Sleeping With the Enemy by Tracy Solheim – Review, Guest Post & Giveaway
Sleeping with the Enemy
Out of Bounds #4
by Tracy Solheim
Release Date: September 1, 2015
Genre: adult, contemporary, romance, football
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / BAM / The Book Depository
Description
Dot-com millionaire Jay McManus is discovering that owning a pro football team like the Baltimore Blaze isn’t easy. An anonymous blogger is out to destroy his reputation, and now his team is being sued by its own cheerleaders. If Jay’s not careful, he could lose big—and not just financially.
Bridgett Janik’s brother may play for the Baltimore Blaze, but she’s not thrilled to be defending Jay McManus, the man who broke her heart. It’s bad enough she has to mingle with Jay during games, but working beside her former lover may be too much for her body—and her heart—to resist.
Jay’s determined not to let Bridgett slip away from him a second time. But, as the two follow the mysterious blogger’s trail, secrets—both past and present—are revealed, and Jay and Bridgett must decide if their relationship can be something more than just sleeping with the enemy.
Review:
Sleeping With the Enemy by Tracy Solheim is the 4th book in her Out of Bounds series. I have not read the earlier books, but after reading this book, I do plan on going back and read the other three. Sleeping With the Enemy reads very well as a standalone,
Bridgett Janik is our heroine, and she is a strong, smart, savvy one at that. Bridgett is a top notch lawyer, and isn’t too happy to be assigned to a case defending the Baltimore Blaze football team. The reason for her unhappiness? Jay McManus is our hero, and the owner of the Blaze. Jay and Bridgett had a relationship years before, which broke both of their hearts, with each having walked away blaming the other person.
With a scandal and threat of a lawsuit, Jay and Bridget are thrown together, and their feelings for each have not been forgotten. The chemistry between them is undeniably hot, and Jay is determined to win Bridget back, but only as a mistress; he will not allow his heart to fall for her again. Bridgett wants nothing to do with Jay, but she cannot control her lust for him.
In between the hot sex scenes, and the slow build romance being resurrected, there is a mystery of who is behind the false rumors and innuendo about the team and Jay. As secrets become unraveled, Jay begins to suspect that someone from his past is out to hurt him, but what he doesn’t know is how far this person has gone in trying to destroy his life.
This was a very nice second romance between Jay and Bridgett, but what I really enjoyed about the story was all the wonderful secondary characters that made up this story. Jay’s sister, Charlie was great, and I hope Solheim plans to give us her story soon. I also enjoyed Bridgett’s sister, though at times she needed to be smacked at her comments to Bridgett; and Linc was a good character that will need his story, too. The key to the story as we race to the finish: Will Jay allow himself to open his heart to Bridgett? Will Bridgett be able to trust Jay again? Will the truth come out what really happened all those years ago?
Tracy Solheim has written a wonderful story that has a bit of everything; great couple, sizzling romance, wonderful secondary characters, mystery, betrayal, and many secrets that will be revealed. I recommend you read Sleeping With the Enemy, as you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
Play List for Back to Before
I have a secret to share with you: I’m a huge music junkie. While everyone in my family will walk into a room and head straight for the television remote, I’m the one reaching for my iPod. In fact, I do some of my best scene development while listening to music. Unfortunately, I’m usually ironing or on the treadmill so those scenes sometimes get lost before I can reach a computer. But, trust me, before it evaporated, that prose was amazing.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that my musical tastes are somewhat eclectic. When I’m plotting, I tend to cycle through a variety of playlists—including rock, alternative, dance, musical theatre and country. The genre I select, in my mind, either represents the character or the scene I’m writing at the time. Here’s what I came up for my latest release, SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY:
- Cheerleader, by OMI. Okay, so I had to list this one, since the book revolves around the Baltimore Blaze’s litigious cheerleaders, the Sparks. But have you listened to this song? It’s so upbeat and lively that it’s the perfect song to write to, much less tromp around on the treadmill. Besides, my only other option here was Mickey, by Toni Basil and none of us needed that earworm.
2. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Taylor Swift. Bridgett repeats this
mantra every time she gets near Jay.
- Can’t Feel My Face, The Weeknd. Jay is such an Alpha male that he’d never admit to needing Bridgett. But if he did, he’d totally sing this song. Okay, maybe not. It is kind of ridiculous. But you have to admit, Tom Cruise did a great job lip syncing to it on The Tonight Show!
- Photograph, by Ed Sheeran. The first line of the lyrics says it all: “Lovin’ is hard.” Jay and Bridgett’s story is poignant and, at times, painful in the re-telling. This song is about the perseverance of love. Jay and Bridgett’s love definitely withstood the test of time, geography, and deceit. Plus, Ed Sheeran is a fellow Ginger and I have to give him his props.
- Like I’m Gonna Lose You, by Meghan Trainor and John Legend. This is a soulful song that epitomizes Jay’s determination to win Bridgett back. Of course, Jay’s idea of a win would be luring Bridgett back into his bed. He’s determined not to let his heart become engaged again. That would give Bridgett too much power over him and Jay plays to win. All the time.
- Lips Are Movin’, by Meghan Trainor. This would be Bridgett’s other theme song. She doesn’t trust Jay as far as her football playing brother can throw the team’s owner. Too bad her body isn’t listening to her Harvard educated brain on this one.
- Reason to Believe, by Bruce Springsteen. If you follow me on social media or read my blog, you’ll know I’m a huge Springsteen fan. He’s not only my favorite singer, but one of my favorite authors as well. No playlist of mine would be complete without one of his songs. And this one says so much about Jay and Bridgett’s relationship. Both have gone on with their lives and have dealt with the mess life has thrown at them. Both are struggling with the reaction of their bodies to each other despite the hurt they’ve afflicted. In the end, they have to find a reason to believe in their attraction—their love.
- Let’s Get It On Like Marvin Gay, by Charlie Puth (with Meghan Trainor. Are you sensing a theme here? MT is my “it” girl right now.) There are some steamy scenes in this book. Nuff said.
- A Thousand Years, Christina Perri. No matter how Bridgett thinks Jay has deceived her, she still can’t help loving him. No matter how long they have been apart, her love for him won’t die.
- Feel Again, by One Republic. The lyrics sum up how Jay and Bridgett’s happily ever after would sound if it were written about in a song instead of a book. “My heart was numb, but I feel again.” “I was a lonely soul, but that’s the old me. A little wiser now…I feel again.” Love it.
Are you a music fan? What genre is your favorite? Do you have a song that best describes your life right now?
Jay and Bridgett are stranded in a motel together during a tropical storm.
Bridgett shook her head, the brief glimpse behind the cool veneer she kept in place closed. Instead she gestured to his pants, which she’d hung over a chair. “They’re still damp at the cuffs but I squeezed as much of the water out as I could. You may have to roll them up at the ankles.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Worried you might not be able to keep your hands off me without my pants on?”
Her blush was obvious even in the candle light as she quickly stood and walked over to the dresser filled with the food he’d brought back—a can of potato chips, peanut butter crackers, two apples, and the necessity of women everywhere: a bag of Dove chocolate. He’d also grabbed a couple bottles of water, a bottle of chardonnay, toothpaste and two toothbrushes. The wine wasn’t the best vintage, but he knew they’d both appreciate something a little stronger than water right about now.
“Thanks for leaving the roller food at the gas station, but you forgot the corkscrew.”
She kept her back to him as he pulled on his pants. He stepped behind her, reaching past her shoulder into his briefcase and pulled out his pocket knife. Bridgett’s breath caught as his arm brushed over hers. When he clicked a button on the bottom, a corkscrew emerged. Jay handed it to her and went into the bathroom to grab the two plastic cups.
“I should have known,” she said as she worked the screw into the cork. “You never went anywhere without one that summer. Frankly, I’m surprised you went into the dot-com industry and didn’t go into the wine business like you’d planned.”
“Who says I didn’t,” he asked, taking the bottle from her and finishing the job.
Bridgett held the glasses while he poured. “I guess there’s a lot about each other we’ll never know.”
Her words sounded almost wistful and the warm wine went down rough as Jay swallowed. “Even without being chilled, our chardonnay is definitely better than this.”
She sat on the bed, leaning on one arm as she sipped from her cup with the other. “So tell me, how did the guy who wanted to rule the world one bottle of wine at a time end up establishing a major dot-com business instead?”
“There’s a lot more money to be made on the Internet than in the vineyards.” He sat down on the bed across from her, leaning up against the headboard and crossing his feet at the ankles.
“But wine was your passion.”
Jay eyed her over the rim of his cup. “I’ve learned that it’s not always a good idea to be ruled by passion.”
Bridgett kept her gaze level with his. “Exactly what I’ve been telling you all along.”
“I didn’t say I gave up on passion, Bridgett. I’ll never do that.”
That got the reaction he was hoping for as she gulped the remainder of her wine and began prying open a package of peanut butter crackers.
My creative writing career started in the fourth grade when I published my first book. It was a bestseller–mainly because my dad bought all ten copies I’d made on the school’s prehistoric Xerox machine. From there, I moved to newspaper reporting with a monthly column in a local newspaper. A bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee landed me in Washington, DC, where I wrote reports for Congress while pursuing a Master’s degree in Legislative Affairs from The George Washington University.
Aside from a brief stint in television production for NBC Sports at the Seoul Olympics, most of my early writing consisted of crafting lengthy government reports. Not exactly the most scintillating backlist, I know! My creative writing projects had to wait until I could squeeze them in between my paying gig and my family’s busy schedule. I finally realized the dream of becoming a published author in May, 2013 with the release of my debut novel, GAME ON, through Berkley Publishing.
I went on to release four books in the Out of Bounds series during my first year as an author. In addition to the books about the fictitious Baltimore Blaze football team, I also write the Second Chances series for Berkley and digital novellas set in the small coastal town of Magnolia Bay for Tule Publishing. Check out my books page for excerpts and buy links.
Currently, I live in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, with my husband, two kids, a wild Labrador Retriever puppy and a mare named after my debut novel. When I’m not writing, I enjoy photography, cooking, and reading–shocker, right? Be sure to friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. Or, leave me your email address to receive my newsletter.
I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for stopping by.
Tracy’s publisher is offering a papercopy of SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY to ONE(1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.
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