Hard to Handle (Play Hard #1) by K.Bromberg-Review & Excerpt Tour

Hard to Handle (Play Hard #1) by K. Bromberg-Review & Excerpt Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 30, 2020

At first, the request seemed simple—sign a new athlete to the agency.

Then I found out the new athlete was none other than the most wanted man in hockey today: Hunter Maddox

Gifted. Sexy. At the top of his game. And the only man who has ever broken my heart.

If signing him will help save our family business, I’ll swallow my pride and do what’s asked.

But when it becomes clear his uncharacteristic antics off the ice are a hint of something deeper, keeping things strictly professional between us becomes more than complicated. But I know better than to cross that line.

I’ll never date a client. Not even for him.

***

Win the Stanley Cup and do it before time runs out.

Not a small feat, but it’s what’s motivated me since the start of my career.

And time is running out.

Enter Dekker Kincade.

Feisty. Dogged. Damn gorgeous. The one I let get away.

I have no idea why she’s traveling with the team, but hell if resisting her is going to be easy.

But I have a job to do, and I refuse to lose sight of that end game. Even if she confuses me. Even if she sees parts of me I’ve hidden from the world.

I can’t lose focus. Not even for her.

••••••••••

REVIEW: HARD TO HANDLE is the first instalment in K. Bromberg’s contemporary, adult PLAY HARD erotic, romance series. This is thirty-two year olds, professional hockey player and New Jersey Lumberjacks team captain Hunter Maddox, and sports agent Dekker Kincade’s story line.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Hunter and Dekker) HARD TO HANDLE follows the second chance romance and relationship between professional hockey player and team captain Hunter Maddox, and sports agent Dekker Kincade. Hunter Maddox is all about the game of hockey including the drive for the Stanley Cup. With his contract up for renewal Hunter comes face to face with his former ‘friends with benefits’, sports agent Dekker Kincade, the woman who walked away three years earlier and broke his heart but there is more to Dekker’s appearance than a friendly hello. What ensues is the rebuilding romance and relationship between Dekker and Hunter and the potential fall-out as Dekker struggles between head and heart, and Hunter’s current attitude is affecting everyone both on and off the ice.

Dekker Kincade and her three sisters work for their father’s KSM agency, and Dekker’s current assignment is to procure professional hockey player Hunter ‘Mad Dog’ Maddox but Dekker knows that to face Hunter Maddox means to potentially lose her professionalism in the face of lust, love and the man who had stolen her heart. Hunter Maddox is slowly spiraling out of control. A once, well oiled, self contained hockey machine, Hunter’s antics in public and on the ice hide a deeper, emotional fall-out that he keeps hidden to himself. Angry at the world, Hunter begins to take out his frustrations on his teammate, his family and the woman he loves.

The relationship between Hunter and Dekker is one of second chances: a rekindling romance that was destroyed by Dekker’s need to run, something she continues to do with each encounter with our story line hero. Dekker is the one woman whom Hunter is unable to forgive but the woman he knows has stolen his heart. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to the Kincade sisters: Lennox, Chase, Brexton, and their father Kenyon Kincade; Maddox’s parents Gary and Carla Hunter, his brother Jonah, agent Finn Sanderson, and several members of the team: Callum Withers, goalie Katzen , Frankie, Maysen and Coach Junger.

HARD TO HANDLE is a story of family, relationships, struggles and love. A story of sibling rivalry, parental control, loss, grief, guilt and acceptance. The premise is emotional and real; the characters are edgy and dramatic; the romance is provocative and intense.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

 

center;”>I stare at Hunter. At his shirt plastered with sweat and
how it clings to his body, despite the chill of the ice his skates are standing on. He has
his warm-up pants on and is without a helmet, his hair curling at the ends from thesweat.And all I see in his eyes is anger I didn’t put there. Or maybe I did. Rejection can do that
to a man . . . but there’s something more here. Something I walked in on that doesn’tmake sense.

“Don’t give me that look, Kincade,” Hunter mutters as he skates over to the penalty box

where his electrolyte drink sits.
“What look?” I ask.

He half laughs, half snorts and meets my gaze across the distance. “Disappointment.
Disproval. Disdain. I’m the king of all of them, so save your breath—or in this case—your

glare, because it’s not going to work with me.”

“Are we working on emotions that start with the letter D today?” I ask. A hint of my
embarrassment and anger over how I acted last night creeps into my voice, but I mask it
with sarcasm. “If that’s the case, I’m more than impressed with your answers thus far.”
He clenches his jaw in response and then skates back over to line up more pucks so he
can shoot them. And he does, one after another, each shot taken with laser precision and

a healthy dose of fury behind it.

He goes through the first ten lined up and then stops to catch his breath.
His talent and skill are undeniable, but so is the beer bottle in my hand.
“Just because you’re the captain and star of this team, doesn’t mean management won’t

frown upon this,” I say, unable to let this go.
“Screw the management.”

“No one likes a player who’s hard to handle and honestly, Hunter, you’re becoming hard

to handle.”

“No one likes unsolicited advice from someone who has no bearing on his career,

either,” he counters, the rebuke stinging but deserved.

The problem is, I do care about him. Doesn’t he get that’s where my hostility stems

from?

And only a crazy person would say that, Dekker.

I put my hands up in surrender to both him and my own thoughts. “You know I only
want the best for you.” I take a few steps in his direction in the first row of the stands.
I’m close enough to catch the hitch of his movement and to see uncertainty flicker in his
eyes. It’s almost as if he needs to talk but doesn’t see me as someone he can trust. I hate

that. “What is it, Hunter?”
“Nothing. It’s . . . never mind.”

But I see it, and he knows I see it. The question is what do I see, though?

 


 

New York Times Bestselling author K. Bromberg writes contemporary novels that contain a mixture of sweet, emotional, a whole lot of sexy, and a little bit of real. She likes to write strong heroines, and damaged heroes who we love to hate and hate to love.

A mom of three, she plots her novels in between school runs and soccer practices, more often than not with her laptop in tow.

Since publishing her first book in 2013, K. has sold over one million copies of her books and has landed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists over twenty-five times.

In April, she’ll release The Player, the first in a two-book sports romance series (The Catch, book 2, will be released late June), with many more already outlined and ready to be written.

She loves to hear from her readers so make sure you check her out on social media or sign up for her newsletter to stay up to date on all her latest releases and sales HERE

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon Author | Driven Group

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Hard to Handle by Christine Warren – a Review

Hard to Handle by Christine Warren – a Review

 

Hard to HandleAmazon / B&N / Kobo / BAM / Book Depository

Description:
A SEDUCTION STRONGER THAN STONE

The only male among four sisters, Michael Drummond is no stranger to women’s strength and formidable will. His Dublin pub, the Skin & Bones, is his refuge, a reassuringly masculine retreat. Until a fierce woman warrior from another realm bursts into his life, bringing with her a battle between good and evil…and an explosive dose of desire.

The first and only of her kind, Ash is a lone female gargoyle, a creature destined to protect mankind from Demons determined to unleash their darkest forces. But her arrival on Earth is more confusing than she expected: her bone-deep instinct to do battle is matched only by her untamed attraction to stubborn, stalwart Drum. If they manage to keep the world safe, can they turn the passion crackling between them into a love that will withstand the test of time?

 

Review:

Hard to Handle by Christine Warren is the 5th book in her Gargoyles series.  This is the first book I am reading in this series, and it did read very well as a standalone, as Warren does give us information on the some of the other characters from the previous books.  In the first 4 books, the hero is a male gargoyle , who is a restored from stone, when the threat of demons and hell become real.  They are considered Guardians to protect humans from the darkness. For each Gargoyle, there is a Warden, who helps them.  

In Dublin, Ireland, Michael Drum (Drum)mond is pulled away from the pub he runs, becuase his sister, Maeve, has a vision of extreme danger from monsters.  On the way home, the earth quakes and it is not an earthquake.  What they perceive is a monster with wings, is actually a Guardian being summoned to life, as a terrible darkness is about to endanger all their lives.  Ash, our heroine in this story, is the first female Guardian, and she enlists the aid of both Maeve and Michael to find the warden who requires her help.  Wheras, Maeve, who has the sight and sees visions of the future, is more than ready to help Ash; but Drum wants nothing to do with monsters, demons and wants to head back to his pub.  But then they are attacked, and Ash is able to save them.  Ash is able to take a form of human female, when not being the Gargoyle.  In a short time, she will discover that Drum, who treats her rudely, is in fact the Warden she has been looking for. I thought that early on, Drum was easy to dislike, and even though he is being pulled into something he knows nothing about, I did feel he went overboard in his distaste for Ash, or her quest.

What follows is a very exciting action packed adventure, where Ash and Drum must try to find and kill the demons, and along the way they both begin to have feelings for each other.  When the danger escalates, Maeve will find information on the other Guardians/Wardens, and some will come from America to Ireland to help with the war. I loved meeting two of the previous heroes, and it was fun to watch them learn about each other.  The last third of the book was intense, with lots of action and dangerous situations, which had you sitting on the edge of your seat.  

Hard to Handle has a nice ending, but the war has just begun.  Drum and Ash’s romance heats up with a happy conclusion. The Demons are still around, and all the Guardians and Wardens will find themselves together at some point in future books.  Excellent suspenseful adventure, written very well by Christine Warren.  One day I need to go back and read the earlier books.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

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