for sessions with the team’s massage therapist.

After breaking up with her long-term boyfriend, Ari Bettini is in need of peace of mind. For now, she’s decided to focus on her work: rehabilitating the Bruisers’ MVP. O’Doul is easy on the eyes, but his reaction to her touch is ice cold. Ari is determined to help O’Doul heal, but as the tension between them turns red hot, they both learn that a little TLC does the body good.

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REVIEW: HARD HITTER is the second installment in Sarina Bowen’s contemporary, adult BROOKLYN BRUISERS erotic, hockey romance series focusing on the men and women of the Brooklyn Bruisers professional hockey team. This is team captain and enforcer Patrick O’Doul, and Bruisers’s massage therapist and yoga instructor Ariana (Ari) Bettini’s story line. HARD HITTER 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 third person perspectives (Patrick and Ari) HARD HITTER follows the building relationship between the Brooklyn Bruisers’s hard-hitting captain Patrick O’Doul, and the team’s massage therapist Ari Bettini. Years of hard hits including his earlier life in the foster care system have caught up with Patrick O’Doul. Fight after fight our hero struggles with the pain and the emotional drain of the never-ending one on one of professional hockey. No longer able to hide the injuries and recurring hip injury Patrick is ordered to the team’s massage therapist Ari Bettini wherein our hero will fall in love with a woman who is unable to promise much more than the present. What ensues is the push and pull of attraction between Ari and Patrick, and the revelation of a secreted past that will catch up with our story line couple.

Patrick O’Doul is a fighter who struggles with the guilt and on-going grind of the team’s leading enforcer. Falling in love with Ariana Bettini was never in the cards. Patrick has always been a loaner whose recent battle with his demons has finally caught up and threatens his career and the team’s reputation. Ari Bettini’s long term relationship with her last boyfriend has ended and our heroine is in need of some time alone without worrying about a man in her life. But a threat from her past finds Patrick her guardian and protector, and the man with whom she will fall in love. The $ex scenes are intimate and steamy; provocative and seductive.

We are re-introduced to a number of the Brooklyn Bruisers’s players, as well as Georgia Worthington and Leo Trevi ( Rookie Move #1 ), and team owner Nate Kattenberger who may or may not have a thing for Georgia’s best friend Rebecca. Nate’s Manhattan assistant Lauren Williams and goalie Mike Beacon’s story will be told next in Pipe Dreams.

The world building continues to look at the game of hockey: on the ice and behind the scenes, and the battle for playoff positions. Patrick’s years as an enforcer have finally caught up as he struggles with the pain and guilt; and Ari’s past finds our heroine face to face with a dangerous outcome. Trust is an issue for our leading couple and Patrick’s secret will place a wedge between himself and the woman he loves.

HARD HITTER is an emotional storyline; a tale about romance and love; the struggles to stay on top; and leaving behind a past that shaped a future. The premise is moving; the characters are dynamic and colorful; the romance is dramatic, fun and sensual. HARD HITTER is a passionate look at hockey, romance and falling in love.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

The Reading Cafe and Sarina Bowen’s publisher are offering a paper copy of HARD HITTER to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

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