Publication Date: 03/17/2015
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: InterMix
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 260 (print)
File Size: 983 KB
ASIN: B00F9F0U2O
(Received for an honest review from InterMix)
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, itunes, Kobo
Crystal Green on the WEB: website, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads
Books in the series:
Rough and Tumble
1. Rough and Tumble
2. Down and Dirty
3. Hot and Bothered
Coverart: Click the Image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.
Excerpt from, Hot and Bothered, courtesy of the author's website
Synopsis:
On the dusty outskirts of Vegas, there’s a down and dirty saloon where all sorts of lethally charming—and genuinely dangerous—men carouse to seduce the women who happen to venture inside on their way to and from Sin City.
Despite the many women he’s bedded over the years, Gideon Lane has never been able to get Rochelle Burton completely out of his head. He certainly never expected to see the city girl again, now a successful author, all grown up in all the right places and asking for his protection.
After their disastrous night together, Rochelle was determined to put Gideon—and the things he made her want—far behind her. But when an obsessive fan expresses their anger over her latest book in a disturbing way, Rochelle’s overprotective cousins insist she hire the best bodyguard the Rough & Tumble saloon can offer.
Both Rochelle and Gideon intend to keep their relationship strictly professional, but when the threat to Rochelle puts them in close quarters , Gideon can’t help wanting the chance to prove that some things are better the second time around…
Thoughts:
Author Crystal Green brings readers the third book in her Rough and Tumble series, Hot and Bothered. This is a second chance romance set in and around, Sin City. Readers looking for a unique setting, intriguing characters or something to get them all hot and bothered need look no further. This book has a cowboy sort of essence about it that will make readers think of handsome heroes with big hearts and they won't be disappointed. Green develops some wonderful characters that will warm the heart and make a reader swoon now and then. A good addition to the series.
This is my first book from Crystal Green's Rough and Tumble series. I think I misinterpreted what the book was going to be about from the cover and the blurb to some extent, but that was a happy mistake. I had this notion that it was basically a western romance and it wasn't really that kind of book. It was unique for a lot of reasons. The hero isn't really a cowboy, so to speak, but a bodyguard for hire and a very good one at that. Just outside of Las Vegas there was a definite call for that kind of work. The heroine is a author, which was a nice call by the author. Readers love authors and that was nice with this one.
Gideon was what I would call a player. He had a lot of different women and he doesn't settle down at all. But I honestly thought that was all a front to some extent. He had feelings for Rochelle a long time ago and when she left, he was afraid to get close to anyone. He uses that swagger and over confident attitude to keep real feelings away. I liked watching him come undone when he and Rochelle have to work together again. She needs protection and he is protecting kind of man. The fact that he was a bodyguard was a natural fit for the character. He made a sexy hero.
Rochelle was an author with a fair amount of success, but she managed to ruffle a few feathers along the way and now she needs a bodyguard for her upcoming book tour. Since Gideon is one of the best she is forced to see him again and it's very quickly apparent that the sparks are still there. I liked Rochelle, she was smart and sassy and she was also lonely. I was nice to see her get a second chance with Gideon. I thought the author did a good job of coming up with a great way to put them back together again.
Having said that, I did love the characters, but there were a few other things about the book that I didn't like as much. For me the pacing was way off. The first half of the book was slow to start and hard to read at times because it just didn't seem to be going anywhere. The lead characters danced around each other and the danger that Rochelle was facing. I felt like I had to drag the action out of the book. Somewhere around the half way mark the story started to pick up and it finished strong, but you really have to stick with it. To say this one has a slow start is probably an understatement.
I liked Gideon a lot as a character, but I did think there was a pretty big discrepancy in the kind of person the author wanted us to think he was and the kind of persons his actions were showing us in the early part of the book. I don't think you have to sleep with everyone of the opposite sex who has a pulse to prove that you are good in bed or that you are irresistible. It is also not necessary to prove you are a real man, or whatever. I just think that was a little much for my tastes. A hero needs to be a hero and it took me a few minutes to figure that out with this one.
Bottom Line:
I liked this book. I had a hard time getting started because of the slow beginning. I also thought there was a bit of a disconnect between who the hero was and how he presented himself. Beyond that it was a very good second chance love story. I liked watching Gideon change into that man I wanted him to be, but I think he could have been there from the beginning. Rochelle was great, but she did have a penchant for cold feet. All in all it was a good effort, just maybe not the best this author can do. I'm going to read the other books in the series to see if my opinion might be a little skewed just from this book. As always take with a grain of salt, read it for yourself and let me know what you think!
Hot and Bothered is available NOW from your favorite digital bookseller.
I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!
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