THE KISSING GAME by Marie Harte-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 4, 2020

“I bet you a kiss you can’t resist me.”

Game on.

Rena Jackson is ready. She’s worked her tail off to open up her own hair salon, and she’s almost ready to quit her job at the dive bar. Rena’s also a diehard romantic, and she’s had her eye on bar regular Axel Heller for a while. He’s got that tall-dark-and-handsome thing going big time. Problem is, he’s got that buttoned-up Germanic ice man thing going as well. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Rena’s about ready to give up on Axel and find her own Mr. Right.

At six foot six, Axel knows he intimidates most people. He’s been crushing on the gorgeous waitress for months. But the muscled mechanic is no romantic, and his heart is buried so deep, he has no idea how to show Rena what he feels. He knows he’s way out of his depth and she’s slipping away. So, he makes one crazy, desperate play.

•••••••••

REVIEW:THE KISSING GAME by Marie Harte is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, erotic, romance series focusing on auto body shop owner Axel Heller, and hair stylist / shop owner Rena Jackson. THE KISSING GAME is connected to the author’s McCauley Brothers, and Body Shop Bad Boys series with the inclusion of several characters crossing over for familiarity and history.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Rena and Axel) THE KISSING GAME follows auto body shop owner Axel Heller, and hair stylist / shop owner Rena Jackson. Rena Jackson is a romantic at heart wanting her own happily ever after but there are no available prospects on the horizon, yet the one man that makes her heart flutter, is the one man who struggles in the romance department. Now that she is opening her own beauty salon, Rena has decided to step out on her own, but Axel is hoping to be the man by her side. When their mutual friends place bets on the demise of their building relationship, quiet but determined Axel must step up his romance game in an effort to win the girl of his dreams. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Axel and Rena, and the potential fall-out as Axel struggles with sins of the past.

Axel Heller, of German/Bavarian descent, battles between head and heart knowing his temper could be the destruction of everything he loves but when Rena, a woman of color, is threatened Axel finds himself on the offensive to protect the woman he loves. Rena Jackson’s dreams have come true with the opening of her own beauty salon but threats of violence, and a disruption to her shop find Rena negatively focusing on Axel’s need to protect more than the threats against her life.

Meanwhile the Heller family dynamics will come into play as Axel struggles to move on from the past. From a dysfunctional and abusive family, Axel doesn’t want a repeat of everything that happened when he was a young boy, and in this Axel battles with his own self-doubt.

The relationship between Rena and Axel is a sort of-friends to lovers that has been building for several months. Rena has no idea why Axel has not asked her out, while Axel struggles right from the start. Rena is a woman who likes to read romance books, and Axel is determined to woo the woman who has stolen his heart. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic, language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters, most of whom were introduced in the author’s McCauley Brothers, and Body Shop Bad Boys series. If THE KISSING GAME is part of one of the aforementioned series, I am hoping the author makes a connection one way or the other.

THE KISSING GAME is a story of family, friendships, racism and love. The cover screams romantic comedy but I have to question the choice and direction as there is limited humor throughout the story; as well as the blurb that proclaims our hero to be tall, dark and handsome, who is definitely not dark but Viking blonde-perhaps the darkness is the demons that creep up from the past. The premise is interesting; the characters are animated; the romance struggles with preconceived notions and ideas of romance and love.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy